Wow did we play great against Coe!  We battled for 40 minutes and even though we led the entire game we had to make one more shot in the last 10 seconds to win.  I was so happy for Brooke Wehle and our team when her layup rolled in with 1.7 to go.  When Brooke was in high school I saw her make a shot in the final 10 seconds in a game to win it for her team. When we drew it up for her to take the final shot I knew she could do it again. We also had our alumni in town for the game, which made it a lot of fun.

Our alumni are wonderful.  They are so supportive and it is so fun to reminisce with them.  There were lots of stories told Saturday night at our alumni reception.  How many of them were completely accurate might be debatable.  Our former players also showed they could still play when they won the alumni game.

Wednesday we played one of our best half of the season down at Simpson.  We came out of the gates in the second half a little slow and then had to play catch up the rest of the way.  It was a great effort by our team and the final score does reflect how well we played. What it did do was reinforce that we can play we anyone in the conference.

Play 4 Kay event is tomorrow here at BV.  Jennifer Thompson has put together quite an event.  Bring your check book and come over to the game, we will be taking on Dubuque.  Dubuque has  really been playing well and have had some nice wins.  It will be a classic IIAC battle on Saturday.  Susan Kies told me today we were going to take care of business tomorrow and I always believe whatever she says. Susan had a great game at Simpson having a career high 20 points.  Laura Hilby also had a career high of 21 points that game.

On the home front, Brock continues to improve on the wrestling mat.  I am learning some things about the sport and have to say I somewhat enjoy the meets.  Blake has starting working out for track and is mastering his x-box skills.  Both Berry brothers will head to the middle school dance tonight. I would give anything to have a camera crew there so I could monitor the action.  Wiener keeps telling them that he is chaperoning but I don’t think they are buying that one.

Wiener’s knee recovery is still a struggle but feels he is making slow but sure progress.  Recruiting has been in turbo mode.  We have some awesome women we are recruiting we just need to hang in there and complete the process.  Coach Lehner and I will be road tripping again tonight.

Go Beavers!!

Coach Berry

Interim is coming to a close, winter has raised its ugly head in NW Iowa and the Iowa Conference is heading into the second round, it must be the end of January.  Being part of sports my whole life I know the emotional roll coaster is part of the territory.  It is still hard.  It is very hard to coach kids who do everything you ask them to do and work extremely hard and just not catch a break.  To say we have had rough couple weeks is an understatement.  It has been brutal. In all my years of coaching, scoring has never been a problem.  But in the last few games the basket has shrunk in size and with it, our confidence. 

We are going to get the wheels on track!  We have too good a team and too much character to fold our tents, but the bottom line is, we have to find some ways to score.  The last couple of days at practices we are trying to get our shooters some easier looks. We played really well last time we played Wartburg and I confident we are going to have another solid performance. 

If you are a football fan you saw two amazing games last weekend. Unfortunately both the teams I was cheering for came up short. It makes for a long off season when games are won because of mistakes.

Our son Brock made is wrestling debut on Monday.  He ended up losing but for his first time out it sounds like he battled hard.  I am looking forward to seeing him on the mats for the first time on Thursday.

I wish I had good news to report about Wiener.  He has had a really tough go since his knee replacement and is looking at another surgery, probably sooner than later. 

Alumni game is fast approaching on the Feb 4.  It is always great to welcome everyone back.  Alumni if you have not started running up and down or at least running a little I would say today is the day to get going.  Lots of babies are on the way but that is really not excuse not to playJ I will be happy to provide child care on the sidelines for you new moms who want to play.

Beavers are going to get a win!

Coach Berry

Well this morning I write to you from the waiting room in the Siouxland surgical center.  My Husband Wiener is in surgery right now getting a new knee.  He has put this off for several years and even right before they took him back he asked if he could change is mind.  I said, NO!  Yes, he was serious.  He does not enjoy doctors and this was not an easy morning for him.  I was hoping they wasted no time to knock him out.

We are coming off a good week of basketball.  We won our conference opener at Central then took care of business against Crown College.  Central has a new coach and played well.  I feel very fortunate to get that first conference win under our belt.  Crown College was short on numbers and short on stature.  We won 90-22 and I found myself cheering that they would score.  It is hard to play well in games like this but I was really proud of our defensive intensity through the game. We also wanted to take 80 shots and we got 93.  It was probably good we did not shoot the ball very well or it could have really been ugly.

