Try #Tebowing

This is a journey that started 6 months ago and it's been full of ups and downs. We are battling the injuring bug right now, not too mention this is the most demanding time of the semester for our athletes' academics. Tomorrow night is all about seeing what kind of character comes out during adversity - I'm excited for the girls that normally don't get big minutes that have a great opportunity in front of them! Changing a culture is not easy but if there has been any improvement it will show in the little things and how we respond. Win or Lose we are going for the Tebow effect - respect the game enough to not take the opportunity for granted.


Duckworth Challenge here we come!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Mich (-22)

The Goodwin Project

Due to my crazy busy day and short night, I'll keep it simple. Stumble across this video and I really enjoyed the concept to the project - check it out!



"Step into the current faithfully, inquisitively, boldly and with good will." AG (-23)
Mich

Blue Planet

Everyone talks about the NBA lockout ending, which would mean more basketball on TV here in Canada for those of us not lucky enough to get all the extra sports channels, but I love college ball. Maybe it's because I like the fact that I don't have to try and figure out salary caps and trade dead lines but truth of the matter is I just find it more enjoyable to watch, whatever the reason. More importantly I am a huge Duke fan! It all started, like most sport things in my life, with wanting to be like my brother so that was his team so it was my team too. But over the past few years it has been so much fun being a Duke fan, mostly because people hate them haha. I look forward to another full season of getting chastise because I'm a 'duke-crazy' and don't mind in the least ..... I will love every minute of it!!
Check out their media/fan site - dukeblueplanet - they do a fantastic job of keeping the site up to date!


Quick Game Notes:
On the Women's side - they will be fun to watch because they are so young but they can all shoot the 3 ball and run the floor hard. I think, they will have the rookie of the year in Williams (hope I get the chance to see them at Final Four).
For the already highly talked about men ... Yes Austin Rivers may be overrated but every Duke team needs someone the fans can hate the most and he is starting at a fresh 4 years. Ryan Kelly ... yes exactly "who?" You will know soon enough. Seth Curry, yeah the other Curry, will be a PTP when no one else steps up! And the Plumlees - take your pick, you never know which one will step up but there are enough to choose from!

Just another source of inspiration and sport fun in my life :).

"There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride." Coach K
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Ulimate

After a very successful outdoor season playing Ultimate (Frisbee) with the Wiskey Discs, winning the A/B division, a portion of that team decided to play indoor. But with the idea that we would drop all the way down to the D division so that we could get a new group of friends to learn the game and for the rest of us to play in positions that we don't normally do. We formed the Hucks Unlimited! I'm enjoying learning more about the handling position - basically I can't just running around anymore and catch touchdowns, I actually have to 'learn' the game. It's been fun, the less competitive side to the division is a bit tough at times but it's nice to get the run in! We play Thursday and Sunday nights (10:30pm+) so it's a nice way to blow some steam off at the end of the day. So for now I'll just focus on learning and getting better at throwing a 'Frisbee' around!


(A little video, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say 'ultimate' OR if you have a preexisting picture in your head about people just throwing a Frisbee around - its way more intense than your think!)

"If you can't take the heat, don't tickle the dragon." SF (-25)
Mich

My October Photoshot

Back on October 19th I found myself with the afternoon and evening off from basketball and nothing major to be done for school work so I decided to take advantage of the 'warmer' weather we were having for that time of year and take some pictures. I was inspired with the spot when I had been driving out to the new property my Uncle Georg and Auntie Lynn are building their new house on. It started with me just taking pictures of these old cars, which turned into me stopping at the training tracks, which turned into me waiting till magic hour (sunset) happened on the prairie landscape! I happen to choose this 'quick' outing on the way back from Dr.Z (my chiropractor) and JP happen to be stuck in my vehicle, but he was a champ and stuck it out till the bitter end with me - I couldn't feel my hands or feet but insisted on 'just one more pic' about 10 times. Another reason I wanted to take the pictures was to try and re-teach myself some Photoshop skills because I finally got a real version to put on computer. Needless to said I have not had the time to do so - so just posting them is a feat, besides unedited photo are more authentic right (?) and I have filters on my camera that make for some edited type looks. So here is a few of my favorites.


















