A Win For the Lady Rams!

Last Wednesday the VCUQ Lady Rams had a win over Texas A&M Qatar.  It is cause for celebration because the girls haven't had a win yet this season.  You can imagine the excitement after the game on the part of the girls and Coach Brett.  When the players called an extra practice earlier in the week to prepare for this game, Brett wasn't as enthusiastic as he should have been, but it really helped, I think.  Another factor in the win had to be the addition of our little white mascot Dixie (our new puppy) who stole the players away from the pre-game pep talk but gave them lots of good luck licks. Even though she and I left before the game finished (because apparently dogs aren't allowed in the student center, but dogs aren't allowed anywhere in Qatar, especially parks, but falcons ARE allowed in the cabins on Qatar Airways), Abbey stayed on to finish taking pictures.

This team has heart, that is for sure.  They push each other and they push their coach. Sometimes they are disappointed when their hard work doesn't pay off or they don't get to play as much as they would like to, but when there is finally a win to advertise, it all seems worth it.

Having said that, Coach Brett is still planning on showing the team a clip from the movie "A League of Their Own" where Tom Hanks says, "There's no crying in baseball!"  Just like Tom Hanks' character is a little out of touch with his feminine athletes, Coach Brett might be slightly clueless about the emotion women athletes have to muster in order to compete, but he is learning, along with the Lady Rams, about what it takes to be a team, win or lose.

VCUQatar Women's Basketball 2011-2012

It's basketball season already and this one proves to be another building year at VCUQ. The girls' basketball team lost quite a few players from last year who graduated, but change and new challenges are constant.  On to victory, right?

Speaking of changes, head coach Jesse Ulmer stepped down this season to devote more time to his newest and most important occupation of being a new dad.  Congratulations to Jesse and Felicity and welcome to sweet little Dakota Lilly!  Jesse will be missed tremendously.  He has been the fire under these very inexperienced players for the last few seasons and, along with his wife Felicity, has built this program from the ground up.  Brett now has the responsibility of carrying on and taking these women over new hurdles as the new head coach.

The Lady Rams started their season off this last Sunday with a game against The American School of Doha.  Now to understand why a university is playing a high school team you will need to read my previous posts about this remarkable women's basketball program.  These women have come so far and continue to amaze me at their strength, courage, and tenacity, even in the face of much more experienced opponents.  They started Sunday's game with five players and increased to six by the end of the first quarter.  That didn't give much room for resting players and rotating fresh ones in.  Their work was definitely cut out for them.

Yes, they were tired.

Since ASD has won every time these two teams have met, the girls were just hoping to compete with themselves and do better than last year.

There are a couple of new players this year and they have a little more experience than previous team members have had when they joined.  There was a positive spirit in the team the whole night and they kept fighting, even after one of the girls had to sit out most of the second half because of illness.

The excitement brought out the ASD gym cat who patrols the bleachers for snacks and entertainment.

Their goal was to hit the 20 point mark and this photo shows their last basket of the game, reaching that milestone.  They came up short in the end, but it was a good effort for the VCUQ Lady Rams.  Hopefully there will be more players at future games and some more wins to add to the record books.  I will keep you posted.  Go Rams!

Update: VCUQatar Women's Basketball Team 2011

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!