Kim Ewanvich Blog#13

Hey,
so i have been crazy busy these last few weeks with meetings, practices, running, games and visitors so i have not had much time to sit down and let you know whats up so here is a sum up of it all...
My club here in France has been putting a lot of pressure on me these last 3 weeks because they want me to re-sign with them next season, they told me last week (after separate meetings with the gm, president and coach) that i had a week to decide if i was staying in Cannes next season. For me i think thats a little crazy because we (at that point) still had 5 games left with the next game being against the 1st place team. We still have a chance to move up but we need to win every game and also win the next game by 6 or more points.


Practices leading up to the "game of the season" have been crazy. Handball monday, work out tuesday morning and running tuesday night, running wednesday night, workout and practice thursday, 2 practices on friday and a practice and a game on saturday!!! Although i was dead by saturday it seemed to pay off because we played the 1st place team and were up 17-13 at half time and won the game 35-27. This was a very important game to win, and because of this win we are now tied for second place so if both teams go on to win the rest of their games then we end up being tied for first at the end of the season, and because we beat them by 8 and they only beat us by 6 then we automatically move to first and that means we move up to D2. There are still 4 more games to go and that includes playing (the now) 1st place team away, so the season is not finished but we are one step closer. I also had an average of about 50% in my game on saturday saving 24 shots (the other goalie took some 7m penalties).


Tord and i also had 2 friends come and visit us for 4 days from Norway so that made our busy week even more crazy but it was a lot of fun and in 2 weeks Alexis Krook comes to visit so i am very excited for that :)


After thursday my team has 4 days off for easter break so i hope it will be nice enough that i can spend most of it on the beach. Tord leaves this week to go back to norway for a week so things will really clam down for me.


I hope everything is good at home and everybody is getting ready for nationals :)
Bisous

Kim Ewanvich Blog#12

Hello,
Soooooo everything that could have gone wrong these last two weeks did... We lost both of our games vs the same teams we lost to in the 1st half of the season. With these losses we have gone from 1st place to 3rd but amazingly with the league being so close and everybody losing to everybody, there is no front runner in the league. So my team still has a chance to finish 1st and move up this season! Impossible... no, but difficult yes. We now must win our next 8 of 8 games to be guaranteed the 1st place spot. If we lose any of our last 8 games then we depend on other teams in front of us to also lose and that is no way to get the job done.
Like always with any team that starts to fall apart everybody starts to blame everybody else but themselves. And my team is no exception, but i can honestly say that we have lost all of our games "as a team" where nobody plays well (including myself). This past week we had a team meeting with the president of the club where he tore us a new... ummm ya.. well you know.
Anyways, we now have 3 full weeks without a game and the coach has given us 5 days off from practice in hopes that we come back even stronger in training the next two weeks.
Tomorrow i will take a nice drive to La Crau to visit my old team and watch Tord play vs the mens team. It will be nice to catch up with my friends and old team mates i have not seen in a while.
Hope you all had a nice v-day
bisous
kimberley

Kim Ewanvich Blog#11

Hello everybody,


Last weekend we played a home games vs Dijon and we won 32-29, i played well in the 1st half with the score being 13-9 for us at half time. I didn't have a very good second half and it was a bad game overall for the team but we pulled away in the last few min of the game for the win.
We have played each team once and are now starting the second half of our season with a win this past saturday vs Le Pouzin. After a very poor first half by my team (but mostly myself) we were down 16-15 i was taken out after the first 15 min of the game and i didn't expect to start the 2nd half. But the coach decided to start me and i played a good 2nd half, only letting in 8 goals and making 11 saves. My team also woke up in offence and we ended the game with a score of 33-24. I was also mentioned in the paper the next day for my performance (in the 2nd half only, haha). Now only if i can play a solid 60 min i will be happy.
My team remains in 1st place with a 2 point lead!

Kim Ewanovich Blog#10

Hello,
I hope everybody has enjoyed their holidays, and like me ate way to much good food and chocolate :)
I spent Christmas in Norway this year and then came back to France to meet up with my parents who where here to visit for 2 weeks. We packed every day with tourist activities including spending a day in Italy. But my parents holiday ended way to fast and it was back to training for me.
We didn't play our first game until the 14th of Jan but we started our training on the 2nd, with a week consisting of 2 practices on the track and 4 handball practices (with two ending in running training) sooo needless to say we were all very tired by the time the weekend came. We then had an exhibition game on saturday vs a team in N2 and we won comfortably. Saturday night some girls from my team and i went to watch tord's team play vs a team in first place and they won, moving them up to first.
Sunday was spent recovering from the hard week of training and it started all over again on monday. But the training seemed to pay off because we won our away game this weekend vs Besancon and before the game they were tied with us for 1st play with 21 points so it was a very important game to win. We knew going into the game that we were a better team but we were worried because one of our top players wasn't playing with us because she was away playing with the national team of Senegal. But the hard work payed off and we won 29-26 (15-16 at half time). I played the whole game except the last 5 min in the 1st half.
This weekend we have a home game on sunday vs a team in the bottom half of the table, but that doesn't mean it will be an easy game because the "easy games" always seem to be the hardest to win.
Bisous
Kimberley

Kim Ewanovich Blog#9

Happy Holidays!!!


