Shake True Blog

 

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Diary #3

Posted February 27, 2008

Hey Guys! It has been a while and a lot has happened I thought it was about time for an update.

Like I said lots has happened since after Christmas to me in school and ball. We have just wrapped up our season and are now heading into playoffs. We finished second in our division. Last year we finished second last and didn’t even make playoffs so you can imagine how good it feels to finish second. Our first playoff game is this Saturday at 3. We don’t know who we play yet, because we get a first round by and we will play the highest seeded winner.

It is currently reading week for me at university so I can just focus on ball and playoffs as well as catch up on some much needed school work. School has been going well and I have gotten all my marks back from first semester; I have grabbed my 80% average, which means if I get the same kind of mark this semester I will be recognized as an academic all Canadian, which was my goal from the start of the year. It wasn’t easy but I’m very happy the hard work paid off.

It’s been a long second half of the season, and a lot of hard work. We have has some rough road trips, rough losses, and some great success. One of the most memorable road trips this season was when we played York and Laurentian. York, Laurentian and Ottawa are almost in a triangle all about 5 hours apart. We played York on Friday, so we left for Toronto on Thursday night on one of the coldest days of the year. The men’s and women’s team got on the bus only to find that the heat didn’t work. The bus driver ensured us that it would start working soon. Five hours later we arrived in Toronto, shivering and still in our parkas. We played a triple over time game on Friday night and won; right after that we hopped on the bus at 11 PM and drove 5 hours to Laurentian. We got in at 4 AM and had to get up for an 11 AM shoot around. Then we played Laurentian that night (another close one) and got on the bus at 11 again to drive 5 hours back to Ottawa that night. It was a very exhausting weekend.

Another memorable moment this season was playing at the Scotiabank Centre in Ottawa, where the Senators play. We played Carleton University, our biggest rivals. We broke the record of the most people attending a CIS event with 10 000 fans. Our game was broadcasted on The Score across Canada and it was an amazing experience to be part of all that. We lost the game, which kind of brought down the experience, but it was amazing none the less. 

My new semester is going well, and it is nice to have a little change. I do have a heavier course load this semester, so it will be more of a challenge to keep up my marks. If all goes well, season will be done in about 3 weeks. That is if we beat U of T and advance to the OUA finals and head to Nationals in Regina.

I never knew truly what working hard was until this season and pushing yourself to you extreme limits, and I hope all this hard work pays off.

My hard work has been paying off for the second half of the season as I’m starting to get some decent minutes. I am not the most talented player on the team and will never be the one called on the save the game or do something big. I have realized this and realized my role and what it is I need to do to make this team better. I focus on what I can control. I make sure I know all the plays and all the positions inside and out. I stay focused in practice and make sure I know exactly what coach expects of us. These are the things I can control, but I can’t control my physical abilities. The most important thing I have learned this season is to perfect the things you can control, and this has gotten me to where I am today; by just doing the simple things.

I will have another post for you guys after season is completely done to give you guys an insight on post season plans and how we did. Make sure to keep your self updated with playoff action, because most of the games are on TV on Rodgers.  

Thanks for listening!!!

 

Jade

 

P.S. We just beat University of Toronto Last night for the OUA East title. We are in OUA finals Saturday night against Windsor AND we have qualified for nationals in Regina. Updates to come about that!

 

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Diary #2

Posted December 5, 2008

Hey guys!

 

I thought it was about time for a little update. I’m just getting settled for exams right now. It’s pretty hectic. I have four exams this semester which is not too bad compared to the usual five. We get a break from games for the next five weeks but we don’t really get a break from practice, so I still have to keep every thing balanced during exam time and cannot forget about ball. Coach expects us to come back from this game break in way better shape than before. Obviously he is more lenient this time of the year as we are able to miss practices if need be.

 

So far I have been meeting all of my academic goals. I set out to make academic All-Canadian at the start of the year and that means I have to hold an 80% average for the year. It has been very challenging as I have to miss class once and a while and find ways to stay focused on the road. For me what helped to stay on top of my school work is that I found it important to introduce myself and my situation to my professors. This way when things come up and I need an extension or I need to get notes I missed they are much more understanding. Next semester will be a little more challenging as I am taking five classes. Now that I am almost done second year of school and second year of ball, things are becoming a little more manageable. I don’t think even Superman can go into first year of university playing on a varsity team and not go though some bumps along the way before he figured it all out.

