The USA Basketball WWUG team travelled for 30 hours from Colorado Springs to Shenzhen, China.
They got into the dining hall around midnight, met again for breakfast at 9:00 a.m., then went to a delegation briefing at 10:00 a.m., met for lunch at 1:00 p.m., went straight to a press conference that put them back at the village about 3:30 p.m., then got taped an hour later and headed off for a scrimmage against Brazil at 5:35 p.m.
Chiney doesn't look like her usual exuberant self in the photo above, but she wasn't too tired to share her thoughts about the experience:
What was it like, getting out on the court against other international competition?
It was great. It was a nice opportunity to get the kinks out, to finally get loose because we had a long travel. We’re just here trying to get acclimated, so being able to finally hit the floor after seeing so many athletes from so many countries is really great. We were motivated. It was fun.
Were you familiar with any of their players, did you play against any of them at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship?
Coming from the U18 team last year, I was familiar with some of their players and their style. But, it’s a completely different team that we have right now at this event. So it was a different experience. Overall I liked our energy. We got better with every play and every possession and that’s what we’re looking for as we practice.
Take me through your travel day to get China.
The travel, being able to be with the team helps you so much because we rely on each other for energy, entertainment and relaxation. We were just sitting together, bonding as a team, having good conversations and watching TV. We were also very excited about where we were going. Even though it was tiring, we’re fighting the jet lag. We’re finally starting to adjust and we’re happy to be here right now.
Realizing you’ve only been here about 24 hours, can you describe what life is like in the athletes’ village?
It’s been fantastic. The athletes’ village has so many different cultures. You see and meet people from around the world that you would never get to meet, who are also top-tier athletes and great people. The village is just great, food-wise, service-wise. The people of Shenzhen have been way over hospitable. I really enjoy the village and I couldn’t imagine a better experience, coming to the World University Games.
Is there another team, country or sport you’re looking forward to going to watch?
Yeah, I definitely am trying to follow the Stanford people, the swimmers. I know some people who are swimming here, so hopefully I get to go see them compete. Besides that, USA athletes, trying to see as many sports as we can, the different ones, the obscure ones, the mainstream ones and obviously our men’s (basketball) team, hopefully we can catch them, too. USA and Stanford, I’m hoping to watch them all.
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