 
Coach G's journey to the gold: July 28
July 28, 2008
Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful summer. It's hard to believe it's almost time to leave for the Olympics. Thus far summer has been busy and exciting. I had a great time in Beijing in April during our warm-up tourney and got to visit the Great Wall of China and Tiananmen Square. We wanted to enjoy some of the sights on that trip, because we knew when we go back in August for the Olympics we will have very little (if any) time to sight-see. During some of my time back in Austin, my staff and I had an opportunity to gather at the lake and we had a blast. We got everyone in a big inner tube and also on the speed boat and jet ski. My simple goal as the driver was to make sure everyone fell off the inner tube at some point. My staff was stronger and more agile than I thought ... except for Coach DeMoss. She made me go so slow I think I fell asleep at the wheel! The entire team stayed on campus this summer so they could all work out together and get ready for next season. I'm really proud of how hard they're working and I know it will all pay off. In June we held our camps and were so fortunate to have great coaches and players in attendance. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and the All Star game was full of incredible players. The month of July was spent recruiting. This is the one month in the summer that college coaches can go out and recruit, and we make the most of it. We're allowed to have three coaches out on the road, so we are all over the country watching as many events as possible. July took me to Portland, Dallas, Colorado Springs, Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans. Games usually started at 8 in the morning and ended at 11 at night. It's a long time to be in a gym and even longer to sit on bleachers, but if we get the recruits we're after, it's all worth it. The Olympic team has finally been announced and we are all anxious to get started. We'll only have six days of practice before our first game. The advantage most of the other countries will have over us is that they have all played together for much longer than Team USA and have developed great chemistry, both on and off the court.
It's really hard to develop chemistry in such a short period of time but we will do our best! Russia beat us in the World Championships and Australia beat Russia. China just beat us in the Friendship tournament so we will have our work cut out for us. I wouldn't have it any other way. We all love challenges and want to be the very best in the world! We are determined to come home with the gold! This is going to be another incredible journey ... join me on the ride! Coach G |
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