Indiana University Athletics
Valentin Diary (8-03-04)
8/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana guard Cyndi Valentin is back in Bloomington after having spent time this summer in Puerto Rico, Miami, Orlando and most recently Guatemala as part of the Puerto Rican National Team. Valentin and her teammates finished second overall in the second round of the CBC Championships, qualifying them for next year's FIBA World Games.
Throughout her travels with the Puerto Rican National team, the 2004 Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection kept a diary for iuhoosiers.com. Following is her last entry of the trip:
We came in second overall in the tournament. Cuba placed first. They are just a really good team and we didn't have what it took to beat them. In the last game against them, we started off really slow. By the time we picked things up in the second half, it was too late. But, the other games we played against Guatemala and Costa Rica went really well.
We had the day off on Sunday, which was also our last day on the trip. We spent most of the day walking around a flea-market type place. They had all little kinds of souvenir shops. I bought some stuff for my family.
In comparing the two countries, Puerto Rico was more what I am used to. There were more fast food places and things you would see in the U.S. Guatemala was more touristy. It was like an old city and it was very hot. Guatemala was also really different because there was a lot of security everywhere. There were guards that opened the doors for you at McDonald's and places like that.
It was sad to say goodbye to all of my teammates, but we are going to keep in touch. Some of the girls from Puerto Rico said they might try to come visit me in December of January to see us play. I really hope they do come.
My Spanish and my basketball skills definitely improved throughout the trip. When we play here, we have media time outs, but down there we could only call time outs on dead balls. The competition was tough, so from that point, I felt like it was good for me to go up against that kind of physical play.
I would definitely do the whole thing over again. It was a pretty long summer traveling with the team. Right now I am looking forward to just enjoying the rest of my summer and start getting ready for our season, which is not too far away!
