Battle of the Bay
Basketball season has started! I am very excited to be co-coaching with another teacher at the school. We are both new to coaching basketball and the girls have been really patient with us as we've started the season and started travelling for games.
Two weekends ago the team traveled to Savoonga to play their first game of the season, and last weekend we snow machined across the bay to Teller for the 2016 Battle of the Bay tournament. Before we left we spent a few evenings together tie-dying and painting our team shirts!
Over the weekend, the girls really came together as a team through the four games they played together. Although we traveled with only 5 eligible players (no subs, yikes!), we were able to win a well matched game against St. Michael with only 4 players on the court in the last quarter after one of the girls fouled out. Their improvement as a team and as individual players is already making their coaches very very proud!
Our journey to Teller for the tournament was an exciting one- more than usual at least. Because the sea is now very frozen and ice very thick we were able to snow machine across. Total I think it is about 10 miles. Friday morning a few snow machines made the first trip over to Teller with all of the luggage from both boys and girls teams. The next trip the boys were taken over to get ready for their game at 1:30. Then after lunch, all of us girls piled into two snow machines with sleds behind to make the 20 minute drive across the frozen sea ice. Of course I had forgotten my snow pants and goggles as I rushed out the door for school that morning... so I was a little cold by the time we got there. But I survived with just my knees a little frozen and face a little wind burnt. (One of the women from the village was able to bring my gear over to Teller for me for the ride back- I was much warmer then!)
Two weekends ago the team traveled to Savoonga to play their first game of the season, and last weekend we snow machined across the bay to Teller for the 2016 Battle of the Bay tournament. Before we left we spent a few evenings together tie-dying and painting our team shirts!
Over the weekend, the girls really came together as a team through the four games they played together. Although we traveled with only 5 eligible players (no subs, yikes!), we were able to win a well matched game against St. Michael with only 4 players on the court in the last quarter after one of the girls fouled out. Their improvement as a team and as individual players is already making their coaches very very proud!
The sunrise on the way there (around 12:00pm) and the sunset on the way back (around 4:00pm) were beautiful across the ice, but for fear of frost bitten fingers I didn't dare take my mittens off to get a picture.
While we were staying in Teller, we had a lot of fun as a team not only on the court...
...but off the court too! We spent some time just relaxing together... (translation: eating junk food, talking about boys (the girls trying to set me up with any and all available Eskimo men in the surrounding 3 village radius as I threw pillows at them and made up a boyfriend from NY), and grading my students papers for me...)
And, to make you jealous of Alaska and tempt you to just spend the money and come visit me (I promise it'd be so worth it!), some pictures of the sunset a few days ago. And just to be even more convincing, the sky does this almost everyday:
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