Hoops and Thanksgiving

It’s been a while since my last entry, but I made it back to practice the past two days. The girls and the coaches want to read an update and that is what they get.

I heard the retreat was a blast, even saw a video from Outback that was pretty hilarious.

I may have more on the retreat if I go to their gathering to watch a video they shot while on a scavenger hunt at the mall. Sounds like it could be pretty crazy.

I guess I should start with an injury update. It seems that assistant coach Lindsay Schnell may be out for a part of the season after breaking her hand.

Well, she will still be out there doing anything she can with one hand.

It seems that she and Alaina Adams hit hands during last Friday’s practice, and from what Lindsay tells me, the doctor said they must have hit hands perfectly to cause the break.

All I know is it can’t be fun wearing the cast for the next six weeks or so. Sorry Lindsay.

I can’t see the injury slowing her down, though. At least it hasn’t yet.

Back to basketball. It’s hard to believe but the season is quickly approaching. And you can tell every one is nervous and excited at the same time.

Practice was a bit lethargic at the start on Wednesday, and coach Joe Williamson wasn’t very happy. And he let the girls know. Not that they needed to be yelled at, they knew it wasn’t 100 percent effort.

The intensity picked up and there was some good battles for rebounds and loose balls during drills.

I guess this could have been up higher with the injury report: Kayla Laney is back on the floor.

Now that makes me happy cause I know how much she loves playing the game and how much she has been looking forward to this season. She is battling those shin splints and I would say she will win.

Despite the slow start to practice, the team picked it up and Joe showed his ability to get after the girls when needed, and have fun at other times.

Late in practice, Gabe Johnson pulled up and hit a three. Leah Sietz said something to the effect of “what are you pulling,” and Gabe responds with “the trigger.”

So Joe does a little gunslinger impersonation and has everyone laughing.

The team has the next two days off to celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s got to be hard from a coach’s perspective to take two days off this close to the start of the season, especially one in his first year.

They will be back on Saturday and Sunday, then it’s off to Willamette for a scrimmage on Monday and back home next Tuesday to open the season against McKay.

Before leaving Wednesday, Joe asked each of the girls to go around and say what they are thankful for. I won’t go into what each person said, but I thought it was a cool way to head into the holiday.

I was about to say what I was thankful for, but then Leah and Gabe decided to have a wrestling match and that overshadowed anything I had to say.

So I will take this time to say that I am thankful for this opportunity to tag along for the ride, that the girls are open and accepting and that they are enjoying this as much as I am so far. At least I think they are.

I can’t wait for the season to start and to see how they react to game situations.

But until then, it’s time to eat lots of turkey and all the fixings, at least on Thursday anyway.

Have a terrific Thanksgiving.

Countdown to first official game: 6 days.