Hey Everyone,
 
Sorry it has taken me a while to get on here and write about Poland, but you know how things go.  I have to start by saying it was a great experience.  So many new faces to the US Handball world is great.  We need to keep it going!
 
The facilities were great.  We always had a big buffet at each meal.  Although I have to say I think we had an overall consensus that there were too many cucumbers at breakfast.  Other then that we stayed fed and full which is always important on these kinds of trips.  The Polish Federation really took care of us.  It was really nice to know we had support from outsiders in our situation.  They were excited to see improvement throughout the week and always cheering us on in the stands at our games.  They were very impressed with how young we were even for a Junior National Team and how we just didn’t seem to give up no matter how big the deficit was.
 
So obviously everything wasn’t so positive.  The scores were a little tough to take.  But the truth is people can say whatever they want but we have to start somewhere.  And against the best 19 year olds in the world (U19 Champs in Europe) from Norway we lost 11 – 59.  Yikes, I know.  Welcome to handball.  But we have to lose big before we can learn how to win and win big.  We went with many girls around the age of 15 that had only played for 6 – 12 months.  The older players also had little training for the most part.  We did have three girls that are US citizens that have grown up in Europe playing Handball play with us and that is really exciting.   I hope that they stay involved along with the rest of the new kids on the block.  So many new faces that are already learning to love this great game of Handball.  In the end, we lost all 4 games that we played but we learned a lot and we are that much closer to competing on the world level.  It might not be tomorrow but hopefully in the near future.  I still want to be on the court when we do!!
 
So from this week in Poland we have to keep rolling.  We need all of my new USA Teammates to stay with the sport and keep learning.  We need more coaches, players, and spectators.  I know this is old news to anyone that has been reading this blog or is already part of the system but maybe think outside the box.  Who else can we introduce to this game?  It belongs in the US.

Happy Holidays,

Jen