Thanks for viewing!! Until next time ....

"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow!" IC (-26)
Mich

Friday Night Notes:

- Winnipeg continues to live up its reputation as being one of the best cities in Canada for a wide variety of quality restaurants. I went with my uncle and cousin to the Peasant Cookery (Downtown Winnipeg). The food was awesome, decent prices, upscale atmosphere without the elitism and mostly local organic food. I would highly recommend to anyone who gets the opportunity to go to do so :)


- I normally would not consider myself a Black Friday type of person but it had a purpose this year so I was pretty excited to get started with shopping. Bought a very special and exciting gift for someone that I'm having a hard time thinking that I have to wait a month for them to open - but its going to blow them away so it's worth the wait!


- McMaster won it's first Vanier Cup in school history, which was not only a great game but no better way to further prove the quality of university sport in our country. Congrats Mac!


- Concluded that I'm not 100% sold on the winter tires concept, I have polled a good amount of people, experienced, non-experienced, good, bad, Manitobans, non-Manitoban drivers and the majority rules that due to lack of hills and the slow pace at which everyone drives here anyways they are just a waste of money. We will see how much Mom can guilt me into getting them ....


Other than the many other thousand things that went on in the world today, there is never a dull moment. I'm taking advantage of this Saturday not being a game day by sleeping in and than getting some major school work done.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Talk soon.

"Taking time to figure out what the best part of your day was, is an opportunity to be thankful." (-26)
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Finding Inspiration

Days when it seems like nothing can go your way I'm lucky that I have had a great support system of people around me that have either helped me, inspired me, shown me or told me to suck it up. One of the biggest jobs that being an assistant coach for women between the ages of 17-23 is helping them feel that same support - don't get me wrong most of them have great support systems themselves but it doesn't always cover the complex reality of not getting playing time, not getting enough sleep, or balancing school and training. So like any member of generation Y, I search the web for resources, ideas or general inspiration on a lot matters. Here are some recent favorites that have helped; it's always healthy to get a reminder of some perspective or a refresh on why you are doing what you are doing.









Seconds - I Am Second

http://life-engineering.com/

http://espn.go.com/espn/e60/indexId

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress" FD (-27)
Mich

Lookin' for a W

It's not very informative or up to date - but since we play UofW tomorrow I thought I would share a video I made at the beginning of the season. The assistants, Eric, JP and myself, put in a lot of time this summer just trying to refresh the culture of the team and try and make it as fun as possible to work hard. Hoping to give you a full update after our last game before winter break so enjoy this for now ....



"Success isn't determined by your abilities, its determined by your commitment and heart." (-28)
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Ideas Worth Sharing ...

The inspiration from a person who is consistently giving it ....





"Storms make oaks take roots." Pv (29)
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Rekindling the blogger in me ....

(Granite Lake, Ontario)

Laughing at my last post - first line is the famous last words of a typical amateur blogger. Classic "I'm going to start writing more", than don't post again for 5 months haha ....
Well I have had more than a few people nicely tell me I'm slacking, which didn't really bug me till it became an echoing voice in my head which lead to guilt. But why guilt - its my blog, my time to create posts? Than I figured it out ... It's like that feeling of just getting so far behind that the thought of having to catch up just doesn't seem possible (let's not make the obvious assumption that the homework-procrastination-mentality controls my way of thinking). And a little bit of guilt comes from the fact that I like writing and it's probably therapeutic for me considering I spend all day listening to people talk TO me and I'm not encouraged to state my own thoughts; which don't get me wrong I get inspired by or get smarter but some days are long. Anyways this is the official post of "I'm back but don't hold your breath" - I'm completely content with the fact that there is a trillion more interesting things to read on the web so I'm not too worried about disappointing any followers that are left haha.

"Declare your intentions. Silence your goals." SN (-30 days)
Mich