Kataja training, getting lost and USB problems!
AAAAHHH - November and to be able to walk outside in a T-shirt and shorts :-)
Tuesday - day before Joensuun Kataja plays their EuroChallenge game against Keravnos here in Nicosia - wake-up and go downstairs to have breakfast.. be reminded that most breads are sweet here. But very nice breakfast indeed at the Hotel - better than I have had in some better quality establishments.
Then it is time to find the Arena for the game/training, take the map and start walking - it should only be about 30 minute walk from the Hotel and it is nice and sunny, so everything is good. Except that I do NOT find the Arena, or to be honest - I don't even find the right road. I did find the Russian Embassy and the people queueing outside of it. There was also the American Cookie House.. unfortunately I did not feel like having a cookie.
Back to the Hotel and look at Google Maps - and find out that the tourist map I have was wrong - where it showed a road.. there was only a 'donkey-path' through some bushes.. So after some work, I head back out and take the little path and yes.. at the end of it I do find the Arena. Just teaches me to double check the silly maps before heading out.
Kataja (the team) are still on their long journey from Finland to Larnaca - so I have the day to kill before the training session at 7.30pm. Edit few videos for British Basketball League.. pictures for few clients and look for more clients for tomorrow's game. Then head out for the training session.. quite a few of the players had seen me before (with Finnish National team) so it was handshakes all over.. although no 'high fives'.. which I found slightly disappointing.
Normal 'travel day' training session for Kataja - stretching to get the stiffness out after the long flights, go through few of the key plays of the opposition and then some 5 and 0 plays.. before ending with a free practice shooting session. Considering that the team had traveled about 12 hours - they looked surprisingly fresh.
Before the end of the training - time to catch some interviews (video) with the coach and few players. Jukka Toijala is well used to me asking questions, so it was almost like being back with the National team. Same again with Petri Virtanen - interviewed him a few times in Lithuania and more recently with the Finnish U-20's in Bulgaria over the summer. Last (but not least) it was the turn of Julian Terrell - the American 'big man' who was drafted in on a quick notice to help the Finns patch a hole due to couple of key injuries, it was nice to get an interview in English as well. And this was the first time I've met or talked to Julian Terrell - but he seemed like really friendly guy.. hope he plays well tomorrow and might even get another interview with him.. or then in Romania in two weeks time :-)
Then it was SUPPOSED to be a quick dash to the Hotel to edit the pictures and videos - and get them online. However, as there is no Sat-Nav for me, I got lost.. one wrong turn and you end up miles away from anywhere you find familiar. It is dark, I am in the middle of a Cypriot town suburb.. no idea which way is which and locals honking the horn behind me to go faster. Joys of traveling in unknown places.. Eventually I find a road that I am familiar with...more by accident than by knowing which way to turn. Straight to the hotel - wire off the images and then time to get some interviews out for the fans.. except!! No USB cable.. well, none that is working.. so that means I can not transfer the videos to the computer.. EXCELLENT!
After some thinking - I come up with a solution.. play the video on the screen of the camera.. hold that in front of the inbuilt webcam of the laptop and record it that way... I AM A GENIUS!! So there I sit in a dark room, trying to hold the camera half-steady to record the clips.. it works, just about. Quality of the footage is by no means good/acceptable - but hopefully the audio will be something for the fans to listen.
From the interviews - Toijala and Virtanen are in Finnish and Terrell in English.. so little bit for everyone to listen there.
A note about the USB cable post I put up on FB earlier - thank you for your replies under the post and also the private messages from Finns who have lived over here, your help is much appreciated and hopefully I will find a cable tomorrow.. next to the Hilton Hotel you say?? :-)