After ploughing through the breakfast buffet once more, the Korus regrouped with a recovery session in the hotel hallway. Foam rollers were the torture weapon of the day as we lined up and were taken through a series of exercises by Bevan. After a couple of days training, tight muscles were causing some discomfort and plenty of moaning and groaning in the hallway was heard for an hour or so. After a short team talk from the captains, we headed off to the hall to train and to excise some of the demons from yesterdays performance.
Continuing with our daily tradition, Koru today was presented to Mikey for his gutsy game against the Japanese team after feeling unwell from his crayfish binge the day before. It was a solid training with the focus on getting our tactical structure back in place and moving the ball with more freedom around the court. Coach Garrett worked us hard as the sweat continued to drip off us throughout the session.
In another must win game to secure our chance of making the semi-finals, the Korus began with Bevan (c), Spencer, Bateup and Loralee in attack, Simon, Mikey, Kelsey and Rachel in defence. It was a proud moment for Rachel making her first start for the team, experiencing the run out and national anthem pre-game protocols.
We started much more confidently than the previous day, with Spencer bringing plenty of energy to the court and bagging an early goal from medium range. Bevan followed that up with a similar distance finish a few minutes later. After the switch of ends, Korea was making it more difficult under the basket for the attack. It took a while for us to figure out how to counter the rebound defence tactics that the Koreans were employing. Meanwhile, at the other end, although Korea were showing some effects of their earlier game against Japan, with only three hours recovery between games, they did manage to score a good long shot. Our momentum dropped as Korea upped the ante on their rebound defence, realising that they had an advantage over us in that one aspect of the game where height is a particular advantage. We struggled to break them down, conceded two goals from basic defensive errors and looked to be slipping back into the frustration of the previous day’s contest. Coach Mark went to the bench just before halftime, bringing on Rosa for Kelsey, and the switch had immediate effect with a goal in that section, ironically from Rachel, rather than Rosa, and we went into half time with a one goal lead, 4-3.
As the second half progressed, we finally worked out how to counter Korea’s tactics. They were standing right off, inviting us to shoot in the expectation that their big boys would mop up most of the shots that fell to ground. Simple solution: work the ball close enough into the korf and make sure you score. Rosa took up the challenge in her four, with Loralee taking on a similar role when she was in the attack. Meanwhile, at the other end, our defence was much stronger than in the first half and we restricted Korea to just two goals, and on quite a few occasions managed to pressure them into shot clock turnovers as their energy levels dipped. Rosa’s shooting accuracy made a big difference and enabled us to execute the plan as she pumped in five goals through the half, Loralee and Spencer added the other two to keep the score ticking over and taking the game away from Korea. Final score 11-5 to the Korus
Overall, a better performance than the previous day, though with only 11 goals to show for it, the score didn’t accurately reflect our dominance, and we will need a big step up again to achieve our mission in our next game against Hong Kong tomr
Continuing with our daily tradition, Koru today was presented to Mikey for his gutsy game against the Japanese team after feeling unwell from his crayfish binge the day before. It was a solid training with the focus on getting our tactical structure back in place and moving the ball with more freedom around the court. Coach Garrett worked us hard as the sweat continued to drip off us throughout the session.
In another must win game to secure our chance of making the semi-finals, the Korus began with Bevan (c), Spencer, Bateup and Loralee in attack, Simon, Mikey, Kelsey and Rachel in defence. It was a proud moment for Rachel making her first start for the team, experiencing the run out and national anthem pre-game protocols.
We started much more confidently than the previous day, with Spencer bringing plenty of energy to the court and bagging an early goal from medium range. Bevan followed that up with a similar distance finish a few minutes later. After the switch of ends, Korea was making it more difficult under the basket for the attack. It took a while for us to figure out how to counter the rebound defence tactics that the Koreans were employing. Meanwhile, at the other end, although Korea were showing some effects of their earlier game against Japan, with only three hours recovery between games, they did manage to score a good long shot. Our momentum dropped as Korea upped the ante on their rebound defence, realising that they had an advantage over us in that one aspect of the game where height is a particular advantage. We struggled to break them down, conceded two goals from basic defensive errors and looked to be slipping back into the frustration of the previous day’s contest. Coach Mark went to the bench just before halftime, bringing on Rosa for Kelsey, and the switch had immediate effect with a goal in that section, ironically from Rachel, rather than Rosa, and we went into half time with a one goal lead, 4-3.
As the second half progressed, we finally worked out how to counter Korea’s tactics. They were standing right off, inviting us to shoot in the expectation that their big boys would mop up most of the shots that fell to ground. Simple solution: work the ball close enough into the korf and make sure you score. Rosa took up the challenge in her four, with Loralee taking on a similar role when she was in the attack. Meanwhile, at the other end, our defence was much stronger than in the first half and we restricted Korea to just two goals, and on quite a few occasions managed to pressure them into shot clock turnovers as their energy levels dipped. Rosa’s shooting accuracy made a big difference and enabled us to execute the plan as she pumped in five goals through the half, Loralee and Spencer added the other two to keep the score ticking over and taking the game away from Korea. Final score 11-5 to the Korus
Overall, a better performance than the previous day, though with only 11 goals to show for it, the score didn’t accurately reflect our dominance, and we will need a big step up again to achieve our mission in our next game against Hong Kong tomr