Hello again from Israel! Last Wednesday was probably our most enjoyable day of touring. The day began with a trip to the Dead Sea, where Jacqui Kalin (CJ as we have started calling her as she is our captain) broke out her newspaper while she floated sitting up. From the Dead Sea we took the cable cars up to Masada, where we learned or re-learned the fascinating historical story of the Israeli's fleeing the Romans. The day ended with a traditional Bedouin dinner....belly dancers and all. As much fun as we had on Wednesday, Thursday was an emotionally and difficult day. Our day started with a trip to Yad Va'shem...the Holocaust Museum. Regardless of how many museums you have been too and how many movies you have watched, Yad Va'shem is absolutely gut wrenching. Although it's difficult to articulate your feelings, I believe we all walked out of there with a mixture of sadness, anger, and with absolute amazement of how our People rose out of the ashes and continued to prosper. Israel is a constant reminder of our strength and resilience.

Let the Games Begin! I told our players that the Opening Ceremonies were going to blow their minds. Yet...to understand it, you have to experience it. We walked in with our USA delegation of over 1,100 to a sold out arena of over 30,000 screaming/cheering fans. CJ helped lead the way behind two-time gold medalist Garret Webber-Gale, as she was given the distinct honor of being one of our delegations flag holders. As much as I hyped up the feeling of walking out in that stadium to our players...I don't think I gave it justice. I am sure that will be a feeling they will remember for the rest of their lives. The ceremony included speeches from Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres with a recorded speech from President Obama.  Being part of an athletic event where Jewish athletes were represented from over 70 countries (including India, Zimbabwe, and Kazakhstan...yes where Borat is from) a little over 70 years after the Holocaust...made me incredibly proud. 

Now, onto our first game! Eight hours after our bus rolled into our hotel parking lot after a very late night from the opening ceremonies, we tipped off with our game against the defending champions...Israel. A little about the European style of play - picture if we combined basketball and rugby. Yes, that is how physical our game was for 40 minutes. Israel came out and threw the first punch (sort of literally). It took us a bit to adjust to the physicality of the game, the widened paint and the officials who apparently don't call fouls nor travels. The first half saw the lead change over a handful of times. We went into halftime down by one. The Israeli's kept their lead throughout the second half until we realized they could not stop our inside game. With Carli Rosenthal and Lauren Batista owning the paint and Allysa Baron taking it to the rim we finally took back the lead with under three minutes left to play. Up by three with 19 seconds left we needed one big stop. The Israeli's were clutch in their last possession and hit a 3 at the buzzer. We are headed to overtime! The next five minutes were all USA and we got our first WIN! I was incredibly proud of the team...the game was not an easy one to play, but they stayed tough, played with heart and pulled out the victory. Great way to begin the Games!

Next up...Canada. More soon!

Go USA!

#goingforgold