Today was the day to relax, kick up your feet and sip on a few of those free – non-alcoholic, of course – pina coladas. For the Huskies, that is. For the Courant’s John Altavilla and UConn SID Randy Press it’s business as usual. John did find the time to tangle with an elliptical machine today, though. He’s far more dedicated than I am when it comes to cardio.
Any way, the Huskies deserve a break at this point. After a grueling fall semester and nine wins in as many games, today was a mental health day on a trip that has been a solid mix of both basketball and fun in the Land of Sun, where a fine Asian restaurant really does exist.
The team practiced this morning from 9 to 10:45. Northern Colorado coach Jamie White and assistant Krista Van Hauen took it in courtside as Geno provided the Huskies with some offensive and full court pressure instruction. From there, they had their choice of sticking around the Moon Palace Resort or taking a trip into town. The choice was entirely theirs. Most of the Huskies headed downtown to shop and check out the scenery.
For Geno, giving his players some time to themselves is an important facet of this trip.
“That’s one of the reasons you want to come here earlier than normal if you can to make it more than just a basketball trip,’’ Auriemma said. “But at the same time you try to impress upon them that we’re not out here just to get some sun and just to enjoy ourselves, and at the same time we’re not going to lock ourselves up in our room and watch game film all day long. I want them to enjoy themselves and have an opportunity to experience whatever it is that exists out here. For a lot of these kids, it’s been a long semester and they worked pretty hard it. We were kidding each other (Friday) night at the pregame that nine of them got over 3.0 (GPA) and they’re pretty proud of themselves. And they know how hard they worked, and when we get back it seems like it’s all basketball all the time. And this is an opportunity to get away from that.’’
Many of the Huskies also had the pleasure of being able to spend time with their families today. Meghan Gardler, Kaili McLaren, Tina Charles, Caroline Doty, who was called a “dork’’ by Geno toward the end of practice today, Tahirah Williams and Jacquie Fernandes all have family on the trip. Many of them don’t get to see their families during the season so this was a nice release from the marathon season that will commence once UConn travels to South Carolina next week to begin what is expected to be a stretch of 29 more games to end the season.
“It’s nice because with our downtime we get to see them,’’ Doty said. “During the season you don’t get to see much of them. My twin brother (Kevin’s) here. He plays football in college (Lafayette) and I haven’t seen him all year. So the fact that I get to hang out with him … I was hanging out with him (Friday) night. It’s nice.’’
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that these players are young adults as well as elite athletes. Family time matters. So does the chance to shop, relax and play Rock Band, poker and Cranium with their teammates.
Rich
