Dein erstes Forum » Grand Final week.Random stats of the

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Kim Gaucher has seen the growth of womens basketball in Canada over her 16 years with the program.She started with the junior national team as a 16-year old and there wasnt much interest in the sport in Canada.Hockey and soccer were the top and only sports it seemed that people would talk about, Gaucher said laughing. When I first started playing, we would have to fly to South America and meet with our teammates there and try and qualify for events. That was our training time.Now 16 years later, womens basketball in Canada is on the rise -- led by Gaucher and a talented young group of players. That growth started when the team qualified for the London Games five years ago on Canada Day.They earned the final spot into the Olympics and put on a great showing before losing to the U.S. in the quarterfinals. It was the countrys first Olympic berth in 12 years and best showing since they finished fourth in 1984. The performance helped inspire some of the teams young players.I was a young kid watching our vets play in London and to be playing with them now is kind of crazy, said guard Kia Nurse, who is a junior at UConn and a big part of the future of Canadas team. To hear the stories of where they were to where we are now is incredible.Those Olympics were a springboard for the success the team has had the last four years. The Canadians finished fifth in the world championship in 2014 and then -- for the first time in 20 years -- hosted the FIBA America qualifiers which they won.That came a few weeks after the team won the Pan-Am Games in Toronto, knocking off the Americans in the gold medal contest. That US team wasnt the Americans national team, but it was lead Breanna Stewart.Its truly incredible, said Nurse, who had 33 points in the gold medal game victory over the U.S. Honestly its so crazy for us. No one really knew about womens basketball in Canada until the Pan-Am games. Now its like everyone talks about us.Canada basketball President and CEO Michele OKeefe said hosting was a key part of the strategy to help build the program.Having the Pan-Am Games and three weeks later the FIBA America championships was huge for us, she said. It bodes well. Not only do we get a home-court advantage, but the young kids get to see the athletes and the coaches get to see the strategy and level of competition. It gives everyone the chance to see what international basketball looks like.OKeefe said a big part of Canadas long term strategy over the past decade has been to invest in and streamline all the countrys different age groups, which has built a solid foundation for now and the future.The investment has been substantial, she said. Create an alignment right down our age group teams to our provincial teams. Make it a true feeder system. Its been a huge difference. Weve been able to call a kid up from a junior team and they know how to play at this level.The dividends have already paid off as a record four Canadians were taken in the WNBA draft this past April, including Olympian Nirra Fields.Now the next step would be winning a medal. If that were to happen the country would be truly abuzz. In the past 80 years, Canada only has two medals in team sports. The mens basketball team won a silver in 1936 and the womens soccer team took the bronze in London.Canada enters Rio fresh off a victory over 2012 silver medalist France in a pre-Olympic tournament last week. Canada also played against Australia and the U.S. in that exhibition series, giving the team a look at three of the top teams in the world.I dont think any of us would be shy to tell you that we set goals as a team and we want to try and come home with some hardware, Nurse said. For us were going to come out and peak at the right time.---Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinbergScarpe Scontatissime Italia . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Air Max 95 In Offerta . After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th. https://www.scontatescarpeoutlet.it/scontate-nike-scarpe-outlet-saldi-c1966.html . Tevez, who has had conflicts with coaches in the past, has not been called up since Sabella was named coach in 2011. Argentina boasts Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria. Air Max 90 Offerta . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Scarpe Firmate Scontate Offerte . