By Jeanine Radice (at right)
Associate Head Coach - University of Delaware Women's Basketball Team

Day Five Anatolia Tour 2007 (June 18)
Trip Preview / Day One Blog / Day Two Blog / Day Three Blog / Day Four Blog / Day Five Blog / Day Six Blog / Day Seven Blog / Day Eight Blog - Wrapup
Photos Gallery from Turkey

Hello, (Merhaba).

I have the pleasure of telling you about our day in Mersin. Mersin is a beautiful city. The hotel that we are staying at is very nice and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. It reminds me of the island of Waikiki in Hawaii. 

Along the main strip on one side of the road are a lot of shops, restaurants, and fast-moving vehicles. On the other side of the road there are palm trees, the beach, and the water.  It is like you’re in two different worlds.  Our players, (Alena Koshansky, Kyle DeHaven, and Courtney Irving) were on the balcony watching a Turkish wedding being performed on the beach. 

Some of the other people traveling with our group are a part of the Turkish Basketball Federation. Merat is the person in charge of moving and organizing the group. He is always saying “heidi, heidi” which means move faster or hurry up!  I really appreciate the job he performs because usually when we travel at UD I am the person moving the group along. 

Sabina handles the money responsibilities and is quiet. Our bus driver does’t speak so we really haven’t had a conversation with him.  He is however a very fast driver and actually almost hit a herd of sheep on our trip to BOTAS. 

Dilvin is the photographer for our group. She has to have taken at least 500 pictures and is constantly surprising us. What I find fascinating is that after each of the clinics (practices) we gain more individuals in our group. They usually consist of coaches who have attended the practice and want to eat with us. Most of the time it feels like we are a rock band performing in different cities.

The Turkish players we are helping want us to autograph everything in sight.  (Basketballs, shirts, uniforms, posters and even actual body parts such as arms or hands.)  In addition there are always media representatives (television, reporters etc.) who cover our clinics. It takes a long time to leave each gymnasium. (Heidi, Heidi)  We have traveled many miles and hours to arrive at Mersin. I have learned that when you asked how long until the next destination is, you have to multiple the time by two. 

Mersin is the site of our final clinic!  Alena, Kyle , and Courtney have done a great job helping the younger Turkish players improve their skills. Today in the final practice we worked on offensive and defensive concepts as well as agility.

I am surprised how quickly the younger players have picked up the different concepts.  One of the highlights of the offensive concepts was the pick and roll segment.  Dr. (Matt) Robinson’s son (Cullen) was playing his video game on the bench and I needed a defensive player. Cullen is nine years old and jumps into the drill with enthusiasm. Little did Cullen know he was about to get hit by a major screen from one of the Turkish players. 

His reaction to me was and I quote “ Coach Radice, I just got clocked with a screen!!”  I said, “ Cullen way to take one for the team” I followed that message with a high-five and he had a big smile on his face.  Later he informed Courtney, Kyle, and Alena  (his buddies) he took one for the team. 

The highlight of the defensive segment is the showing the match-up zone. Every Turkish coach seems to want to see the zone and learn more about the concepts. The demonstration includes five Turkish players on offense and our UD players and coaches on defense.

Coach (Tinas) Martin, Courtney, and I are playing the back line while Kyle and Alena are playing the guard positions. It’s pretty funny that Coach Martin and I are playing the back line of the zone due to lack of our height. However, we did move well as a group but we would lose the rebounding war in a real game very badly.

After demonstrating the match up zone, we concluded the clinic. We had the opportunity to meet Eric Green, the General Counselate of United States in Adana. Mr Green played an important role in funding our tour.

After the clinic, our group, Mr. Green and his family joined us for lunch at a beautiful outdoor café. It’s different in some cities in Turkey when you sit down for a meal. Your menu is usually fixed. Your options include lamb, chicken kebab, fish, and always bread. After lunch, we had some free time before moving on to our next destination. Alena, Kyle, Courtney, Dr. Robinson, and Cullen all went to the hotel pool. The pool has an interesting feature, a water bar.

Our departure time for Istanbul was 4 p.m. Our group loaded up the bus and took some final pictures in Mersin. While on the bus the players began to sing songs from the 70’s and 80’s. Courtney really enjoys some of the older music. She knows the words of songs from various artists. She was the lead singer on the bus and before long everyone joined in. Courtney actually has a good voice and can carry a tune.

The rest of the group is really bad and that does’t exclude me. Courtney started to sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross and was Diana while Kyle and Alena were the Supremes. Dr. Robinson joined in with his own version of “Summer of Sixty-nine” by Bryan Adams. Even our Turkish friends were clapping. Dr. Barlow and his son, Jeff, were putting in requests. Although the songs did not sound great, we all had a good time.

We are looking forward to visiting a major city like Istanbul. The players are looking forward to visiting many tourist attractions such as the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, and the Boat Tour on the Bosphorous.

I will leave the rest of our trip to Dr. Robinson and Dr. St I have enjoyed my experience in Turkey immensely. The Turkish people have made a lasting impression on not only me but on our entire group. Their kindness, hospitality, and friendship will be embedded in my mind forever.

I hope that our group made a lasting impression on them as well. See you back in the States!

Coach Radice