At Central we had several alumni in attendance.  It was great to see Steph Gronau, Kelli Staley Cameron, Jennifer Allen, Jocelyn Kock, Jahde Hammer and Tracy Hartwig.  A lot of these former players still play in a league in Des Moines.  I am sure if that group suited up they would be pretty competitive. I always love seeing my former players.

Our team is becoming better students of the game.  We have lots of very smart people on our team and we have tried to challenge them mentally as well as physically with thinking more about what we are trying to accomplish.

People do not realize that it is hard to see everything going on during a game.  You really need to watch film and really watch individual players to give them specific things to work on.  This is something that Coach Lehner and I are trying to do better.  Give more feedback after games, not just stats.  Stats are important but this is only a piece of the puzzle.

From the scores so far in the conference it appears it is going to be quite a race.  My philosophy is that you have to win at home and split on the road .  If you do that you will be in the hunt. Wartburg comes to town on Wednesday after an impressive victory over Simpson.  We will be ready!

Finally thoughts:  Winter has arrived, the Vikings stink, Tiger is back and turkey for thanksgiving is overrated (that’s another story).

Go Beavers!

From last Saturday to last Saturday we traveled to Kansas City, Lincoln, and Minneapolis. We played one exhibition game and three regular season games. In that week we learned a lot. We learned that we have several people who can score. Hilby had a 21 points, a career high, in KC Jessica had 25 in Lincoln and Brooke scored 19 points in the MSOE game. Amanda Roder also had a career high at Nebraska Wesleyan going 4-4 from the field and 8-8 from the line.

We also learned that we are never out of it. We were down 20 with 11 minutes to go and made a remarkable comeback to fall just short. Defensively, we have improved a lot. We still have a ways to go but it is coming. We have to continue to play physical and stay committed to rebounding. This past weekend we out rebounded our opponent in both games which is a really good sign.

On our journeys we had a lot of fun. In Minneapolis we played Friday afternoon and had some time to kill so we headed to the Mall of America. At the mall we had a fun dinner at the Cadillac Grill. The dinner included several of us riding the mechanic bull. I have to admit that I was really lame on the bull. But wow, Tara Lehner needs to head to the rodeo, she was a pro.

Back at the hotel, thanks to my husband’s reminder, I saw the end of the ISU Oky State game. Wow, what a great win for Iowa State. Even though it was a great win it was a bitter sweet win. I felt bad for the Oklahoma State community and was sadden to hear about the death of the OSU women’s basketball coach, assistant coach and two boosters in a plane crash. As coaches we spend a lot of time traveling with our teams and recruiting, unfortunately all these miles on the road can lead to accidents.

My son Brock got to witness the memorable game and was in the third row of the end zone when ISU won. He said it was amazing atmosphere. They had almost left early in the four quarter. He was very glad they had stayed.

On Saturday we did not play until 5:00 so we took a field trip to the Minnesota Museum of Science. We had a fun morning exploring the facility. We had to battle some preschoolers to have our turn on some of the exhibits but we made sure we shared.

After the game Saturday the roads were pretty dicey but luckily we made it home safety. Tonight we will be right back at it with Martin Luther.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I am looking forward to a quiet day at home with some family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving to all! I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. LIFE IS GOOD!

Safe travels everyone.

Go Beavers,

Coach Berry

Grinding

It is this time of the season you need to keep grinding.  Practice is getting old and we are getting tired of beating up on each other but we have to have the attitude that we need to keep learning and keep trying to improve every day.  We have put in a lot of stuff and I really feel we are farther down the road then I ever thought we would be.

We did have a scrimmage last week and I was very pleased with how we played.  Defensively we are moving well and rebounding hard.  Offensively we have lots of weapons and had 19 assists in our scrimmage with 19 offensive rebounds. The best part of the scrimmage was that we played with confidence.  Coach Lehner and I have been beating that drum for the past couple years. For any team to be successful you have to believe in yourself and your team mates and it is starting to show up on the court.

Another thing about this team is that they really have fun with each other both on and off the court.  It is so great being around a team that cares about each other and likes hanging with each other.

On the home front, the Berry boys will kick their basketball season off next week.  Blake does feel he is running too much in practice but his father and coach does not agree.  Luckily, Blake has enough sense to complain to his mother and not directly to the “coach”.  This is a really  crazy time in our household but I love that my boys are active.  We did have a milestone with Blake getting his permit on Friday.  Of course he thinks he needs to drive everywhere now which I have to say feels really strange.  He is a good driver, but I can’t believe he is old enough to drive.  Brock thinks he could probably get by using Blake’s permit but we are not going to let that happen.

