Beginning the Paralympic year
One more day and the paralympic year 2012 begins for me and many other athletes!!
Some still have to try out, some already know they will be participating, for all of them, the best and hardest time of being an athlete begins now. Everyone has to start getting ready, train to their highest abilities to try and reach out for the most valuable trophy, a paralympics gold medal! I’m one of those that can dream of it and will work for it. I’m excited and looking forward to the year with all its challenges. I hope many will follow me and my fellow athletes throughout this amazing year, and I can’t wait to prove once again what a fascinating and highly skilled sport wheelchair basketball is.
Arrival in Goyang, South Korea – Asia/Oceania
Back to everyday life – gold medalist, so what?
It’s been a bit more than a month since I left Israel to return to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Everyone congratulated me to winning gold and qualifying for the Paralympics but then I had to get back to work like any other student. I missed the first three weeks of classes, so there was a lot of studying, quizzes and homeworks to make up that put me right back into my spot: One of thousands of students on campus. Yes, I’m a European Champion and yes, I will participate in the Paralympic Games 2012 but that doesn’t change my everyday life. I have to work hard to keep my grades up, go to daily team practices, lift weights and scrimmage to make sure I get even better.
Unfortunately, half of my team will leave for the Parapan American Games, so we won’t be able to play games for another while but I’m excited for when we are finally there. Getting back to competition, start the college basketball season and continue to show how amazingly the Whitewater program has grown within only three years!
Ready for Korea and the Asia/Oceania Championships
With the African Championship over it is time for our attention to move onto Korea for our third zone championships – the Asia/Oceania Championships which takes place November 4 – 11.
On the men’s side we will have Australian, Chinese Taipei, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and New Zealand
On the women’s side Australia, China, Japan and Korea.
This marks the first time for Korea to send a women’s team and I am really pleased to have this happen. I am hopeful that the other teams will welcome them to the tournament and help them out in their first major competition. It certainly is encouraging to see the women’s game growing all over the world.
It is also nice to see New Zealand back after a long absence and have Chinese Taipei, Iraq and Kuwait come to play after being in Guangzhou for the Para Asian Games in December 2010, It would have been nice to see the men’s team from China there as well but maybe next time.
The tournament will also have a referee course with 5 candidates including one woman going for their Zone licenses.
I will be back later with the schedule and the list of technical officials but for now enough to say that all games will be available via FIBA Live Stats on the Korea web site – I will give you more information on where to go to see this before the tournament starts.
Maureen Orchard, IWBF President
Good Bye to Rabat Morocco and the African Championships 2011
African Championships in Morocco 2011
Rabat was an amazing experience for me, it was the first time I was ever in Morocco and it was great to see a new part of the world and meet new people. We had some good wheelchair basketball played and were able to introduce more people to our great sport.
I had a chance to speak too many of the players from all four teams and was pleased to hear that they are want to get better and are all hoping to be back for the next big tournament. One thing that might help make this happen is a decision taken during the Congress to increase the number of tournament in Africa by having the teams qualify for the African Championship through the 3 regions that were created in 2009.
South Africa proved to be the best team there going undefeated and handling the pressure of playing before the home team crowd in the final. They deserved the victory but Morocco had nothing to be ashamed of. Morocco was up at the end of the first period but South Africa took over the game from then on to finish up African Champions and win their way to London 2012.
First Place Team from South Africa at the African Championships 2011
The Team from Morocco at the African Championships 2011
The Team from Egypt at the African Championships 2011
The Team from NIGERIA at the African Championships 2011
In 2012 there will a tournament in each of the three regions, northern Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa with the winner of each advancing to the 2013 African Championship. There they will join the winner of this tournament and the host country with one spot left for a wild card entry. This will mean more opportunities for the teams in Africa to play and get stronger. It will also mean more opportunities for Africa to train classifiers and referees.
Which only leaves the challenge to find a way to get the women playing – well maybe there are a few more but that is one I will not let the new Executive Council forget.
2011 Africa EC
A big thank you to Hamid El Aouni and all the people who helped with the organization of the tournament, they did a great job. The accommodation was excellent, the venue allowed the teams to play well and the crowd while a bit smaller than was hoped for was enthusiastic and cheered for both sides. All in all a successful tournament!
I leave Morocco with a good feeling about the future of wheelchair basketball in the Zone – now it is up to the new Executive to prove me right.
