US Wins GOLD

After three weeks of trials, practices, scrimmages, and pool play, the Gold Medal game finally arrived. We watched Brazil come from behind on Saturday against Canada to earn a spot in the Gold Medal game. We defeated Chile in the other semi-final to advance to a much anticipated day of competition. It was hard to find a way to challenge our players after winning our first 4 games by a 40 point or more margin. Plus we had played Brazil twice already so we decided to give them an opportunity to come up with their own game scout as well as game goals so that they would have some accountability in the preparation.

You could see the positive energy of the players throughout the day. We took them to IHOP for a gold medal breakfast and after our scout session we headed over to our last shootaround of the tournament. I think the players were just as excited to be going home as they were to play the game. We had all been in Colorado Springs since June 7th so it was hard to blame them. Many of the player’s families came out to watch the tournament and the stands were filled with anticipation of the culmination of the process as well.

Whenever you coach a team like this, you never know what kind of mix of players you’re going to get. Before I arrived I was nervous that it would be difficult to build chemistry with so many different players from different backgrounds in such a short amount of time. So on the last day, I couldn’t have been more proud of the TEAM we put together. We progressed so much as basketball players, as people and as a team. It was fun to watch things click for this team and see the excitement on their faces when they realized how great they could be. Don’t get me wrong, there were times I had to remind them not to settle or worry about the margin of victory. I challenged them to work to be the best version of themselves and compete against that. And for the most part, they did.

This is the first gold medal in their young careers. I hope there will be many more to come and I’ll be proud to have been a small part of it. It’s exciting to think that there may have been a future Olympian on this team so you can bet I’ll be watching their careers from afar, rooting for their success. As for me, I gained a great deal of experience and will be excited for my next opportunity to coach the U19 World Championship team next summer.

For all that followed, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the experience as well. Now it’s time to get back to Hartford and start getting ready for the 2010-2011 season with the Hawks!