IU squad travels for international games

Getting the opportunity to travel overseas is one many people never experience in their lifetimes. For four Hoosier players and the IU women's basketball coaching staff, the chance to participate internationally was too good to pass up as they went to Australia, Canada, Guatemala and Cuba this summer.\nEach year, the Big Ten conference sets up a Foreign Tour team in which one head coach in the league can take her staff and two of her players to participate in international competition.\nIn 2004, IU coach Kathi Bennett was selected to head up the team. Bennett and her coaching staff of associate head coach Trish Betthauser and assistant coach Paul Nixon were joined by seniors Jenny DeMuth and Jamie Gathing in Australia on a four game tour.\nDeMuth's numbers during her junior year were one reason why she was selected, and her play didn't drop in the land down under. DeMuth averaged 9.3 points per game helping the team sweep the four-game tour.\nGetting the opportunity to travel to another country was an enjoyable experience, DeMuth said.\n"It was awesome. It was my first time going overseas," said DeMuth, a Highland, Ind., native. "Just seeing other countries and seeing how their programs are was just really fun."\nGathing was chosen for a different reason. After missing the 2003-2004 season due to a preseason knee injury, having a chance to play in a competitive atmosphere before the start of the season was partly why she was chosen to go. Gathing proved not to be too rusty, averaging more than five points per contest and pulling down 4.5 rebounds -- good for fourth on the team. \n"It was great, fun and different," Gathing said. "They did some of the same things we did, but a little quicker."\nSophomore center Sarah McKay, a native of Canada, was given the opportunity to try out for her national team in May. After a week of tryouts, she was named to the 17-player roster that will compete in the 2005 FIBA Americas World Championship qualifying tournament. \nGetting the opportunity to play and watch experienced players, as Canada faced Japan in a four-game series, was a great benefit for her future, McKay said.\n"This summer was amazing, they took me under their wing and helped me understand everything that coaches were expecting of us," she said. "Just playing against Japan and watching them for four games -- watching how different international ball (is)."\nBecause her father was born in Puerto Rico, junior guard Cyndi Valentin, was allowed to try out for the Puerto Rican national team despite being born in the United States. She eventually made the final cut. \nContinuing with the trend of the rest of the IU players overseas, Valentin's team advanced to the second round of the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament, ensuring an appearance in 2005 at the FIBA Americas World Championship.\nMany things for the women were different once they got overseas -- not even the basketball was the same. In international competition, they played with a man's ball which provided some difficulty at first, but wasn't a problem after a few days.\nThe style of play varied as well, as the players are used to the rough environment of the Big Ten. Things were different for Valentin in Cuba in the qualifying round and Guatemala in the second round, she said.\n"It was very physical play. It is usually physical in the Big Ten, but there are a lot of things that they get away with," Valentin said. "I was surprised about the rules. I didn't really know the rules so I had to adjust to that."\nGathing had a similar experience in playing with "Mighty Mouse women" in reference to the Australians ability to run all over the court. There was also the use of a trapezoid lane that provides for a wider paint, but puts wing players and post players in closer proximity.\nGetting the opportunity to play with the Puerto Rico team provided Valentin with the unique opportunity to work on her basketball game and improve her Spanish, she said.\n"It definitely helped me, because all of our practices were in Spanish," Valentin said. "There are a lot of girls that I made friends with that spoke English so that really helped out a lot."\nThe players continue to communicate with the players they met this summer, whether it is through e-mail or snail mail.\nWith all the differences the players encountered, from language, driving customs and food, the desire to travel overseas in future is there.\n"I really enjoyed it, I would like to do it again," Valentin said.\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.