Maureen Orchard, President IWBF
Arrival in Rabat Morocco for the African Championships
Fielding questions at the African Championships Press Conference
Hello From Rabat Morocco
I had a very warm welcome to Rabat, a bright blue sky, hot humid temperature and most important, Hamid El Aouni, and members of his committee were waiting at the airport when the plane arrived. I flew from Paris to Rabat with the team from South Africa so had a chance to catch up with some old friends in the gate area as we waited to board, it was good to see many of the players and coaching staff again and to hear how excited they were to be on their way.
We were all whisked immediately to a press conference where I had an opportunity to “sell” our great sport to the assembled reporters. One thing I learned was that there would have been more but for the fact that Morocco was playing in a very important football game – the result of which would mean going on to the Africa Championship. I said to them that I understood that at that moment there were other priorities for Morocco.
Hamid El Aouni being interviewed by the press
The reporters were interested in wheelchair basketball and asked informed questions and I am looking forward to the coverage they will provide. After the press conference we had the Team Manager’s meeting and I learned that all four teams had arrived and were ready to play. It was a good meeting with the representatives from Egypt, Morocco Nigeria and South Africa all present. We covered off the necessary stuff then talked a bit about what would happen at the ceremonies and about classification.
At the Technical meeting and I met some more old friends, Loleta Krige who would be the chief classifier, Nico Viviers who is in charge of the referees (both from South Africa), Mohamed Bentahar a classifier from Algeria, Mahmoud Hassan a referee from Egypt and Stacy Gomm a referee from South Africa. We shared some memories and then got down to confirming what would be the program for the next days.
Preparing for the TD Meeting
I am pleased to tell you how well the new Verification Meetings went. This was a new procedure for all of the teams. In the morning the teams will have their training and the classifiers will attend to observe the players. So things are going as needed.
I ended the evening with a drive back downtown to where my hotel was. On the way I witnessed firsthand the joy of the people when I saw the celebrations in the streets and at the bars of victory of Morocco over Tanzania. Tomorrow I will move to the same hotel as the teams and the other officials.
Follow the game scores and other information on the website at www.marochandisport.ma/
Bye for now!
Maureen Orchard
Reflecting on the European Championships
Great Britain Celebrates their Victory
As I prepare to leave for Rabat, Morocco later this week and the Africa Championship I am reminded of some of the great things that happened in Nazareth, Israel at the European Championships.
Celebrating the end of the Tournament
Of course the remarkable job the local organizers did to make the event as wheelchair friendly as possible was really appreciated by everyone. The hotel was almost exclusively for the tournament which meant that participants were easily able to mingle with others and also know that everywhere they went was very accessible, even the large outdoor pool. The food was excellent with lots of room to move about.
Table Officials in Nazateth
The game venues were a bit small but it made for better excitement when there were lots of spectators, so all in all the important things were in place.
The Officials in Israel
Our Game Commissioners in Israel
As President of the world federation I was pleased to see teams like the Spanish men earn a spot in London, it has been awhile since they have earned a spot at a major world event. It was good to see the improvement in the play of the Spanish women and the French women who have really only come back on the world stage in the past two years.
The teams from Turkey and the host Israel struggled a bit but improved as the tournament went on and I think we will see a big improvement in the next years as Europe introduces a U25 for women at the zone level. The final game between Germany and the Netherlands in the women’s division gave notice to all that the Dutch women are back and the German women intend to win in London.
Women's Final Game - Germany and the Dutch
The top teams in the women’s side are still a bit too strong for the bottom half but the gap is closing and the important thing is that more are countries are playing.
Germany and the Dutch in the Women's Finals
On the men’s side the teams are all so close in ability now that any team could have won the Gold medal. It is hard to believe that France, silver medalist in the World Championship in 2010 would finish right out of the quarter finals, but the competition was so intense that when I look back on it now I realize that they were caught in a four way tie for third and only two teams made it out of that struggle.
The final men’s game was excellent but Great Britain was really on top from the start and proved to strong for the German team.
Great Britain and Germany in the Final Game
Mens Final Game
The competition to earn the coveted spots, 5 for men and 4 for women with host GB already qualified meant getting into the top six for the men earned a trip to London, which meant the hottest contested games were the consolation games between the losers from the quarter-finals and they were all close.