We will keep grinding, but we are definitely looking forward to getting the season started.

Go Beavers!

Coach Berry

Basketball is rolling

Wow where did the fall go?  All of a sudden it is October 25 and we are 10 days into our season.  Practice is going well.  We have a great group of veteran and they are doing a really nice job of setting the tone for the season.  We are little but we are in great shape and are fast.  Coach Ron Thomson who is our new strength and conditioning coach had our team ready to begin practice. Coach Thomson who comes to us from Purdue is the real deal.  Our women are stronger and tougher after working with him.

A tradition we began last year was our annual paint ball outing over fall break.  Coach Lehner and Tara Lehner had us over to their farm in Le Mars and we had a fun afternoon of playing army and an amazing obstacle course put together by mom and dad Lehner.  The obstacle course relay included using a wheel barrel to move bales of hay, gathering eggs , carrying feed bags  just to name a few.  It was absolutely hilarious to see everyone participate in the event.  Next time you see Laura Hilby ask her about her wheel barrow skills. J

Practices have really been competitive and we are learning lots of stuff.  One of our main goals this preseason is to improve our rebounding. This is an area we need to continue to make strides in if we want to compete for an IIAC title.

Our new comers have been working hard and getting better and better every day.  Our new freshmen class is small but talented:

Jordan Henningsen was a four sport standout at Alta High school.  She was all state in three sports and also went to state in golf two years. She is a scorer and a very good passer.  Jordan has an awesome competitive spirit and does a really nice job at the point guard position. Jordan’s mom Jeannie is a BVU Hall of famer.

Erica Ollendieck was a member of Tripoli’s State champion volleyball team.  She is a good athlete and is a strong on the blocks.  Erica is another fierce competitor and not afraid to play physical. She is getting better every day. Erica High school volleyball coach and basketball Coach Will Bauman is a former student of mine.  Thanks Will!

Rebecca Pennington Played on two state tournament teams for Mount Ary High School and is anexcellent all-around athlete.  She can really run the floor and is an outstanding defender.  She is the type a player who will always give a spark to our team. Becca is quickly making her present know on the court with her aggressive play.

Bre White attended Burke High School in Omaha NE.  Bre is a firecracker, she has excellent basketball skills and plays some awesome on the ball defense. Bre is still a little quite but is coming out of her shell every day.  Bre has a good looking shot and is a great addition to our program.

A couple other updates, Blake and Brock both had great football seasons. I absolutely love watching them play.  During the season they recovered fumbles, intercepted passes ran for touchdowns caught passes, threw for touch downs.  Can you tell I am a proud mom?  Wiener was Blake’s coach and loved every minute of it.  The boys are off to basketball now.  Another new adventure in the Berry household is both of our boys our in the middle school musical.  Blake and Brock along with 40 other classmates will be performing The Musical Man on November 11 and 12.  They have been working very hard and seem to be enjoying the experience.  I have been asked to help with makeup for the play, wow that could be crazy.  Any suggestions?

I really love this team and I really believe they can accomplish some great things.  I love their work ethic and their positive attitude.  I can tell that our Costa Rica has really helped us prepare for the season.  This it what I know for sure, our team will work very hard, we will fight hard in every game and we will win a lot of games and have a lot of fun doing it.  I say this every year but I really do feel blessed to do what I love and I love going to practice and coaching these outstanding women.

Go Beavers!

Coach Berry

PS: Congrats to Brooke Wehle for her early admittance to Dental school at University of Iowa.  Way to go Brooke!!!!!

Growing up my favorite memories were our family vacations.  Every summer my dad would have another veterinarian cover his practice for a week and we would load up the station wagon and head out for seven great days on the road. Because of these adventures, I have always loved to travel.  Last August, as I was working on our 2011-12 schedule, I noticed a flyer sitting on my desk from Costa Rica Sports.   I then decided to check out their website.  I am really not sure what caught my eye while viewing the site, but I liked what I read and saw and then made a phone call to learn more.

