July 26, 2009

South Carolina freshman Kelsey Bone will send periodic updates from her time with USA Basketball as the team prepares for the U19 World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

Hey there Gamecocks! Hello from Thailand!

After a long two days of travel, we made it to Thailand last Saturday! We were extremely tired, but it was time to continue practicing. We were able to rest a little, but we needed to prepare for our first game against Spain. After several walk-throughs and friendly games, it was time to get our show on the road.

Our show was derailed after a hard-fought loss to Spain. We dug ourselves a hole early, and we had to fight the entire game to overcome that deficit. We were able to come back in the third and fourth quarters, but that wasn’t enough. Luckily enough our locker room stayed very positive, and we were able to bounce back and win our next two games big. We secured a second place seeding in our pool.

Today is Sunday, so we are able to rest a bit. We went “GROCERY” shopping again. We all needed to pile up on more snacks. We also got a chance to go to a silk market and do a little shopping. I have a slight shopping addiction, so I went in with a budget that didn’t hold up all that well. I was able to get gifts for a few people who had requests.

We also had a smooth practice! We are now preparing for Canada. We played the Canadians last year down in Argentina, but something tells me this game will be a battle, and we are going to have our work cut out for us. After Canada we play Russia. That’s definitely one game we are all looking forward to for various different reasons! 🙂 After Russia we play Korea, then we move on to the next round.

Our night tonight was simply amazing! The tournament hosted a friendship party for all 16 participating teams. Each team was asked to come up with a three-minute skit. Our assistant coach, Coach [Amanda] Butler came up with a great idea. She thought our skit should be a tribute to Michael Jackson. We all agreed, so some of our teammates did the “Thriller” dance in front of a room of strangers. We were decked out with gloves and the whole nine yards. It was really interesting to see how universal American music is! Even though some of the teams here don’t speak English, they are all familiar with the music and even know the words. Needless to say all the teams found a way to communicate, and we had a good time all hanging out together.

Playing overseas in various tournaments has been a great blessing for me. Sometimes these experiences are taken for granted, and we don’t see their value while we’re going through them. After spending weeks overseas I always feel a great sense of pride in being an American. We are the best [team], and everyone wants to beat us. We always get the other team’s best game and that speaks volumes about the women who have paved the way for us younger girls and made USA Basketball the international powerhouse that it is today.

Well it’s time for me to get my beauty rest. We also have a game tomorrow, so I have to get some rest for that, too! 🙂

I will keep you guys updated on all our Thai happenings! Keep rooting for us to bring home gold.

See you guys soon,
Kels
Go Gamecocks
Go USA