Katrin Chiemeka Part of Championship Great Britian U20 Team
8/30/2010 11:40:47 AM | Women's Basketball
Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Sophomore Katrin Chiemeka (Marienthal, France) had a summer to remember as she competed with the U20 Great Britian women's basketball team.
Playing in the U20 European Championship games, July 16-25, Chiemeka appeared in all seven games for Great Britian, averaging 7.7 points per contest, placing her third on the team. She led the team with 10 made three-pointers and had the best free throw percentage, missing just two of her 14 attempts (.857) from the charity stripe. Chiemeka also finished second with 14 steals.
Below Chiemeka discusses her experiences and a look at the U20 Euro Championships...
"The European Championship preparation for Great Britain Division B Women U20 started with a three-day try-out of which 15 players were selected for six weeks of preparation which included international matches with Austria and Bulgaria. After that under FibaEurope rules 12 of us travelled to Macedonia for the Championship.
The final roster included British players from the following colleges in the United States: Old Dominion University, Kent State, Seton Hall, Robert Morris University, Fordham University and University of Miami.
The objective for the coaching staff was promotion to Division A which was a daunting task since no youth British team at any level (women and men) had ever achieved this goal. Considering the conditions of very hot weather and no air condition in the playing arena and in some of the hotel rooms it was a real challenge.
Our championship started with a game against Belgium, a team that had beaten some of my team mates the previous year on the buzzer. So we were all hyped up for this game. We won the match (61-42) and I led the scoring with 15 points. Yet more importantly it was the first victory for our coaching staff in a European championship, a good omen.
The following day we met one of the pre-tournament favourites, Hungary. In this match our team had to step up defensively and put our coaching staff under a lot of stress as we waited until the last minute to edge out Hungary (54-50). I contributed 11 points to this victory.
Our third game was against the hosts. We not only battled against the Macedonian team but also against the spectators who were all out supporting the home side. Once again we pulled out a win in the closing seconds (70-69).
We ended our preliminary phase on a bad note by losing against the favourites, the Czech Republic (58-72) but achieved our first goal in qualifying for the quarter-finals, a feat last achieved at U20 level in 2007.
Then the next game was already the winner-take-all match and we faced Israel. Our coaching staff had decided that we had to stifle the threat of their point guards which was not an easy task but with our system of swapping in and out players we were able to stay fresh enough to outscore Israel (72-65) who are more used to playing in the heat as we are.
Our qualification for the semi-finals meant that with a victory we would have achieved our main objective of promotion into the group of the best 16 teams in Europe. The semi-final match is the most important in Division B whereas in Division A it is the final match, the Gold medal match.
Portugal is a difficult team to play against. They have speed, they have height, they have three-point shooters and they know the Great Britain game. I have to congratulate again not only my team-mates but especially our coach Damian Jennings and his assistants Matt Johnson and David Bailey for getting us ready for this match. Becca Allison from ODU and I were called on defensive duties to neutralise the Portuguese guards. This meant to stay in their face for 40 minutes. By achieving this we cut off the supply line to the inside players. All the same it was a tough match in which I found my range from the beyond the arc with 3-of-5, took 8 rebounds and had 3 steals. But overall it was as usual a team effort with six players scoring 7 points or more.
We won the match (59-40) and the celebrations began as this meant Division A.
For the following day we had to pick ourselves up and go for the icing on the cake by going for Gold against the Slovak Republic, another ambitious team that knocked out Hungary and the Czech Republic. This match was a ding-dong low scoring game in which we won (47-46). This meant we could finally cut the net and continue our celebration until the next day.
In general this was my 5th European championship participation. Every year is different but this one was really special as it was a combination of players from Scotland and England playing for Great Britain under a Welsh coach. This experience with its ups and downs, hard preparation, injury and two extra months away from home is something I will never forget."
For more information on the U20 European Championships, click on the U20 European Championship Women Division B here.
Below Chiemeka discusses her experiences and a look at the U20 Euro Championships...
"The European Championship preparation for Great Britain Division B Women U20 started with a three-day try-out of which 15 players were selected for six weeks of preparation which included international matches with Austria and Bulgaria. After that under FibaEurope rules 12 of us travelled to Macedonia for the Championship.
The final roster included British players from the following colleges in the United States: Old Dominion University, Kent State, Seton Hall, Robert Morris University, Fordham University and University of Miami.
The objective for the coaching staff was promotion to Division A which was a daunting task since no youth British team at any level (women and men) had ever achieved this goal. Considering the conditions of very hot weather and no air condition in the playing arena and in some of the hotel rooms it was a real challenge.
Our championship started with a game against Belgium, a team that had beaten some of my team mates the previous year on the buzzer. So we were all hyped up for this game. We won the match (61-42) and I led the scoring with 15 points. Yet more importantly it was the first victory for our coaching staff in a European championship, a good omen.
The following day we met one of the pre-tournament favourites, Hungary. In this match our team had to step up defensively and put our coaching staff under a lot of stress as we waited until the last minute to edge out Hungary (54-50). I contributed 11 points to this victory.
Our third game was against the hosts. We not only battled against the Macedonian team but also against the spectators who were all out supporting the home side. Once again we pulled out a win in the closing seconds (70-69).
We ended our preliminary phase on a bad note by losing against the favourites, the Czech Republic (58-72) but achieved our first goal in qualifying for the quarter-finals, a feat last achieved at U20 level in 2007.
Then the next game was already the winner-take-all match and we faced Israel. Our coaching staff had decided that we had to stifle the threat of their point guards which was not an easy task but with our system of swapping in and out players we were able to stay fresh enough to outscore Israel (72-65) who are more used to playing in the heat as we are.
Our qualification for the semi-finals meant that with a victory we would have achieved our main objective of promotion into the group of the best 16 teams in Europe. The semi-final match is the most important in Division B whereas in Division A it is the final match, the Gold medal match.
Portugal is a difficult team to play against. They have speed, they have height, they have three-point shooters and they know the Great Britain game. I have to congratulate again not only my team-mates but especially our coach Damian Jennings and his assistants Matt Johnson and David Bailey for getting us ready for this match. Becca Allison from ODU and I were called on defensive duties to neutralise the Portuguese guards. This meant to stay in their face for 40 minutes. By achieving this we cut off the supply line to the inside players. All the same it was a tough match in which I found my range from the beyond the arc with 3-of-5, took 8 rebounds and had 3 steals. But overall it was as usual a team effort with six players scoring 7 points or more.
We won the match (59-40) and the celebrations began as this meant Division A.
For the following day we had to pick ourselves up and go for the icing on the cake by going for Gold against the Slovak Republic, another ambitious team that knocked out Hungary and the Czech Republic. This match was a ding-dong low scoring game in which we won (47-46). This meant we could finally cut the net and continue our celebration until the next day.
In general this was my 5th European championship participation. Every year is different but this one was really special as it was a combination of players from Scotland and England playing for Great Britain under a Welsh coach. This experience with its ups and downs, hard preparation, injury and two extra months away from home is something I will never forget."
For more information on the U20 European Championships, click on the U20 European Championship Women Division B here.
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