Practice Day in Lithuania

Gold Standard #14:  PERFORMANCE.  We’re hungry.  We have no bad practices.

We are scheduled for the practice gym at the arena from 10:00 to 11:00 and 4:00 to 5:00.  The players were intense and mindful of the job at hand.  Go Team USA!

Waiting in the lobby for the bus to practice.

Team trainer Debi with her kit.

Time to practice!

KAUNAS, LITHUANIA

We are staying at the Park Inn.  Just a block from our hotel is a wonderful tree-lined pedestrian only street with shops and restaurants.

At one end of the street is St. Michael the Archangel Church.  It has all the architectural traits of a Russian Orthodox church.  It was designed by russian architects and built for the Kaunas Garrison.  During the Soviet years, the church was turned into an art gallery.  Presently it is a Catholic church. 

St Michael the Archangel Church

Park Inn - our hotel

Modern Lithuania gained its independence from Russia in 1918 following World War I and the dissolution of the Czarist monarchy. However, in 1940 Lithuania was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but this proclamation was not generally recognized until September 1991, following the abortive coup in Moscow. The Soviet Union recognized Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. A constitution was adopted on 25 October 1992. The last Russian troops withdrew in 1993. Lithuania subsequently has restructured its economy for integration into Western European institutions.