Well, today is our last day in Beijing…All of the guys are on their way to the airport as I type. Last night was a wild night, and unfortunately things just didn’t go our way in the Great Britain game. The guys had a rough stretch of physically and emotionally demanding games, and in the end, I think the games against Australia and Canada took everything they had and left them a little short against Great Britain.
Getting seats into the game last night was the craziest thing I have experienced to this date. Although we have enjoyed all of the moments here, our one complaint was that the seating in each of the venues was general admission. Because of that, we had to work pretty hard to get our seats for each game, including sprinting up the stairs, pushing through crowds and saving rows of seats by spreading ourselves across the seats we needed. It would have been really cool to have a small section set aside for friends and family in each venue, but I guess hindsight is 20/20. We did get really lucky though because every game we were close enough that the guys could find us right when we got into the venue.
To everyone at home, if you haven’t seen the games, you should be so proud of any team member you have rooted on. Seeing wheelchair basketball on the international level is something really special, and I know we will never forget this experience. To go from watching games at home where you get your pick of a seat for the games to coming to the Paralympics and fighting for seats, it was an awesome experience. Mieko and I cannot tell all of you how grateful we are for all of you following our journey, and keeping your comments coming for the guys. I know they will enjoy all of it so much more as soon as they arrive home and can see all of the comments that have piled up on the website!
Just a reminder to everyone who has been checking our pictures, we will be posting game photos by Monday September 22nd (possibly earlier, depending on how we are recovering from jet lag). We have to wait to post the photos because of the blogging rules set out by the International Paralympic Committee.
One final very special note, Mieko and I would like to send our thanks to her Dad for helping us keep our blog going while we were in China. Without him, nothing could have been posted, including game scores, so thank you so much to him for helping us with everything!
We hope everyone has been having fun keeping up with our adventures, and following Team USA in Beijing, China!
Mieko and Kelli
3 responses so far ↓
Lisa Rayer // September 17, 2008 at 10:12 am |
Congratulations Team USA! You should be so proud of yourselves.
Joseph Pennington // September 17, 2008 at 1:45 pm |
Congratulations guys! I want to thank Kelli for sending the link to allow us to view the games here in the states. I’d never seen a game previous to watching these, and I must say that, as an American, I was very proud to have you guys representing the USA with such class! Have safe travels back to the states.
Bauler // September 19, 2008 at 2:20 pm |
Thanks Girls…Love you both!