Rams to get needed game action in Costa Rica

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- While what he's seen on the practice court has been encouraging, Ryun Williams knows it is nowhere close to being enough. With a roster filled with transfers, players coming back from injury and in some cases, both factors, the Colorado State women's basketball coach knows one thing is missing.

Game action.

"I just think kids who haven't played in a long time, they just need games. It's hard to simulate," Williams said after an early morning practice. "You can try as hard as you want in practice, but there's nothing like a game. Those lights are a different brightness. Going to Costa Rica, getting those kids on the floor, having those anxious moments and making mistakes, that's all part of growing a basketball team. We need that. This group is going to need that."

The NCAA allows programs to take a foreign trip every four years in the offseason, and the timing couldn't have fallen on the calendar more perfectly for the Rams. They leave Aug. 11 to play three games in Costa Rica, including one against the country's national team.

It's a trip where every second on the clock will be valuable, as well as the time spent together as a team in non-basketball activities. But make no mistake, the players understand those three games will help shape the direction of their season.

"I mean, I know everybody who was injured and transferred, we've been waiting for this time since the games started last year," Jamie Bonnarens said. "That's really been our drive, and all through preseason, we've had the opportunity to train together and work out. We'd be in here, mandatory or not, shooting and getting ready.

"It's a different mentality almost. We'll get to a point where it's just natural. It's game time, we'll see things happen and we'll react to it on the fly."

Through practice, Williams has a pretty solid idea of what his players can do physically, in terms of strengths and weaknesses. He's instructed them on offensive and defensive sets and put them in motion on the court, against air of facing their teammates.

It helps establish a baseline, even some muscle memory, but a game will alter every detail. How they react is key, and the players need to learn how teammates react as much as their coach needs to see the byproduct.

"Just getting that pace. Game speed is something that's very different," Mackenzie Ellis said. "We have freshmen who haven't played at that pace before, and for us, just getting back into it. We've been practicing and doing all those things, but it's something that is different. You have to think on the fly, you have to understand each other, what we're doing and the game plan. That's going to help us out.

"I think we'll be able to learn what we need to learn, what we need to prepare for. I think it's really going to help us see our strengths, what are we going to be able to take into this season, but also what to work on in those practices before the season starts."

Williams loves the fact this group gets to play games before a tally is kept, and all but Tori Williams (she is cleared, but Ryun Williams is still employing caution with the guard) will see the floor. Coaches and players alike need to see who will be aggressive, who wants to take a final shot. Competitors love to win, but a loss isn't going to hurt the Rams on the trip. What they gain from all three of the games gives them a template when the regular season begins in November.

Besides, Coach Williams knows they need to make mistakes in an inviting setting.

"That's the nice thing about the foreign trip," he said. "You're a little more relaxed as a coach, because quite frankly, the winning and losing doesn't matter. Kids, you let them free up, you let them make mistakes and you get a lot of teachable moments on this is how you want to play and the right mindset."

A basketball team becomes cohesive not just on the floor, but off of it, which is why team-bonding sessions have been built into the trip, even at the dinner table. It will also serve as an educational excursion, so the players were given pre-trip homework. They were paired up with topics ranging from language, education, weather and culture, then presented their findings to the rest of the team.

Coach Williams' homework? "What shots I need to take."

As his personality would suggest, the players have to make it fun, as well as see their coaches enjoying it, too. The players said as important as it is to know who can get heated on the court and how to calm them, it's just as vital to understand who can't handle spicy food and who is willing to embarrass themselves for the good of the group. Or even on accident.

They all feel the journey will bring them one step closer to gaining a feeling of being a Ram, though some experiences have to be lived on campus.

"They don't have it yet. They won't understand it," he said. "You slowly start to understand it when you meet with people, go to a football game, volleyball game and see a passionate fan base. But it's a trip where you can really grow and become a true family and really understand each other."

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