Making that phone call was one of the better decisions I have ever made; for it put into motion the planning of a wonderful trip for our women’s basketball team. During January, many Buena Vista University students and professors are jetting around the world during our interim term.  If you are a winter sport athlete, those trips are really not an option because we are in the middle of our season. Being able to give our student-athletes an opportunity to travel to Costa Rica seemed like a great idea.

We had three main objectives for our trip: 1.) We were going to have an opportunity to improve our basketball skills by playing three extra games 2.) We going to be able to learn and experience the culture of Costa Rica, but most importantly, 3.) We were going to bond as a team by sharing some incredible memories.

Before we departed, we practiced seven times, but we also learned about the country. Our women researched and prepared presentations on the three regions of the country we would be visiting.  This was really helpful because before we arrived we were prepared on the types of food we might eat, the wildlife we would like to see and some of the history of the country. 

 We left Storm Lake at 10:30pm on the 9th of August and traveled by bus through the night to the Kansas City Airport. We boarded our plane at 6:00am and then headed to Atlanta, Ga., and had a brief layover. Then off to the Costa Rican Capital of San Jose. Once we had our luggage and started heading for the doors, I heard someone call my name. I turned and there to greet us were two young women from Costa Rica Sports.  Magaly had been my main contact for the past year and we had exchanged endless emails and had several phone calls putting our tour together. I am still not sure how she knew it was me, but we instantly felt welcome by two warm smiles Standing behind Magaly was a shy petite woman.  Little did we know at the time that Gaby would, in the next nine days, become a beloved member of our team. Gaby would be our guide and interpreter during our stay.  She told me when we met that she would be with us 24 -7 and she lived up to her promise.  She took care of everything and made sure our entire trip was amazing.

Costa Rica is located in Central America. It is about the size of West Virginia and is home to 4.5 million people. Though it is a relatively small country, it is home to rain forests, mountains, volcanoes and beautiful beaches, while also hosting a very diverse wildlife population from countless lizards, birds, and monkeys to just name a few,.  We also learned that Costa Rica is very eco-friendly and pride-fully promotes and protects its natural resources.  We were all impressed with some of their technology utilized to conserve energy. One more interesting fact about Costa Rica is that it no longer has its own army.  It dissolved its army in 1948 and this is another thing the Costa Rican people are very proud of.

While in San Jose, we played two games against two local universities. Even though they were representing their universities, one did not have to be a current student to be part of their team.  The Costa Rican players we competed against were ages 14-30 years. After we completed a game, we would then exchange some compliments with the other team. Each team would also select a player of the game from the other team and present them with a gift.  Both games were very physical and hard fought, but it was really fun afterwards to talk with the opposing team and coach. 

Another highlight while in San Jose was visiting a local day care center.  We really enjoyed spending a morning playing with kids who ranked in age from 9 months to 6 years old.  We found out quickly that the kids loved our cameras and sunglasses. Even though we had a language barrier, everyone was touched by this experience.

After three nights in the capital, we headed up to the mountains to zip line in the rain forest.  This was a four hour bus ride over very winding roads.  We had a few players battling car sickness by the time we arrived. To zip line you have to be fitted with a harness, helmet, gloves and lots of courage. We boarded a tram and then were transported up the mountain.  This was a spectacular view including a view of the Arenal volcano, the thick vegetation of the rain forest and we even saw some howler monkeys as we headed up the mountain.  Zip lining the canopy of the rain forest is intense enough, but half way through our eight zip lines a thunder storm broke out and it started pouring. On the zip line, we were 600 feet up and we were traveling up to 50 miles an hour. Our team loved this experienced, but I must admit I was somewhat relieved when we were all safe and sound.

Our next day in San Carlos was another amazing day.  We began the day with a white water rafting adventure. On the way to the river we stopped by an iguana rescue.  This was a restaurant that feeds iguanas, left over vegetables and make sure they are kept safe form poachers. Outside this restaurant there were over 300 large iguanas in the trees.  This truly was an incredible site to see this tree full of lizards.

White water rafting in Costa Rica is not for the weak of heart. I can describe it in one word: “INTENSE!”  After we got somewhat comfortable in our boats, we were able to enjoy the beautiful surrounding but most of the time we were all trying to stay within our boats. We transverse 11 miles of multiple rapids and all felt a true sense of accomplishment. During our paddle we were so lucky to have sunny weather. After a quick lunch we bused over to the national park to see the water fall.  To see the falls, we hiked down 406 steps to a majestic setting. Even pouring rain did not keep our women away from swimming in the small pool of water surrounding the falls. Climbing back up all those steps was our team training for the day.

