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Charlotte Watch 2010 - The Final Entry

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Fordham women's basketball sophomore forward Charlotte Stoddart and the Standard Life Great Britain U20 national team won four of their five exhibition games en route to the U20 Division B European Championship held July 16-20 in Kavadarci, Macedonia. While her Fordham teammates are in summer session II, Stoddart is traveling the globe, playing in Austria, Belgium and Macedonia.

Stoddart checked in with FordhamSports.com after her round of games in Bulgaria and again after the opening ceremonies and her first games in the group division of the European Championships. Great Britain was picked as a a team to watch out for in the Championships. 

In their first game against Belgium GB U20 women won 61-42. They then went on to defeat Hungary, 54-50. Stoddart had seven points in the victory, the third best scorer. In the 54-50 win, Stoddart put GB ahead in the first half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Stoddart's team went on to win the U20 European Divison B Championship, with only one loss in the process. The team was promoted to Division A for 2011's competition. Stoddart earned a spot on the All-Star team.

Check out the Charlotte Watch blog below:

Date: July 28, 2010
Destination: Kavadarci, Macedonia - We Are The Champions!
Final Blog Post

Wow what a weekend!

It was full of excitement, pride and history making. After winning the quarterfinal against Israel we were so excited, as there have not been many times a Great Britain team has made it to the final four.

In the semis we faced Portugal, who finished first in the other group. It was an important game for both countries - as the winner would get promoted into Division A. Both teams were in a similar situation, as neither team has ever been promoted before, so it was a great opportunity.

We won by 19 and the team went crazy. We stormed the court and the majority of us were crying because we were so happy. The win was so overwelming, as we knew that we had just made history. A random man came up to the team after the game and said, "You have just suprised the whole of Europe today." The atmosphere in the locker room after the game was amazing. Everyone was jumping up and down throwing water everywhere. That night we went out for a meal to celebrate, as we couldn't party just yet because we had a final to play the next day.

The final was the last game of the day. The day felt so long and everyone was anxiously waiting for the evening to arrive. Even though we had reached one of our goals of being promoted - now that we made it to the final we wanted to go all the way. In the final we played Slovakia, who we hadn't yet played in the competition. It was quite a strange feeling for most of us, as in the past we had always been watching the final, so to actually be playing in it was unbelievable.

The game was tense as it stayed within only a couple of points throughout. When the clock ran out all of us just paused and looked up at the score board. It took us a few seconds to take in the fact that we had just won, as it felt so unreal to us.

For the second day in a row we stormed the court and piled on the coaches. After that performance we had made history once again. Standing on the podeum to recieve our gold medal and cup was amazing. They played our national anthem and we were all so proud of what we had accomplished as a team!

This summer was my last chance to represent Great Britain in the youth age groups and it is a great feeling to finish on such a high note by helping to bring home a European Championship!

See you in America soon.

- Charlotte Stoddart #21

 

 

Date: July 22, 2010
Destination: Kavadarci, Macedonia - Quarterfinal Bound:

Hi guys. Last time I wrote we were about to face Macedonia. Well it was a crazy game. We knew Macedonia was a lot tougher than they were last year, after only loosing to Czech by 10. We did not let playing against a sixth man (the home crowd) affect us. Throughout the game we had more than 500 people booin us everytime we were on offense and only five people cheering for us! Also after a few controversial fouls against Macedonia, the crowd got very noisy! We just clinched the game by one point and we were booed out the gym. The win gave us three in a row!

Two days later we played the Czech Republic, who were at the top of the pool. This time we had a bit of a rough game. We ended up loosing by 14, but it was a good for us to play such an experienced team. The game against Czech concluded our group games and we finished second in the group with a 3-1 record. So now we are in the quarterfinals to play Israel!

The past two days we have had off. We have just been hanging out and recovering before the next part of the competition starts.

Yesterday, we had practice in the morning, then we celebrated one of the parents' birthdays by going out for a meal, which was fun, as we are getting a little tired of the hotel food. We also went down to watch Macedonia play Belgium - which was another crazy game. Macedonia lost by one point for the second day in a row, so as you can imagine the fans weren't too happy.

