This past club basketball season, I had the amazing opportunity to play with BC United in the Girls UAA league (UAA is the Under Armour Association). Our team was one of two Canadian teams in this league competing against some of the toughest 16U/17U teams in North America. Within the Girls UAA league, there were three main tournaments, one in Pennsylvania which took place in April, the next took place in Indiana in July, and the finals were in Atlanta, Georgia. These were the main events that took place, however alongside these tournaments, we also went to various other tournaments in Canada and the United States.
During the month of July, I was gone for a total of 16 days on these trips with the first one lasting 9 days followed by a 4 day break with practices then another 7 day trip. This was a super busy yet exciting month for me, having the experience to play against girls who were stronger, bigger, taller and more skilled. The grit and determination that these American girls had while playing was on an entirely different level to Canadian competition. It made me compete at a much higher intensity and really showed me what it was going to take to play at the next level aka university.
Before the beginning of the first July tournament, I felt excited yet nervous for these tournaments. I just tried my best to not focus on the nervousness but more so on how excited I was to get to travel to the other side of North America for a sport that I loved to play and compete against the best. We began our trip by flying into Chicago then driving 5 hours to Louisville, Kentucky where we would compete at the Run 4 Roses tournament. This was a pretty long travel day as we left early in the morning from Vancouver and didn’t arrive into Louisville until 1 in the morning. The following day, we had an hour and a half practice at the facility to get a feel for the courts. This was really helpful as we got to get some reps up and go over our team plays. Throughout this tournament, our team definitely had our ups and downs. Some games went really well and we were working together as a team but other days we just didn’t have that connection and we weren’t making the number of baskets we needed. The one thing that was consistent throughout all of our tournaments was our team’s defence and our overall effort. We always help teams to lower scores and used our quickness and agility to shut the opposing team down. After competing at this tournament, we then headed to Westfield, Indiana to play at the second Girls UAA tournament. As there were only 32 of the top teams competing within this league, the competition was fierce and the facilities were amazing. This tournament was held at the Indiana Pacers training facility which was unbelievably nice.
As all of these tournaments were huge events, you can probably imagine the number of recruiting scouts watching all of the games. Prior to these events, I had never experienced having university coaches assess and watch our games. During one of our games alone, there were 30 scouts watching. At first, it was a little nerve wracking to have all these coaches watching however I realized that I shouldn’t let this make me nervous but instead I just needed to play my own game and show my effort and perseverance.
Here are some of the photos from the trip:
For the second July trip, we headed off to Atlanta, Georgia for 7 days. All of these trips we took to the east coast were a really great experience as I’d never been to anywhere in the States other than Washington, Oregon, California and Florida. The two tournaments we had in Atlanta were the Peach Splash tournament and the UAA finals.
During our first tournament, The Peach Splash we stayed in a hotel right in downtown Atlanta. This hotel was massive, with over 45 floors, 12 elevators and a huge lobby.
The tournament itself was held in a huge facility with over 50 courts and over 200 colleges at the tournament watching the games. At our first game alone there were over 30 scouts watching our game. This was a really cool experience and right off the bat I came out strong and hit a 3 pointer and made a layup. This entire tournament was a decent one for our team but we still could have done better. I think the big difference between Canadian and American teams is the grit, effort and strength. These attributes are the big things that us Canadian players need to work on. For me specifically, I have grit and effort, I just need to continue to build my strength and be able to finish a basket with contact.
Our next tournament was the UAA Finals which took place in a convention centre close to the airport. By far, out of all the tournaments, this was my favourite facility because of one factor, THE PLAYER LOUNGE!! This tournament was such an amazing experience especially being able to play against and watch some of the top players in the 17U division. Plus of course having the player lounge was super cool!! There was an Xbox, recovery pneumatic unit pumps for your legs, snacks, headbands, a basketball arcade game and a physio for the players.
The games we played at the UAA finals were a lot tougher than the ones at the previous tournaments. We were playing against some fo the best teams in North America and it was definitely a great learning experience. In my opinion, the best way to get better is to practice but then also putting yourself in the position of playing against better players who will make you step up to their level of play. During this tournament, I played against girls who were quicker, stronger, and/or taller which helped me compete and develop my own skills.
While going on these trips, we also did a lot of stuff outside of basketball including shopping at some outlet malls, going around the cities, and visiting some museums. Some of my favourite places we visited were The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky and Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Muhammad Ali Centre was such an amazing place to see. The non profit, cultural centre took us through Muhammad Ali’s life, from childhood all the way to his career including the struggles he faced throughout his life. The most inspirational part of his story was his perseverance and determination to become the best in the boxing world. He didn’t let anyone affect his path to success, and when he did reach his goal he continually strived to become even better. Written around the entire centre were all the quotes he has said which were in a lot of cases very poetic. One of my favourite quotes of his is “Don’t count the days; make the days count.” because it really shows that if you put in a lot of work and effort everyday, results will come. Here are some photos of the museum:
Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Georgia was a really cool place to visit not only for the beautiful view of the sunset but the history of the building. The building was originally home to Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other retail stores from 1926 to 1979. The building was then used as the city hall in 1990. Today the building still uses the old elevator from when the building was originally built. When we went to Ponce City Market, we went up to the roof of the building where there was a beautiful view of the city. It was golden hour perfect for taking some photos of our team. This was a really fun place to go with my team and nice to see a part of Atlanta.
One thing I learned from all these tournaments was how mentally tough I needed to be. With playing that many games, my body became physically tired which made playing the fast paced games a heck of a lot harder. This is where the mental toughness had to kick in as when things weren’t necessarily going my way whether it be a missed shot or just a simple mistake.
Link: https://images.app.goo.gl/sjmbWyjmCL283kcY8
To become more focused and improve my mental toughness, I decided to use an app called Headspace to listen to a sports competition meditation. This was super helpful in the sense that it helped me accept my mistakes and move forward to really put everything I have into competing to the best of my abilities.