European champions!
We did it again! For the fifth time in a row, we’ve been crowned European Champions. Our ninth consecutive gold medal. My jersey number has always been number 9, so you could say this title was meant to be 😉 Just kidding. If only things were that easy in elite sports. Nothing ever is.
Of course, we entered this European Championship as the favorites, a status we’ve become somewhat used to, at least as much as one can. Playing as the favorite is always the hardest thing to do. Before the tournament we joked, “Wouldn’t it be nice to play a tournament as the underdog for once?” But hey, we’re simply too good for that now, so we’ve learned to embrace the favorite role.
This year, though, things were a little different. Since January we’ve had a new coach, and to put that into business terms, a new boss. A new boss means a new working style, a new vision, new ideas and a different kind of leadership. Our main goal for this European Championship was clear: with the same team, but in a new outfit, we wanted to show the world that we’re still the best.
With that mindset we travelled to Sarajevo, Bosnia, on October 8th. The sports hall where our games were played was part of the hotel where we stayed. For a wheelchair basketball event that’s ideal, because imagine having to lift twelve wheelchairs in and out of a bus every day. Being able to roll, or walk, straight to our games was a real luxury. The downside was that we literally saw nothing but the walls of our hotel all week. Our team manager, who sends us a daily schedule, even started adding a “mandatory walk outside” to the plan each day. With a healthy dose of fresh air we began the group stage, which included four games. We wanted to win them all to make sure we’d face the fourth seed in the semifinals.
Long story short, we won all our group matches by more than 20 points. That felt amazing. It set us up for a semifinal against Spain, a very physical team with great shooters, but one that prefers to slow the game down. We, on the other hand, are a team that plays fast and tactically. In basketball there’s an old saying: if you beat a team easily in the group stage, it’s usually a lot tougher the second time in the knock-out round. We were well aware of that. “Stay sharp, ladies. We’re better than Spain, we know that, but we need to execute our game plan for 40 minutes.”
There was a lot of pressure on this game since the winners of the semifinals would automatically qualify for next year’s World Championships in Ottawa. Given that we walked away with the European title, you can probably guess how that game ended. Yes, we beat Spain. And just like that, the pressure was off.
Next up was the final against Great Britain, our biggest and probably most feared rival. GB is a team very similar to ours: fast, agilent and tactical. A team full of potential, but we have one big advantage, they’ve never beaten us in a final. We knew that the winner of this match would be the team that was mentally the strongest, the one that could stay focused, disciplined and resilient for 40 minutes.
It turned out to be a spectacular game for women’s basketball. At one point we were up by 10 points, and just four minutes before the end we were suddenly 5 points down. Let’s just say that for the neutral fans it was great entertainment, but for me, I probably lost ten years of my life to the stress 😉
After 40 intense minutes, we came out on top, winning 59–66. To me, this victory showed not only that we can play great basketball, but also that this team has the mental strength to keep performing under pressure, to withstand the tension of a final and to stay focused no matter what distractions come our way. That’s what made it possible for us to hang that ninth consecutive gold medal around our necks. Something we can be truly proud of.