You can read elsewhere about the scores but I would like to mention that great sportsmanship I saw throughout the week by the teams. It was a pleasure to watch athletes play well and enjoy the experience of playing at an elite tournament.
Presenting the Trophy to the Gold Medalists from Great Britain
I would also like to end this blog with a well-deserved thank you to the LOC; they were wonderful hosts and certainly convinced me that they know how to run a top level event and of course to all the volunteers who made the event fun and the IWBF team of technical officials who made the games run so smoothly
A Day of Sightseeing for our Team
– a big thank you for a job well done.
Maureen Orchard
President, IWBF
Reflecting on the days events
Post Tournie Blues…
So the Europeans have come to an end, and yesterday GB women flew home with the bronze while the guys brought home the gold (which they wore from the cermony until they got home)!
The final day of the tournament was the longest yet with an early start for breakfast followed by a lunchtime bronze medal game for the ladies and practice for the guys, a pit stop back to the hotel to pack and grab lunch (that will be the last time I eat a baguette for a while!) then straight back to the venue for the last time to cheer on the guys and watch them bring home the gold! By the time the match had finished, and the medal ceremony was over both our men and womens team had to squeeze onto the bus…let just say there was some epic chair stacking. Once we made it back it was straight to dinner and the presentations, where one of the girls made all-star. By the time dinner was over it was back to rooms for the last time make sure we had
everything then off to the airport at 2.30am (still not having slept yet). The whole of GB travelled back together so you can imagine the airport chaos with two
full teams, staff and some of our association members, I think we made it through the airport (where they seem to tag and sticker everything at least three times,
and ask a lot of security questions) in about 3 hours. So by the time we were all on the plane pretty much everyone was out for the count, or glued to the tv
watching in-flight movies (bridesmaids seemed to be the chick flick of choice for both the guys and girls). About 5 hours, some sleep and skilful aisle chair
manoeuvring we made it back to the UK. Then it was time to play which chair belongs to which player, and grab the luggage…I then had 50mins to transfer
onto my connecting flight which luckily was delayed. I finally got home at about 6pm after one long day!
Although it is always nice to come home, I’m sure you have heard people talk about the post tournie blues…because it is strange to be back in reality and not see and eat with your teamies all the time, also getting up in the morning and not putting kit on can feel a little strange…not that I’m complaining you never truly appreciate your normal clothes until you’ve lived in kit for weeks. Also a nice hot bubble bath, being able to cook for yourself and using an actual washing machine (not the bath and hanging clothes out on the balcony) are really appreciated. Its always the little things in life I have come to learn…
So for GB the summer is now officially over, the domestic season starts in 2 weeks so we have a little recovery time, time to see friends and family that forget what we look like and time just to chill out, believe me when I say we are going to need it because the schedule for 2012 is looking pretty insane right now, but hey it’s a small price to pay to live the dream!
“Gold medal day”?
Today is the day we decide if we go home with a silver or gold medal! The game is at 5.15 pm, so we had a relaxed morning, will have a short video session and lunch soon and then go to the gym. It’s another sunny day and everyone is excited for the final!
Our men’s play in the championship game as well, so there is a chance for Germany to go home with two European Champion titles!
Follow the games on www.ecmw.eu !
The ups and downs of tournament life…
So today was our rest day, the only day out of the whole tournament where we have no games. We call it a rest day but it is by no means a day off as we had practice this morning and then watched our guys beat the Dutch to also qualify for the semi-finals.
We are pretty lucky that our rest day came today after playing two games yesterday, although we won both comfortably (the Dutch in the morning and turkey early in the evening) the long day definitely took its toll on some, as we we’re up for breakfast at 7am and didn’t get dinner until almost 10pm last night. It just goes to show that at tournaments no two days are ever the same.
This afternoon while some girls caught up on some much needed sleep some of us hit the pool for a bit of recovery and to join our mens team in a rather entertaining game of water volleyball. I think after our failed attempts at table tennis the other day and a few volleyball disasters today, it is pretty safe to say basketball is definitely where our talents lie! We look forward to a quiet evening, dinner watching the sun set, and a chance to re-focus ready to take on the Dutch women in the semi-finals tomorrow.
IWBF International Wheelchair Basketball Federation
deebs
judehamer
Mareike Adermann
