By Tina Martin (at right)
Head Coach - University of Delaware Women's Basketball Team

Day Five Anatolia Tour 2007 (June 17)
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Photos Gallery from Turkey

Hello (Merhaba). Welcome to our tour of Turkey! 

We have seen many cities, met many people, and had two practices a day almost everyday.  Our tour has been busy and adventurous!  Today we woke up in the BOTAS Complex. This complex is responsible for housing the oil that is shipped from Iraq.  It is a large complex and very secure!  We had to display special credentials and fill out different paper work to enter the complex! 

As Courtney Irving told you we had a long day yesterday (18 hours), including our arrival here at BOTAS.   We woke up at 7:30 am today after finishing our late night talks with the Turkish team at 1:00 am!  We had a morning practice which included teaching all different types of screens (downscreens, backsreens, and on the ball screens).

Every team’s practice has been different and their coaches have asked us to teach different things.  We have gone over defensive (man to man and our match-up zones) and offensive concepts (ballhandling, individual moves, shooting, screening, fastbreak sets).

Our panel discussions have been a series of questions about our pre-season workouts, our practice schedule, and game preparations. The Turkish coaches have asked a lot of questions and we have tried to share our knowledge of basketball with them!  The players (Turkish) have been enthusiastic, and eager to learn!  They have hung on our every word.

We have received a variety of gifts after all of our workouts!  We have donated basketballs and t-shirts to all of the Turkish teams. After our first practice at BOTAS today we had a 2 hour break which we (Alena Koshansky, Kyle DeHaven, Courtney Irving and our group) decided to spend some time at the beach on the Mediterranean Sea.

Alena, Kyle and Courtney could not wait to jump into the water. Kyle is Kamikaze! She did a flip into the sea. Alena and Courtney took a more conservative approach. They walked into the water.  The weather has been very hot here, and some of the gyms as well.

I took a seat on a lounge chair under some shade with members of the rest of our group. I had only been sitting for a few minutes when “Firat”, a Turkish coach approached our group. He wanted to ask questions about NCAA rules, recruiting, and some footwork drills we had shown earlier. In addition, he is one of the many coaches who attended our clinic two years ago in Turkey. We taught our match-up zone in that particular clinic.

Now everywhere we go in Turkey, the coaches ask a lot of questions about our match-up zone! As our players and Cullin (Dr Matt Robinson’s nine year-old son) play on the beach looking for seashells, Tugba (Karagulle) translates for me as we talk about basketball.

I do not mind at all, because our mission here is to spread goodwill, teach the game of basketball, and share our culture with the Turkish people. I actually went down close to the water to demonstrate the footwork drills for Firat.

Our next destination is lunch. I must say, I am a conservative person when it comes to trying different food. We have all tried to taste the variety of  foods here in Turkey, however we are now having pretty much the same thing at each meal, Chicken Kebab and French fries. When I come back home, I may not eat French Fries for a few months!

At the conclusion of lunch,  we packed our clothes, and headed to the bus. I must say our bus rides have been long, but entertaining. Alena, Courtney and Kyle give their interpretations of game days at Delaware. Alena gets picked on the most because she was a captain last year. I’ve learned a lot about what has been said in our player’s huddles. We have all had a good laugh or two.

In addition Cullen has been turned into a UD women’s basketball fan. He has given his top five plays made by Delaware players. When asked who his favorite women’s basketball player is, his response is Tyresa Smith. Obviously, she is not on the trip, but the players who are crack up laughing. Alena and Kyle put their two cents in, and say they pass Tyresa the ball a lot!

Upon arriving in Ceyhan, we conducted another two-hour practice. Again, we got a lot accomplished basketball-wise with the young Turkish players. At conclusion of the practice, we jumped back on the bus, it is then that we learned exciting news.

We were heading to Mersin, and upon our arrival in that city, we are going to Burger King, my favorite fast-food place! American food, we are estatic!! I think our Turkish Basketball Federation guides think we are crazy because we run into Burger King.

After a delicious dinner, and lots of laughter, we headed to the Mersin Hilton hotel. The players went to the business center to email friends, and the coaches all relax. Tugba, Coach (Jeanine) Radice and I decided to have ice cream in the hotel lobby.   It is a good ending to a long day.

In conclusion, we have had a lot of fun. We’ve learned a lot about the Turkish culture, and shared our basketball knowledge with some very good people.

This experience has affected two different cultures in a very positive way! I’m anxious to share my stories with all of my friends and family back in the United States.  We are all looking forward to coming home, and seeing everyone in Delaware.

Have a great day and Good Bye!  Hoscakal (hosh-cha-kal) (143)

Coach Martin