Today (Thursday, July 22), we had practice and a performance analysis session in the morning. In the afternoon, we managed to find a big swimming pool up in the hills, which gave us something else to do. After a relaxing two days off we are now prepared for our quarter final game tomorrow. Wish us luck :)

- Charlotte Stoddart  #21

 

Date: July 18, 2010
Destination: Kavadarci, Macedonia - Let the games begin!

Hi again guys!

I'm now in Kavadarci, Macedonia for the European Championships! We have been here a couple of days now. We came a few days early so we could practice in the hot conditions and get used to it. Considering it was 99 degrees yesterday and there is no air conditioning in the arena, it was a good idea! Yesterday was the opening day of the tournament. Our first competition was Belgium. Last year, a few of us had played Belgium in a group game and lost by one on a buzzer beater, so we were out for revenge.

We did really well this time around and beat them this time by 19 points. Straight after our game the opening ceremony was held on the court. All the teams gathered around the court with their national flags. There were some dancers and a speech made by the mayor of Kavadarci. The atmosphere was good and it was nice meeting all the people involved in the championship.

Today, we played our second game of the group stage. We knew we had to play our best today against Hungary, as they are expected and recognized as a team that will make it to the final. The score was close the whole way through. We managed to get their two main players fouled out in the last quarter, and with a few free throws in the last few seconds, we won by 4! At the moment we are top of our group. We play the home nation, Macedonia, tomorrow so we are expecting a loud game, tough game.

Wish us luck! Until next time!


- Charlotte Stoddart  #21

 

 

Date: July 12, 2010
Destination: Bulgaria

Charlotte Stoddart (Courtesy of Standard Life GB U20 team).

Hi everyone! I've finally got some free time to let you know how I've been getting on.

Since returning back home after school, there hasn't been much of a break for me. I caught up with my family and friends for a week or so, then headed off for the U20 trials. Since then I have hardly been home! We had training camps for the majority of june all over England. A couple of days before Austria, I found out I made the final team and was so excited for the busy summer ahead of me.

At the moment, the team is in the preparation stage. Early Monday (July 5) morning we flew out to Austria to play in two exhibition games. It wasn't a great start as we had to queue for hours to check in... we now know not to fly with Easy Jet next time! We landed around lunch time, and by the evening we were on the court playing our first exhibition game. We didn't let the travelling affect us as we pulled out a comfortable 35-point win. The next day however, was a little disappointing. We ended up loosing by one with a pair of free throws Austria made in the closing seconds. We were very upset with the loss, because we felt we should have won. The trip was really enjoyable. Our team manager (who is Austrian) kindly offered to put the team up in her house, so there was plenty of team bonding over the three days. I was in one bedroom with six players! There was no time to dwell on the loss because at 5 a.m. on Thursday (July 8) morning, we jetted off to our second location, Bulgaria.

We knew that the exhibition games against Bulgaria were going to be more challenging, as we were playing an A division team. However, this didn't hold us back. On the first day, we got up early in the morning to practice, so that we could get used to the environment. Later that evening, we played the first of three games. With quite a lot nerves inside of us, we played a pretty good game and pushed ourselves to secure an eleven point win. This win gave the team a boost of self confidence. We brought the same amount of confidence into Friday's and Saturday's (July 10-11) games as we were again successful with a 14 point and 20 point win. Today, surprisingly, was the first day the sun had been out, so the physio let us cool down and do stretches in the pool in our sports bras and spandex! Had fun and helped us recover at the same time. We have the evening off tonight which is relaxing after a few busy days. I'll be watching the World Cup final, hopefully not in Bulgarian! There's no stopping here though, Tomorrow we are back on the court for our final preparation practice before we head off to the Europeans in Macedonia on Tuesday. Busy, busy, busy -- but I'm having fun! I'll be back soon to let you know how we are getting on in the opening stages of the competition! :)

- Charlotte Stoddart  #21

Related Links & Story Updates

Releases From The GB Standard Life U20 Homepage

 

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