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St.Shorter matches and less players?A former chairman of the AFL Rules Committee has endorsed a dramatic cut in game time and slashing of on-field player numbers to ease the biggest blight in footy - congestion.Adrian Anderson, formerly the AFLs football operations boss for nine years, said he supported a push to make matches shorter by 25 per cent and reducing player numbers from 18 to 16, suggestions made recently by both Chris Judd and Geelong coach Chris Scott.During Andersons tenure, he led the Rules Committee in its boldest assault on congestion, but fears it continues to affect the aesthetics of the game.Congestion is something that really needs to be a continual focus. Its the biggest blight on our game, Anderson told ESPN.You could reduce game time if you were going to reduce numbers on the field because it would also have the effect of making the players more tired and the game would open up.Theyre two suggestions that work alongside each other.I just have a feeling the games becoming more and more congested and thats something the AFL will want to keep a close eye on.Anderson, now a barrister, says the NAB Cup was the perfect platform to trial rule changes that could be adopted in the regular season.As the AFL looks to expand internationally, Anderson says a modified version of the game that could be played in confined public spaces was integral to the codes plans to go global.If you want the game to expand internationally, its very hard to do it in the traditional format of the game because not many countries have got the space to have football grounds, he said.You really need to have a version of the game to fit within the confines of a soccer or cricket field. The Hawthorn supporter doesnt think the Hawks can replicate last years premiership heroics after losing the qualifying final.Anderson feels the luck of his under-sized team may have run out.I think theyve got their work cut out from here, he said. Ive got three disappointed little boys from the age of 10 who were willing Isaacs (Smith) kick through.You cant count them out, but I think the odds are against them, particularly given theyre a small team against their opponents without Roughead, Hale and Lake.Players on the moveThe Western Bulldogs out-of-contract big man, Tom Campbell, shapes as a mouth-watering prospect for the West Coast Eagles as the club tries to bolster its injury-ravaged ruck stocks.Campbell, regarded as the Western Bulldogs premier ruckman earlier this year, is believed to be unsure of his playing future at the kennel, as he spent a lengthy stint on the sidelines this year and watched as the partnership of Jordan Roughead and Tom Boyd flourished.Campbell played nine games before a foot injury derailed what was becoming a career-best season. The 24-year-old is currently playing with the clubs VFL affiliate Footscray, which will play ladder leaders Collingwood in this weeks preliminary final.Campbell has been offered a deal to remain at Whitten Oval but is noncommittal, due to insecurity of his position in the side.The Eagles will be without premier tall Nic Naitanui for much of next season as he recovers from a knee reconstruction. Back-up ruckman Scott Lycett could also miss the bulk of 2017 after aggravating a knee injury against the Bulldogs.Campbell, plucked as a mature-age recruit in the 2011 rookie draft, would joust with either Lycett or Jonathan Giles for the Eagles ruck mantle.Also, retired North Melbourne ruckman Drew Petrie could be lured to the Eagles due to his close relationship with former teammate and coach Adam Simpson.ESPN understands the Eagles spoke to the 33-year-old before the Kangaroos 62-point loss to Adelaide.Petrie, like games record holder Brent Harvey, is weighing up his playing future and the prospect of squeezing another season out of his ageing body.Brad Scott to follow in Voss and Leppitschs footstepsNorth Melbourne coach Brad Scott is being tempted to return to Brisbane to help resurrect his old club.ESPN understands the Lions are making a play for Scott to coach the besieged club, despite still under contract at the Kangaroos.Should a deal be brokered, Scott will be the third consecutive former player of the Lions glory era to take charge.Scott, who played 146 games for the Lions, was a fearless leader in defence and played in the clubs 2001 and 2002 premiership teams.But injury derailed his ambitions of taking part in the historic 2003 side.Scott signed a contract extension with the Kangaroos last year, tying him to the club until the end of 2018.Will Dal Santo play on?One of Scotts out-of-favour veterans, Nick Dal Santo, has been offered an AFL lifeline but the 32-year-old ball-winning midfield is undecided whether he should continue his career at a third club.ESPN has been told a player approached Dal Santo at the end of the Kangaroos-Adelaide final and asked: Should I be congratulating you on a wonderful career or should I be calling you John Farnham?Dal Santo responded by saying he had been offered a deal, but is yet to decide to play a 16th season.Dal Santo, who has played 322 games at St Kilda and the Roos, was one of four North Melbourrne veterans to be sensationally delisted in a radical player overhaul of the clubs ageing list.ddddddddddddPatrick Dangerfield: