One of my most popular posts last year was the one I did about the 2010 VCUQatar Women's Basketball Team and the remarkable season they had. Unfortunately I didn't get to follow the team this year until the last game because I was in the U.S., but it was a great season as well. The team wasn't as wide-eyed and inexperienced as last year, their cheers were a lot more sophisticated than that first one two years ago, and that made things a little less interesting and triumphant, but there was still quite a bit of growth and drama. I still think it is remarkable that these women are pioneers in this kind of competition and they continued to show up even though they endured major setbacks like losing a lot of their cheering fans from last year and losing some close games.
The team played more consistently this year and the average total points scored was up dramatically. The Lady Rams were able to follow game plans more fully and they played more as a team. Their coaches and the die hard fans had a lot to be proud of again this year. A nice bonus for this season was that they got to play most of their games in the newly finished Education City Student Center, so it was more of a neutral territory. The teams in competition this year were VCUQ, Georgetown Qatar, Texas A&M Qatar, Qatar Academy, American School of Doha, Carnegie Mellon Qatar, and The College of the North Atlantic. An interesting part of the competition here, that I didn't mention last year, is the fact that the game against The College of the North Atlantic was held in their facility and therefore it was a women only game. Brett was not able to attend because of that, but their rules did allow Jesse, the head coach, to be there.
The last game of the season is the one I got to attend and it was against Georgetown. Again the team had made it to the final four and the mood was pretty tense. There were a couple of seniors on our team who would not be back next year and wanted to win so badly, but their hard work and body sacrificing blocks did not bring them out on top in the end. Their tears at the final buzzer was evidence that they had put their heart and body into the game and had to try and be satisfied with this year's growth and another #4 placement. Maybe next year will be the break through year. It takes years to build a basketball program anywhere but especially with ladies, who just a few years ago, didn't even touch a ball, let alone try and play a game with one. Congratulations to the Lady Rams for another monumental season!
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