Road to London 2012: Welcome to London!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Welcome to London!

We made it...and without any lost persons or bags, so totally a positive!! After landing at Heathrow in London and a brief stop for a photo with Dorothy and the others from Oz (yes I loved the irony that I was actually not in Kansas anymore) we headed to the bus for a 1.5 hour tour of the outskirts of London! We viewed the city and the many beautiful sites we may not actually have time to see, but the tour was great!

We arrived at the Paralympic Villlage and had about an hour to eat, change, and grab a ride to processing! Processing is the warehouse where outfitting for the Games and ceremonies happens. Never before have Paralympians been given 99 items, but this time...we did and it was certainly a process!! Who knew that trying on clothes for 4 hours could be such a workout and lead to some members of the team overheating and becoming dehydrated.

Today we had practice and then a "friendly" game against Great Britain (GB)...ugh it was close! BUT the US prevailed! We had a few rough patches and a solid end game! I will say it wasn't our best game ever, but we certainly liked the win at this point in the game! We have practice twice tomorrow!

Most importantly...I'd like to let you in on a little team secret...it's GOOGLE!! Most think of this as a Internet search engine but to the US Women's Wheelchair Basketball Team it's a happy word, a word used to make you find your "happy place," a word used to take you out of that negative funk! I Googled at least 300 times today...but mostly because I was helping my teammates and the staff get to their happy place...I was actually accused of being too happy today...clearly I have found my Google place...thank you happy words!!

Until tomorrow....good night!

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About Me- The Basics

I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. In 1995 I became partially paralyzed when my body thought my spinal cord was a disease, attacked my nerves, and permanently damaged them. Three years later I made my first international team and I have been competing at the Paralympic level since. I competed in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia and 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece as a swimmer, capturing a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke in Sydney and finishing 4th in Athens. From 2000-2002, I set, held, and reset the World Record in the 1500m freestyle.

In 2002, I started college at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. While earning both my degrees, I was a member of the Women's Wheelchair Basketball team and helped them earn 5 National titles. In 2004, my shoulder injuries had compounded and my swimming career came to an end. However, in 2005 I was selected as a member of the USA Women's Wheelchair Basketball team and I have since competed and helped the US win silver at the 2006 World Championships, and win Gold at the 2007 and 2011 ParaPan American Games, the 2010 World Championships, and the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.

This year will be a year of big endings and new beginnings for me...as Captain of the USA Women's Wheelchair Basketball Team I will compete in my fourth and final Paralympic Games in London. So as I count down to the end of my athletic career and the next chapter begins, I hope you'll join in the celebration, the chaos, and the fun of the Road to London!

About Me- The Truth

I believe that basketball, work, and well life in general, are supposed to be fun; that every day is an opportunity to make yourself and the world around you a bit better; and that it’s ok to take things seriously, as long as you don’t take yourself too seriously. I regularly make fun of myself and laugh at my own craziness!

I actually think basketball paints a great picture of who I am and who I strive to be. You're probably accustomed to watching a team shoot, pass, and run some speed drills during warm-up, and you’re guaranteed to see all of that with Team USA, as well. But then you’ll take another look…and you’ll likely see me, USA #11…and with a song in my head and my headphones blaring, my game prep always includes some bad dance moves and occasionally some really bad singing! And as you watch my warm-up you'll notice that I don't seem to care too much about how bad it looks or if anyone is watching…it’s not about a show... it’s all about keeping it fun and light. I joke it's not about how good you play, it's about how good you look, but in reality it's how good you feel and I believe that laughter is the best medicine and have learned over time not to take myself too seriously…so I don't, especially on the court!

Fun is instrumental to success on and off the court and with the right playlist I know anything is possible! So while I may have to apologize to our coaching staff, 4 men who over the years have listened to "Booty Wurk" probably 1,000 times and who have suffered through the 90s boy-bands over and over again...I know it works!

Despite the “unconventional” warm-up as you watch the game you’ll see the serious athlete you expect and the game deserves. It's like a complete transformation...say good-bye to the bubbly, never met a stranger personality and hello to serious competitor.

So in a nutshell...like me don't expect this Road to be too serious...but expect it to be a bit silly, definitely a bit unexpected, and an all around GOOD TIME!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Welcome to London!

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