Hello all,
the last two weeks have been good we played an away game up in the north of France 2 weekends ago so we flew to Switzerland and then from there we rented cars and drove 3 hrs to our hotel. Don't ask why we did it that way but my guess is it was the cheapest. We played against a team in the middle of the table and we won 27-22 with the score being 10-8 for us at half. I played the whole game but the last minute, i had a great first half saving 14 out of 22 shots and an okay the second half saving 10 out of 24 shots. This win moved us into third place. After the game we went to a really nice restaurant and then to the hotel to sleep before driving back to Switzerland to fly out the next day.
The following week was very important to us, it was the last game of the championship before christmas and the game was against the team just ahead of us so it was a must win. I started out the game with a few big saves but after making a save (and the rebound going to the pivot) i "dove" trying to get to the other side of the net and hit my head on the floor (and she scored...... fail). I decided to stay in net and finished the half okay but my team was loosing 8-12. I didn't expect to be put back in net but the coach thought i was playing well so he had me start second half and i played the rest of the game. With less then 2min left in the game and with a score of 24-24 the other team had possession and ran down the clock hoping to get the last shot. After the refs raised their hand for a passive play they shot and i saved it and my team went on the attack with less then a min left and decided to do an alley-oop. We didn't score off the play but drew a 7m with 5 second left and we scored, winning the game 25-24 and moving us up into first place for christmas :)
We have a game this weekend for the France cup against a team in N2 (one div lower then us). We will play the away game on saturday and will arrive home around 2 am and i will have just enough time to sleep a few hrs before heading off to the airport to spend Christmas with Tord's family in Norway. Then i will be back in Nice on the 27th of December to meet up with my parents who are coming to visit for a few weeks. Sooo this will most likely be my last blog before Christmas so i wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, be safe and have fun!!! :)
Bisous

Kim Ewanovich Blog#8 From Cannes France

Hello,
So it seems like my team is definitely a "home game" team. After beating the first place team by 15 three weeks ago, we lost to a (bad) team by 2 in an away game last week. This lost dropped us from first place all the way down to fifth. The championship is so tight that there are only 7 points (3 pts for a win, 2 for a tie and 1 for a loss) between the first place team and the last place team. Soooo this means that if we win the next two games we could easily be back up to first place.
This past weekend we had a France Cup game (round 5) against Nice who are currently in 2nd place in D2 (one level above us). We went into the game knowing we weren't expected to win and had nothing to loose. We surprised everybody (and ourselves) when we came out of the gates full force and were up at halftime 12-9. I played the whole game but the last 8 min, and i think i had a very good game (if i do say so myself). With 8 min left we were down by 1 and i was subbed off, after some back and forth goals my team scored with little time remaining and we ended the game 21-21. Because it is a France Cup game there must be a winner and we went straight into shootout. The coach told me that the other goalie would be in net for the penalty shots and said i would go in for the last shot if we need a save. The other team started the shootout and both teams scored the first 3 goals then a Nice player missed the net, we then scored and on the next shot our goalie made a huge save winning us the game 25-24. Both teams dedicated the game to fundraising money for orphanages in Senegal by selling game t-shirts and other things and after the game all the little "clubs kidlets" came up with books that had our picture and names in them and we all signed autographs, so over all it was a great day.
Our next game is this weekend, away vs a team in the north of France.
Bisous

Kim Ewanovich Blog#7 From Cannes France

Hello,

I hope you are all enjoying the snow, i have heard it has started and has decided not to stop. Here the weather is about plus 18 and sunny most days so you're all welcome to come visit anytime :)

This week was a good week, we were a bit nervous because we had a home game vs the first place team, but when the time came we delivered. The papers said that so far Cannes is the best defending team in the league and that Bourg de Peage was the best offensive team so it was expected to be an interesting game.

The game started with us up 8-2 and we kept the lead throughout the whole game. The half time score was 20-8 for us and we ended the game 37-22. I played the first 40 min of the game and played well, with lots of help from my defenders. We are now in first place!! Yipppiiiieeee!!!!

This weekend we play vs a team in the middle of the charts but still they are not a team to be taking lightly.

Other then handball i have not been up to much because i have been sick these past few weeks and i'm slowly getting better.

Hope you are all staying warm and enjoying the christmas music :)

bisous