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| Coaches Corner | |||
 Mary Beth Spirk22nd season at Moravian
Happy New Year! As we start 2009, my hope is that everyone stays healthy and safe. I also hope we can begin the New Year where we left off in 2008, on a 5 game win streak! This is the best start to a season, since the 1991-92 season (and in case anyone forgets, that is the year we went to the Final Four!). We obviously have a lot of games to play yet, and I certainly will not allow this team to take anything for granted. I will say that the caliber of competition we played, 6 NCAA teams from 2007-08 and a Division II team, is the toughest scheduled in season stretch we have ever played in my 22 years as head coach. As I looked at our schedule going into the season, I would have been happy to have gone 4 – 4 heading into the break. Now that we are 7 – 1, beating DeSales, Muhlenberg and most importantly, Scranton, to go 1- 0 in the Landmark Conference, the outlook for the rest of the season is a good one. We have a tough start, as we host our own tournament and play on the road, with 3 games in 4 days. We then get right into Conference play, with Juniata, the team that beat us last year in the play-offs. Conference play, with back to back weekend games will test our mental and physical toughness as the season progresses. I am hoping our depth and strong team commitment to success will keep us on the positive side of the scoreboard! The coaching staff is working hard to keep the players focused on fundamentals, doing the “little” things correctly. We also want the players to stay focused on our goals for the year: winning the conference championship and making the NCAA tournament. We are going to try our best to accomplish both. I hope 2009 is as good to us as 2008, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year. Women’s Basketball Summer Tour - (8/28/08) The women’s basketball team travelled to Italy this summer, August 6th – 15th. A group of 10 players, 4 coaches, 1 trainer and 20 family and friends made the trek. We played 3 games against Italian club teams, as well as doing sightseeing and an enormous amount of walking throughout the 10 days of the trip. For more insight on the trip, visit http://moravianrome.blogspot.com. The tour was a tremendous learning experience and great team bonding time, on and off the court. I have had the pleasure to travel with many teams in my tenure here at Moravian and this was one of the best. The stress of managing 34 people (35, including myself!) was actually minimal. The players were on their best behavior (most of the time) and the fans/supporters kept everyone on their toes with their vocal support and lively interactions. Our games were tremendous tune-ups for the regular season. The Italian teams were all extremely physical. It was exactly the kind of competition I was hoping we would have there. After an initial shock the first few minutes of the first game, the team really stepped it up and we developed a “rough and tough” attitude. I anticipate this will carry over into the regular season! We accomplished exactly what I wanted to accomplish out of the trip, camaraderie, fun, history lessons, toughness and memories to last a lifetime. Mary Beth Spirk
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