Kim Ewanovich Blog live from France week#17

Hello,
Highlight Video from a game


This past week has been very hard for me. After the game 2 weeks ago i have been having some problems with my back, nothing to serious but it's very stiff and sore in the mornings. I saw the team physio and he adjusted my back and told me it would be best to take a few days off so my muscles could adjust, but with the teams other goalie not showing up i had no choice but to practice. Nobody really knows why she has not been showing up but they say she is having personal family problems so i was the only goalie at all the practices last week. Normally i love the fact that i am the only goalie because i get all the shots and drills to myself but with the back problems i was hoping to take it a bit easier but couldn't.
Come game day i wasn't feeling any better but i had to suck it up and handball suit up!! Again, i'm not sure the details of the other goalies problems but she didn't show up for the game and i was the only goalie dressing.
This proved to be a bad decision because i had one of my "off" games (as did the rest of the team) and we lost by 2 at home. I left the gym very angry and upset at myself about the game and how i played. When i got home i had a "lets talk about it" session with Tord and i told him how i felt and he told me his thoughts on the game. Although i was against it at the time (because i was still upset) Tord uploaded the game onto the computer and we went though and looked at what i had done that was good and bad and what to do to make myself a better player for next game.
Watching myself play usually makes me frustrated to see the goals i let in (especially after a bad game) but i actually felt better after watching the game because i saw that even for the goals i let in i was in good position and doing what i should have been doing (for the most part). And even though i had a bad game i ended up with a saving percent of 38. So watching the video actually made me feel better.
This weekend we don't have a game but will practice like normal for our game coming up on the 13th.
Bisous
Kimberley



This past week has been very hard for me. After the game 2 weeks ago i have been having some problems with my back, nothing to serious but it's very stiff and sore in the mornings. I saw the team physio and he adjusted my back and told me it would be best to take a few days off so my muscles could adjust, but with the teams other goalie not showing up i had no choice but to practice. Nobody really knows why she has not been showing up but they say she is having personal family problems so i was the only goalie at all the practices last week. Normally i love the fact that i am the only goalie because i get all the shots and drills to myself but with the back problems i was hoping to take it a bit easier but couldn't.
Come game day i wasn't feeling any better but i had to suck it up and handball suit up!! Again, i'm not sure the details of the other goalies problems but she didn't show up for the game and i was the only goalie dressing.
This proved to be a bad decision because i had one of my "off" games (as did the rest of the team) and we lost by 2 at home. I left the gym very angry and upset at myself about the game and how i played. When i got home i had a "lets talk about it" session with Tord and i told him how i felt and he told me his thoughts on the game. Although i was against it at the time (because i was still upset) Tord uploaded the game onto the computer and we went though and looked at what i had done that was good and bad and what to do to make myself a better player for next game.
Watching myself play usually makes me frustrated to see the goals i let in (especially after a bad game) but i actually felt better after watching the game because i saw that even for the goals i let in i was in good position and doing what i should have been doing (for the most part). And even though i had a bad game i ended up with a saving percent of 38. So watching the video actually made me feel better.
This weekend we don't have a game but will practice like normal for our game coming up on the 13th.
Bisous
Kimberley

Kim Ewanovich Blog#16

Hello,
This week we played a home game against a team that we lost to by 10 last time we played them so there was a lot of pressure this past weekend to do well. We ended up playing really well and with 10 seconds left in the game we were down by one and our little centre back shot over top scored between the goalies legs making it a tie game in the end. I was kind of disappointed with the tie, although i had played a really good game and made some big saves i also let in 2 really bad ones with about 10 min left that i should have saved. But the coaches were happy with the result from the team and myself, so overall it was a good weekend.
A player from our team that had been hurt (knee injury) in the pre-season finally got the go ahead to start playing again after 6 months so this past weekend was her first game back. Unfortunately 6 months (without surgery and just physio) was not long enough because in the 2nd half she went one on one and twisted her knee again and now she will most likely be getting surgery and be done playing handball for the rest of the season. :(
I have got the sad go ahead from the president of my club to start looking for a new club for next season. He hopes that i stay in La Crau but understands that i want to play at a higher level and wants to give me the chance to do so. So the search is on!!!!
Bisous
Kimberley

Kim Ewanovich Blog#15

Hello,

This weekend we played an away game vs Port De Bouc, when we played them at home we tied 24-24. The car ride was only about 1.5 hrs which was a nice change to the 7 or 8 hr away games that we usually have.

