Written by Valts Rozentāls
We kick Monday off with a practice session at 08:00. Even if this week of summer is less intense than last year, the temperature still hits between 28℃ and 34℃ around the mid-day. So our best option is to practice early in the morning before the heat and late in the afternoon after the sun sets. Even at 08:00 in the morning we will be sweating at around 24-27℃.
While the others enjoy the practice, Sandy and I are off to Kisgalambfalva. We have a meeting with the handyman supported by Hajni, the principal. It’s time to mount the baskets. Lines will be done by Sandy, Nadine and the kids on Wednesday. As we arrive we are greeted by Hajni. We pickup the key from the local shop and proceed to the gym. Hajni speaks English and we can communicate freely with her and she translates for the handyman, his name is Sándor. We can throw away our doubts as Sándor is up for the task and has all the necessary tools to mount the baskets. Only thing he quickly needs to fetch from the nearby building is a ladder. As one of us has to hold the basket until he secures it with a couple of wooden screws, we stack some nearby benches one upon another so I can get to the necessary height of around three meters. Before we get the basket up, we do some quick, but solid measurements and he pre-drills the holes in the board where the screws will be going. The mounting itself then is quite easy and we get one side up in no time. Now we have understood the technique required and the second basket goes up to the wall even faster. We had planned three to four hours for this task, but we are done in a bit over one. Amazing! We shoot some balls to test the durability of the baskets and they make the trial. We use our, now free, time to chat with the Hajni, make some side-deal on possible storage space and clean up. Then we head back to Bögöz.
As we arrive, kids are supervised by Paul and Johannes in preparation of lunch for all of us. Some good foundations of nutrition for the future.
Kanufahren (Paddleboat)
If you follow Târnava Mare down the stream from Bögöz, after some time you would reach Zetelaka – our next destination. There we wanted to borrow some paddle boats from KayaKing water sports. Zetelaka is a Hungarian name, Romanian name is Zetea – in the case you want to find the place on the map. We can’t forget that we are navigating in a world of multiple natures, two main languages. One is official, one is of people. Zetelaka village nearby is where our beloved host Irenke was born, it bears the same name as the lake. Lake is located behind the village of Zetelaka, about 40-50 minutes drive away from Bögöz.
Here we spent some amazing time on the lake paddling around, playing catch and there were even some “water fights”. Sometimes one-on-one, sometimes even three or four boats would attack each other by driving by and splashing water. Exactly what we needed to cool off on this hot summer day. At the end everyone was soaked and happy. After drying off, it was time to head back and enjoy some nice evening practice.
With the help of Dora and her amazing English it was easier to communicate in the practice and we could move through it faster than in previous years. It has also become easier to work because of higher basketball understanding among the Bögöz kids. Truly we could split the kids in two groups and work with them either split on a basket for each or let them play and work on fitness on the side with the other. When I think back how much time and effort we had to invest in the years prior – we were really seeing some good progress.
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