 

In terms of basketball our season is going pretty well. We are currently 5-4. We are going in the right direction; we are just inconsistent right now and trying to get it altogether. One weekend we beat the 3^rd ranked team in the nation (Windsor) and then the next weekend lost to a rather young, inexperienced team (Brock). We have a lot of work to do and I know if we work to our potential we will be a very successful team. Other than two new players that have come in as 5^th year transfers we are the same team as last year. There are no 1^st year players on our team so I am still the youngest on the team, which is rough because you always hope to move up in the ranks in your second year. I didn’t get much playing time at first but I am slowly earning more and more time as the season goes, and working my butt off to get there, so hopefully it will all pay off.

 

I will keep you all posted if I meet my 80% average for this first semester after I get though finals!

 

Wish me luck!

 

I’ll post again soon after Christmas.

 

Jade

 

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Diary #1

 

Posted October 8, 2008

Hey guys! Sorry this has taken so long, but like Scott said the start up of school can get pretty crazy. I am finally starting to feel more settled in now.

Here is a little bit about me. My name is Jade Fair I’m 19 and going into my second year at the University of Ottawa. I am in Human Kinetics and majoring in leisure studies. I am not exactly sure what I want to do after University but I am enjoying my course a lot. I live in a house with two other girls just off campus. They are both on the softball team here, which is a nice balance for me so that I am not thinking about ball all the time and we can talk about different things. I have played basketball since I was seven at the school, rep, regional and varsity levels.

I chose to come to Ottawa for a few reasons. One, because they offered a course here that was really interesting to me and I had heard good things about the program and two, because I had always loved coming to visit the city; I really love downtown Ottawa (which is exactly where the campus is located). And three, when I came on my recruiting trip I got along with the girls her better than every other school I had visited, and since you are pretty much with your team 24/7 I thought that was pretty important. So far I still love my course, I love the city more and more each day, and my teammates have become some of the best friends I will ever meet.

My first year playing was a very interesting one. At the start of the year we were expected to be one of the top teams in CIS, and were to compete with every team. Our coach kept 18 players at first and many of them were much more experienced than me. I did not expect to play a lot that year but I was learning so much from the older, more experienced girls that I was just happy to be given the opportunity to be on the team at all. Just as pre-season was ending four of our starters (three of them captains) decided that they where not going to play that year after all. So our team was not as good as we were expected to be but I did get a lot more opportunities than I would have with the other girls still there.

We did not have a very successful year at all and I was very frustrated bcause the year was not what I expected at all out of my first year of playing varsity ball. Our coach got let go at the end of the year. I knew that next year was a fresh start with a new coach. I knew I had to work my butt off in the off-season so that I was able to show the new coach that I was someone he wanted on his team because everyone had to tryout for the team again starting in September.

I have known Shaker pretty much through out all my years playing in Guelph and had helped out with some of his summer camps but had never received one-on-one coaching from him. I called him up this summer and he suggested I go to his summer camp for elite athletes. I can honestly say that if I did not work out with Shake this summer that I would probably not have made the team this year. Shake True Hoops gave me confidence in what used to be my weakness. Shake identified what my weaknesses were at the start of the summer and helped me improve on them throughout his camp. 

During a meeting with my new coach he had told me that he was surprised about what he had saw from me and I new I was a very different player than what he may have heard about from last year. I knew then that I had greatly improved over the summer.

I am having a much better time this year with basketball and I can see lots of improvements in the team this year. We are currently 5-0 in our pre season. Practices are killer and coach has made it pretty clear that we are going to be the hardest working team in the University. I have learned so much this year already and I am really excited to see how we do this year. I am not sure how I stand on the team this year in terms of playing time and such. But I am feeling more confident in my game this year.

 It’s a lot bigger commitment this year as he has us doing four hours of study hall each week, individual workouts with coach, weight work out three times a week, games on weekend, 40 hours of community service to be completed this year, reffing intramurals and two hour practices each day on top of that. It’s a lot to handle but it’s so rewarding to accomplish these things that make it so worth it.

That’s all for now! Our regular season doesn’t start till November 4^th, but ill keep you posted on the rest of our pre-season.

 

Thanks,

 

Jade #13