Basketball Part II

This last week we have done a lot with basketball. Last Saturday (January 17) the girls on the basketball team invited our family and the Craigs to a lunch that they had prepared for us.  We had an enjoyable time getting to know the girls a little bit better.  They cooked us a bunch of of delicious food and we had a great time.  The most fun we had was with the basketball girls playing fun games with the kids.

The kids and girls getting ready to play a game.

Sitting down to a wonderful meal

NU Girls basketball team and the Craig and Willardson families.

The other fun item for the week for the girls was that they received their new uniforms.  They had received uniforms from the university, but they were all too big and were designed for men.  Brett got the girls some very nice green and white uniforms when he was back in the States over the Christmas break.  The big surprise was that Brett had gotten them a warm up jacket and printed the name on the back as well.  When they saw their names on the jackets it was pure joy.

This Saturday (January 24) we bought tickets to the Astana basketball team game.  They were playing the Enesey team (from Krasnoyarsk) so it was a good game to take everyone to.  We even convinced Babushka to come to the game with us, so that was nice.

The weather outside has been cold the past few days (so cold that the girls' school was cancelled from Thursday through Saturday and will probably be cancelled through the middle of next week as well) so it was an icy trip to the arena. Luckily it is close - only three bus stops, or about five minutes, from us.  The stadium where the team plays is actually a bicycle racing stadium, so the set-up is a bit different.

Getting ready to start game - wooden bike track in the background.

Astana (Gold) and Enesey (Krasnoyarsk in blue)

The cheerleader/dancers.  They came out at every time out and break in the quarter.

Babushka and the girls watching the game.

Watching the game part II

Yulia doing a selfie with me.  I was watching the game, so my eyes were wandering....

Halftime stats on the scoreboard.

We splurged and bought lower bowl tickets for 1000 tenge each (about 5 dollars) so for about $40 we all went to the game and sat right next to the court.  The game action was pretty good.  Somewhere between a regular college and an NBA game.  Both teams had Russians and foreigners (including three or four American players) on them and the action was good.  The Enesey team had a player who was very athletic and who had a great shot.  He hit about 6 out of 8 three pointers and had a couple of spectacular dunks.  The game was close until the end of the third period when Krasnoyarsk got out to a 15 point lead.  They held the lead through the fourth and won 95-84.

White (6) for Krasnoyarsk was the player of the game.  Here he finishes a fast break with a spectacular dunk.

It was a great way to spend the day as a family.

We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to do so many fun and cultural things together.  The game itself had a lot different energy and feel (from the crowd) than do sports in the US, but it was fun.  The cheerleader/dancers for the team were a bit more risque than what we were expecting.  Most of their routines looked like something from the strip club, so we had to tell the girls that some kinds of dancing can be inappropriate.

Great times in Astana - and more to come!