From the falls, we finished off our day relaxing in some natural hot springs. The best way to describe the hot springs was a water park with 10 different pools that were all different sizes and water temperatures.   Trying to describe this experience is hard, but all I can say is that it felt wonderful to sit in steaming water at the end of two intense days.

After going hard for two days, we were all ready to head to the beach for the opportunity to just relax. It took us four hours to reach Puntarenas where we checked into the beautiful Porta Lena resort for a two night stay. Here our accommodations were somewhat rustic but the scenery was spectacular. We were a 10-minute walk from the ocean and we ate in an open air restaurant. During our stay while were eating, we saw monkeys, snakes, iguanas, coati (a raccoon like animal) and parrots. Our time at the beach included a sunrise workout on the beach.  The only problem was this was the beach that faced west (not east), but it was still awesome being on the beach in the early morning hours.

Needless to say college women and the beach was another day everyone enjoyed. Our final full day in Costa Rica included a jog to the beach, a bus ride back to San Jose.  Upon arriving back to our original hotel, our hosts had a farewell lunch for us that included pictures of our trip and lots of thank-yous were exchanged.  When our team sang an original song to our beloved guide, Gaby, there was not a dry eye in the house. Our final day was concluded with our third and final game against a club team Coronado.

This game you could tell we were a little tired from all our travels and the level of competition was definitely taken up a notch. The 6-4 center from Coronado was 30 years old.  She did not run fast, but she was a handful in the paint and we ended up losing 71-63.

The final morning our alarms went off at 3:15am for our 4:00am departure.  Saying good bye to Carlos (our awesome bus driver) and Gaby was harder than I could have ever imagined. We were all amazed how much we enjoyed these two wonderful people and when Carlos kissed me on the cheek goodbye, I had a huge lump in my throat. Saying goodbye to Gaby was even harder, but at least she is on Facebook so it will be easy for all of us to get in touch with her.

"The experiences from our trip are once-in-a-lifetime,” said senior Jessica Christensen.  “I will never forget the memories and friendships made. One of the biggest things I will take from this trip is that there is a whole other world out there and taking time to explore it a little will help you appreciate another culture, while also making you appreciate what we have here in the States. Pura Vida!" 

Senior Amanda Roder said, “The trip was a chance of a lifetime.”  “Not only did I get to play basketball in another country, but I got to know my teammates and coaches better. I will always have those memories and funny stories!”

“Pura Vida” - translated pure life - is the Costa Rican saying meaning “hey, how are you” and “basically life is good.”

During our adventure in Costa Rica (August 10-18) we truly experienced Pura Vida and all of us feel our lives have been enriched by this amazing trip.

Go Beavers!

Janet Berry
BVU Head Women’s Basketball Coach

On Monday we boarded the bus early in the morning to head to the beach, which was a five hour drive from the rainforest. Through the winding roads we got to see the country side of Costa Rica. We made some stops on the way and walked across “Alligator Bridge” where we saw numerous sun bathing alligators and vultures. It seemed as if the vultures were trying to see how close they could get before becoming lunch, but the alligators were unsuccessful in their snaps. As we drove up to Punta Leona we could see the beach and the blue water and everyone was excited. However by the time that we got into our rooms it was raining, but we still explored the white sand beach and the black sand beach as well. There was a big storm coming in and it rained and thundered loud booms throughout the night. We enjoyed a nice supper and were all excited to get up at the crack of dawn to get our tan on.

Tuesday morning on the beach you would have seen sunshine, rolling waves, pelicans, and a group of young women working out. After our workout we all happily ate breakfast and went back down to the beach to enjoy the hot sun. It was fun to explore the beach and see the different creatures like crabs, lizards, and birds. A pelican dove into the water very close to where we were swimming. As usual the rain came again in the afternoon after lunch, but many of us still were out and about in the rain, this time looking a little more tan at least!

            Today we head back to San Jose, where we will play our final game. This morning we went for one last jog down to the ocean before boarding the bus. A fisherman came up to shore and showed us the one tuna he caught on the three hours he was fishing. I think we are all ready to play tonight, but kind of sad that it is our last night. It has been great to travel with our teammates and really get to know each other even more. There have been many shared laughs and stories that we will always remember, plus the millions of pictures we and Jennifer Thompson have taken!

Pura Vida!

Amanda Roder #41