The clanger kingAfter his stellar debut season in the blue-and-white hoops, which culminated on Tuesday with his runaway win in the AFLPAs Most Valuable Player Award, Geelongs Paddy Dangerfield only has to go near the ball these days before commentators start drooling and tripping over themselves in search of new superlatives.Dangerfield had a good match against Hawthorn last Friday night but he was far from his best, racking up six clangers, including a couple of kicks that sailed into the crowd, and a disposal efficiency rating that hovered somewhere around 40%.Yet some pundits, including the FoxSports team and the Herald Suns Sam Landsberger, somehow judged him best afield.As we say, hes in that rarefied space now where he doesnt have to do an awful lot in a match before people fall in a swoon, positively dazzled by his magnificence.The two coaches in that qualifying final, Alastair Clarkson and Chris Scott, were less starstruck when awarding their votes for the inaugural Gary Ayres Medal for best player in the finals. They felt Joel Selwood was best on the ground, awarding him eight of a possible 10 votes. Dangerfield scored a lone vote, presumably from Scott.Not that this will worry Dangerfield one jot. Hell now just have to content himself with the AFLPA Award (which he won by the length of a Ben Graham torpedo), quite possibly the Brownlow Medal and perhaps also the Norm Smith Medal for grand final best afield.Oddly, the great Danger lies in fifth place in the Clanger category this season (with 87), some way behind Clanger King, Richmonds Dustin Martin, on 113.Just imagine if he could kick straight ....Time for some rules to be reviewedStand by for a raft of rule reviews in the off-season, as small trends which have crept into the game in recent seasons threaten to become major issues.The deliberate out-of-bounds rule is set to be looked at and tightened up because it has confused players, coaches, fans and commentators alike. No rule has such a large grey area and asking umpires to adjudicate on whether players mean to deliberately take the ball out of play has proved a ridiculously big ask. Impossible even.Another one to be reviewed is an Alastair Clarkson favourite: shepherding on the mark. That is, a player from Team A will stand next to a player from Team B who is on the mark and prevent him from intercepting a second Team A player about to play on from a free kick or mark.Its not a good look - too many players are getting taken out when they dont expect it - so the practice will be reviewed.The 10-metre exclusion zone around players who have taken a mark or won a free kick will be fine-tuned because too many innocent bystanders, who were not affecting play in any way, were getting slugged by umpires with 50-metre penalties.And stomach punches, of the sort which Luke Hodge (among others) has become so adept, will also be looked at. What was an occasional incident a few years ago has become a blight on the game - so much so that, anecdotally, it is creeping into junior footy.Which is hardly surprising: if under-age footballers see Hodge, Firrito, Lewis, and co get away unpunished with these sly punches, why wouldnt they adopt the same niggle?So the Rules of the Game committee will examine ways to clamp down hard on this growing trend.Is the pre-finals bye needed?There is still much conjecture about the merits of a pre-finals bye.Some pundits, such as The Ages Caroline Wilson, remain staunch opponents of the innovation, saying it kills off momentum after the final home-and-away round, and gives codes such as the NRL a major free-kick in September. But others, such as FoxFootys Gerard Whateley, is a convert - having earlier expressed his doubts about the value of such a move.Whateley said he was forced to change his mind after witnessing the first weekend of finals, and the quality of the four contests on show.But if the bye does remain in place in 2017, expect the week to be spiced up with the addition of a major footy event, such as the Brownlow Medal, which has traditionally been a fixture on the Monday night of Grand Final week.Random stats of the week:1345 - Total number of games played by Kangaroos quartet Brent Harvey, Nick Dal Santo, Drew Petrie and Michael Firrito - the most by four teammates in the same game (vs Adelaide last week). Which presents quite a sizeable hole for North Melbourne to fill next season.21 - Shaun Burgoyne can draw level with Martin Pike in second place in VFL/AFL history for most finals wins as a player if Hawthorn prevail over the Bulldogs on Friday. (Top of the list is Michael Tuck (26, Haw), then Martin Pike (21, Melb, Nth Melb and Brisbane), Kevin Bartlett (20, Rich), and Burgoyne (20, Pt Adel, Haw).0 - Buddy Franklin was held goalless on Saturday by Phil Davis and GWS for first time ever in a final - having previously kicked goals in each of his first 18 finals. ' ' '