Back to Celje in Slovenia, where I had a great time at Eurobasket 2013.
We stayed a few miles away though, and although the Federation (through their sponsorship links) very kindly provided us with BMW's for the tournament, I can't drive, so the fantastic Goranka had to ferry me around.
I liked the tournament set-up, with the two halls about 10 minutes walk from each other, so I shuttled back and forth between them easily enough.
Having seen my Czechs get silvers at the three previous tournaments I'd worked at, I was expectant of more success. And on the first day I noticed that Petr Treml, who had led the U16 Men's team in 2011, was now coaching the women's team. He was nice to me but he seemed quite melancholic throughout. I'm always eager not to be a burden on the teams, so I didn't push the prospect of an interview until eventually, I really needed to, and so the article that the interview produced caught him in a bit of an annoyed mood. The Czechs then promptly flamed out in the quarter-finals despite looking good previously, winning five in a row after defeat on the opening night.
The home team became the big story, and their quarter-final with Russia will live with me for a while. Coach Grgic was fantastic with me throughout - often coy about his command of English (with no real need to worry, because he always seemed to express himself well), he was nonetheless always happy to discuss the game and he showed a lot of the skills and character that would lead to him becoming national team coach.
While respectful in person, there was no doubt that he was fiery on the sidelines too. His team scrapped and fought so so hard against a talented Russian team, led by Raisa Musina. The home crowd were fantastic too, and the atmosphere was electric as they came back from 21 down at the end of the third quarter to just four behind with a minute remaining... But (maybe enhanced by the benefit of hindsight) you could feel that the powder keg was about to go off. The inspirational Larisa Ocvirk fought for an offensive rebound and then the steal and then tried to get in position for an offensive foul call, and she thought she had it (and it would have given her team a huge chance) - but the referee called the foul against her. She exploded, with the referees throwing her out immediately, and she stomped off the court and, I think, took her frustration out in the hallway, as she sat out the remaining games of the tournament with a foot injury (if I remember right).
It was brilliant, compelling, and everything I love about sport. Players performing with all their heart, and ok, the ending wasn't ideal, but at least it showed that they cared.
I went to interview Slovenia's star guard Annamaria Prezelj on the off day, and she was great as well - 18 years old, great English, and not fazed at all.
Earlier in the tournament I interviewed Hungary's Nina Aho, and then I caught up with the Portuguese mother-daughter Kostourkova combo (who I, stupidly, didn't notice had been interviewed the previous year too) - but I wasn't doing too well with my interview subjects, and both teams ended up in the relegation dogfight, with Hungary pipping Portugal in a heartbreaker to send the Portuguese down, before beating Poland on the last day to survive.
It was such a pity because Portugal had looked pretty good on the first few days, pushing Russia, France and Spain in tight games. And the younger Kostourkova was a nice player and a really calm and cool interviewee. I remember really well seeing how broken the Portuguese team seemed after relegation was confirmed - it really was heartbreaking.
At the top, Spain laboured their way through the tournament, while France seemed imperious. Spain's star Angela Salvadores didn't seem quite herself and didn't seem to be hugely connected with her teammates, and their wing Maria Conde was the glue keeping the side together.
Unfortunately, the All-Star Five was a bit of a messy affair, with no particular stand-outs and honours being shared around, to an extent. As such, we were tallying up the coaches' votes and it was clear that Salvadores and Musina would be joined by France's Lisa Berkani (hero of the semi-final win over Russia) and Alexia Chartereau, but the fifth spot was between Conde and Italy's Francesca Pan. I made the case for Conde, but it was risky and Pan was justifiable (if I remember right, the votes were literally tied, although maybe we were waiting on one or two teams still). We needed to inform the other teams if their players needed to be ready to walk out, so the decision was made to give it to Pan, and I wish I'd put my foot down and said no!
Because Conde really was the tournament MVP. In the event, Salvadores dazzled in the final, so it didn't matter too much, but Conde should have had her moment at least, and the error was clear from how the Spanish team (and Salvadores herself) especially went to Conde to congratulate her. I took the opportunity myself to dash out as the celebrations wound down - ostensibly to get a "player reaction" quote, but after she told me how happy she was to get gold, I turned my recorder off and told her "look just so you know, we know you were the real MVP - the award was voted for by the coaches, but you know, they don't get to see everything, and we saw a lot - you were fantastic". I think she appreciated it - I hope so, anyway! I saw her two years later, celebrating Eurobasket gold in Prague, so I caught her eye and said "remember me?", and she did :)
On the downside, we witnessed two of the nasty knee-tear injuries that put players out for at least six months - a Dutch player on the last day in a nominally meaningless game went down in agony twisting to try and defend a shot. It was horrible to see, although you have to accept it as a sad part of the game.
One other memorable incident, personally... These tournaments can get tricky, especially my own style of writing (and/or work, in general) - I tend to spin around projects, getting caught in an instinctive flurry before needing to step away and procrastinate. And we are working until late, then getting "dinner" (at around midnight), and then generally needing to get some other work done too - in this case, after the exhilaration of the semi-finals, I needed to get the Bronze Medal Game and Final previews done (or at least I wanted to, rather than leaving them until the morning).
It was a beautiful summer's evening and we had nice accommodation. I suppose I had my window open. At some point, out of the corner of my eye, I had noticed a movement, but I didn't particularly know that anything was there. But then I think as I was preparing to turn in, around 3 or 4am, the beast returned - a dopey wasp. I really hate wasps - they're mean and so annoying! I was up for another hour or so trying to work out what to do about this thing. Eventually, it ended up in an area where I could kind of trap it, so I did - for about five minutes I worked on summoning up the courage before SPLAT! Smothering the little sod with one of my socks. I was still too fearful to lift the sock up, lest it might reveal a now-really-pissed-off wasp, so I think I put something else on top of the sock (to keep it in place), and finally turned in, desperate for some sleep!