Aloha from Hawaii

I realize we've physically been back from Hawaii for five days but my mind is still reaping the affects of the Aloha State. I can feel the rays of the sun flowing over my body; the smell of the ocean as the waves were rolling upon the sand; and the sound of the seagulls squawking from the azure sky. While the folks in West Virgina were getting hounded by snowflakes, we were on the beach allowing our bodies to feel the heat from a sun which did not know a cloud in the sky.

Yes, we went there to play basketball and I'll not say we were successful on the court. It would be a lie. I am disappointed in our season thus far. We are blatantly underachieving. Our playing continued to be below average as we lost our first contest by a single point and then won our second game by 13.

The success of the trip was not on the court, but it was in the bonding of teammates as they shared memorable moments together. Sometimes a trip can change the outcome of a season. It can create a team chemistry that practice or games cannot. In a place where there are no other friends or boyfriends or other distractions, the players had to rely upon one another for comfort, for laughter and for entertainment.

I did feel a change come over the team. It was subtle like a slight breeze gently blowing through my hair, but I could feel it. There was less tension and struggle between players. There was a feeling of family, of togetherness, of holding one another gently as if this was a moment to be held and kept forever in our memories.

Perhaps I am making this up, wanting us to change, to become the team I believe us to be, yet I feel strangely comforted by the idea of us as champions. I have never lost faith in this group, never believed they weren't good enough, never thought for a moment we couldn't reach our goals, so perhaps I sensed something which wasn't there. Perhaps I just wanted it to be so much that my mind created it, but I don't think so.

I think the trip was special, an entry point into a different season, a starting place for us to come together and begin playing like the team we are. I know I spent more time laughing at the players (I mean with the players) than I have in the past 3 1/2 months. I talked to them differently, heard more about their personal lives and let them more into mine. They became more real to me.

We did spend a memorable breakfast together before our second game. I knew after the loss from the night before when we made exactly the same mistakes as our recent loss to Concord, and I reacted with anger and distance that we had to come back together. At breakfast the day of the game, we had statements where the players had to fill in the blanks. One of the statements was: "If I could be anybody, I would be ____________ because she ___________." The player who received the compliment would then forward it on to another player.

After spending several minutes with this idea we switched the topic to: "If I could change anything about ____________, I would change _____________." We allowed the players the freedom to openly say these ideas without reactions or discussion.

After a few minutes, we switched topics again to say: "I respect _______________ because ____________." We finally ended the breakfast with three rounds of teammates sharing what we needed to do to win. No repeats of a previous statement were allowed.

It was a great breakfast and the open communication was welcome and wonderful. The players left feeling good about themselves and the past game had been forgotten. We won that afternoon not because we played but because we felt more of a unit.

I hope the time apart does not create forgetfulness, and I pray when we come back to practice on the 27th the players will remember Hawaii and how they loved one another there.

ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.