Sorry it took me so long to write about the semifinals game against Korea. With all
the euphoria and traveling back home to New Zealand, it took me some time to find time to do
this. Two words come to my mind: Belief
and PUSO. I remember clearly that these were
the two things Coach Tab mentioned during the NZ camp that the team needed to
be successful . He felt the team wasn’t
there yet at that point. Whenever Coach
Tab and Chot discussed the team's chances in NZ the discussion would go
something like this:
Chot: The competition in FIBA Asia this year is really tough, even teams like Taipei have naturalised a player,
Tab: I feel we’ve got a very good shot on qualifying for the worlds, but the players must believe and must really be tough.
I knew Tab knew it would be difficult to accomplish the goal. But for him it was really important that there was the belief that the team could do it. Chot the realist and looking at all the details that could possibly go wrong wanted to make sure all bases are covered.
Chot: The competition in FIBA Asia this year is really tough, even teams like Taipei have naturalised a player,
Tab: I feel we’ve got a very good shot on qualifying for the worlds, but the players must believe and must really be tough.
I knew Tab knew it would be difficult to accomplish the goal. But for him it was really important that there was the belief that the team could do it. Chot the realist and looking at all the details that could possibly go wrong wanted to make sure all bases are covered.
The Korean game was really the perfect game to demonstrate
this. We always had doubts if we could
beat Korea (a team that always seem to beat us), and with Marcus going out in
the 1st half, those doubts must have grown even bigger for many. But for the people who mattered: the team, its
coaches and players this didn’t seem to be the situation. No matter the obstacle (injury , the Korean
jinx) , the feeling was we would refuse to lose today. (that could not happen, the
players wouldn’t allow it)
Most of the player with family rushed to our end of the
stands when the final buzzer went off.
This whole journey took a lot of sacrifices from their family and friends
(their biggest supporters). From Jimmy, Gabe, Ping, Chan, Larry each one sought
out their loved ones to give them a hug
for the all their support.
When Chot came out of the locker room and hugged his wife
and wept, I gave him a big high five and said: You did it coach! When Coach Tab saw me, he grabbed me, hugged me
tightly and said we did it! I said look how far we’ve gone, who would have thought
we would get here (when I first called you 2 months or so ago). Larry Fonacier said: sama ka sa Spain ha!
Time to start brushing up on my Espanol
Time to start brushing up on my Espanol
No comments:
Post a Comment