WE MADE THE TEAM!

On Friday, we got this great idea to go and shoot around after work.  There is a group of us that have wanted to play basketball but not had the chance.  So, Kristin, Aaron, Sara, Charlie Mumba, and myself all met up at the YMCA for a little basketball after work.  When we arrived, there was a group of girls running a practice on the court.  We stepped to the side and watched until they were finished.  After a bit Aaron asked if we could shoot at one end while they played at the other and they asked if we wanted to play 5-on-5 and SO THE GAMES BEGAN!

The five of us showed up to play horse, around the world, and knockout but ended up playing full court 5-on-5 with this team.  After playing for an hour or so, it got to dark to go on.  We called the game and began talking with the girls.  They asked Sara, Kristin, and I if we wanted to join their club team.  We were so excited and thought we were so cool because we MADE THE TEAM!  After basketball we went and celebrated with some gelato.

Little did we know that our first game would be the next day.  Saturday morning we got up early and took off for the courts.  We were supposed to play a game at 9am and noon but Zambian time really took over.  We arrived at the courts around 9:45am thinking that would be sufficient and we did not start playing until a little after noon.  We warmed up in weird ways and stretched in positions I had never done before!  It was crazy but so funny!  They gave us uniforms to wear and the only one they had left for me was a Medium.  REAL NICE EH?  ;o)  So, long story short…  our game last about 2 and a half hours and it was a murder.  When I say murder I don’t mean in the sense of score but literally, they tried to kill us!  The rules here in Zambia are a bit different and they don’t often call fouls and so it is straight up street ball.  Kristin was pulling all five girls from the other team down the court at one point and it was perfectly fine with the ref’s.  I was shoved from behind and bit through my bottom lip.  As many of you know, I have a short temper and it definitely got a little crazy from there on.  Finally the game ended and WE WON!  Supposedly we beat the number one team and the Ndola Woosters had never beat them before.  Whooo hooo.  Good work team!  After that day though, we are not sure when our next day will be.  Most of us thought we were going to die that day, out there on that court.  It was fun and I look forward to shooting around with them again, but we will see when that happens!   There is never a dull moment here in Zambia!

Finally, I will leave you with our team motto that the girls on our team kept saying:  If you ain’t sexy, you ain’t a Wooster! HA!

Pictures to come soon!