Basketball trip is a success
By: Justin Feil
Megan Fox was looking forward to going to Ireland for quite a while, even before she entered Montgomery High School.
"I’ve only been abroad once," said Fox, who begins her senior year at MHS this week. "It was really special. It wasn’t like commonplace.
"We’d been planning it since my brother (Brian) went there five years ago. My dad did both trips. And he said, ‘When Megan gets to high school, we’ll go again.’ He knew everything about it, where to go and what to do. My brother was like a test run. We had an itinerary down to the minute. We were never wondering where to go next. It was great."
Members of the MHS girls’ basketball team recently visited three cities in a nine-day trip that was sponsored primarily by the Montgomery Basketball Association. They visited cultural sights such as castles, cathedrals, universities and historic towns.
And the Cougars played six games, four against top club teams who will compete for the Irish national title later this year and two college teams. MHS went 2-4 on its recent trip to Ireland, but that record doesn’t begin to tell how much the trip could pay off down the road.
"It kind of bridged the gap between the older and younger girls," Fox said. "There were four seniors that went and four younger kids that went. We all got to hang out which was good."
That nine-day experience together could help as much as the stiff competition.
"Basketball was definitely secondary," said MHS girls’ coach Paul Popadiuk. "We played six games in those 10 days. Practice was minimal. We had a couple walk-throughs and really one practice where we got quality gym time and space to do things. It was an outstanding opportunity for the girls to bond and for us to see a little different kind of basketball and to really blend with the culture."
Montgomery played three games in the Dublin area. After losing to the Tolka Rovers club team, Fox’s two free throws against the Killester Club sent the game into overtime after MHS had trailed by five points with 38 seconds to play and the Cougars went on to their first win of the trip. Montgomery closed out the Dublin tour with a loss to Mercy College.
In Cork City, MHS lost by a point to Glanmire, last year’s Irish Under-18 national champion. The Cougars enjoyed their finest win of the trip, 66-51, over the Waterford Wildcats the next day. Finally, at the University of Limerick, MHS lost, 56-54, on a putback with five seconds left. In that game, they played with a 24-second shot clock as well as different substitution and time-out rules. It wasn’t the only change they had to adapt to overseas.
"It was very physical," Fox said. "It was really fun. It was definitely challenging, not necessarily more skill-wise, but definitely physically. It was kind of more like AAU. AAU is a lot more physical than high school. I was awesome. I liked it."
"We were 2-4, but I was pleased with that in that it was a different style of game," Popadiuk added. "With a little work and practice and a little more basketball, we could have won all but one of those games. One team was real good. We played really well and we lost by 10. They’re older, 22, 23 and 25 maybe. One girl was on the national level. It was one step below professional. This Mercy College team was for real. It’s probably equivalent to playing, not Connecticut, but a small Division I school."
Playing against that sort of competition wasn’t a bad warm-up for the Cougars, who will be in a newly aligned division for basketball this winter.
"We’re going to see night in and night out bigger and stronger teams," Popadiuk confirmed. "The teams in our conference are good. The smaller conference had always been good but not as solid and big physically. There’s no easy night with the new conference. You have to play well every night or you lose. That wasn’t necessarily the case before."
In the face of such a coming challenge, it made the trip even more useful. Both Popadiuk and the players recognized the value of it.
"People got to show what they can do," Fox said. "Players that have been working out, it definitely shows. People got to show what they can do, and I thought it was good in that aspect."
All summer, MHS worked out in the mornings, played in the Hillsborough summer league twice a week and went to a team camp together. All of that was followed by the trip to Ireland.
"It was a good way to top off our summer," Popadiuk said. "We worked out a lot. We played in a summer league. We went to a team camp for a week at Albright College and played some good teams. This was a nice end."
And just the beginning for a team that comes off an 18-8 season. MHS wants an even better season this winter, and the trip to Ireland gives them a solid starting point for building team chemistry and a successful year.
"If the girls aren’t close, and they don’t get along, they don’t play well together," Popadiuk said. "I may not have got everything practiced in Xs and Os, but this bonding will go a long way in the season. And, more importantly, in life for that matter."
It wasn’t just Fox who felt fulfilled at the end of it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for everyone who went from the Cougar girls’ basketball team, one that will pay off down the road.