I had a little blast back to the past when i walked into the gym because it was then i remembered this was the same gym i tore my ACL in the year before. It shook me just for a second when i replayed what had happened in my head, but then i was back to game mode.

We were told before the game that their top scorer was no longer playing on their team, everybody was excited for that but i took a look around and remember that we were also missing 2 of our top scorers. This definitely showed with us loosing the game and the final score being 21-18.

At the beginning of the season when our team was at full strength we were scoring 25-35 goals a game but now we are struggling a lot to score.

I didn't have a good first half and was pulled after 15 min, and 5 goals and the other goalie went in and played about 8 min then they pulled her and put me in for the rest of the half where i had only let in one goal. So i had a better 2nd part of the first half and a decent 2nd half. When looking at the stats i made 15 saves (including a 7m) which isn't great but it's okay.

The most shocking part about the stats was in our offence. The goalie on the other team only made 4 saves in the whole game (meaning we only shot 22 times in 60 min) and we had a total of 27 turnovers… YES 27!!! So thats what killed us the most, we were just handing the ball to the other team for them to come back and shoot the fast break.

I do have some kinda good news, the coach from Toulon took me aside and asked if i wanted his help in finding a new club for next season (in D2 or N1). He knows a lot of coaches and teams and i'm very excited to see what he can find for me. Before he can do that i need to sit down with my coach and president of the club and get "permission" from them to start looking for a new club. I'm not sure if i need it but it's more done out of respect, so that will be done sometime this week.

I'm not sure where i will be next year, i could end up playing for La Crau again, or another club in France, or even end up back in Norway, but i do know that i would like to start looking now so i don't have to stress about it this summer when i'm back in Canada.

Bisous

Kimberley

Kim Ewanovich Blog#14

Hello,
This past week was busy but very good for me.
Both goalies from Toulon were sick so the coach asked me if i could have 2 additional practices with his team, i of course said yes. So monday i had practice with my club, tuesday i had 2 trainings with Toulon, wednesday i had one practice with Toulon and one with my club, thursday i had one training with Toulon and friday one training with my club. Needless to say i was very sore at the end of the week, and to top it off i got a charlie horse on monday during the warm up of one of my practices so my leg was hurting most of the week but i couldn't not go to the extra practices. The thursday practice for Toulon was mostly position shooting for the players with different situations (from 9m, with/without a block, going to the outside/inside, stemshot) which was great for me until i got smoked in the face from the left back at 6m. It was not really her fault because i fell into it and i got right back up but with her average shot being about 70km/hr i spent the rest of the night with a major headache laying in bed. :)
The highlight of this week came on saturday when we played an away game vs Val De Leysse. Although i didn't enjoy the 6 hr bus ride to get there i did enjoy the 20-13 victory.
This game was especially hard for the team because due to some events that happened last week, another girl (very good player in offence and defence) from our team quit.
The game started off slow with us struggling a lot on offence and ending the 1st half with a score of 6-5 for us, luckily we ended the game stronger then we had started.
Our stats guy came up to me after the game and showed me that the other team shot 33 times and 13 of those shots went in, meaning i saved 20 shots (where my team gained possession after) as well as i saved 2/2 in penalty shots.
I don't hear what other ppl say about our team but i guess "fans" have been talking about all the problems we are having with girls quitting and how our team is falling apart, and so this win was not only important for us in the stats but also to show to everybody that even with girls quitting and only one sub on the bench we can still win handball games.
The president of our club has a daughter who plays in Div 2 in France and she is dating Xavier Barachet, a left handed right back who plays for Chambery (Div 1, best team in France). He also plays for the France National team and now has the title of being a Handball World Champion. Anyways, he happened to be watching our game on saturday so after the game (although i felt like a huge dork) i went and asked for a picture with him for the intent of putting it up on this blog (I'm a dork).
Sunday was a day of sleeping in and doing nothing because i didn't get home from the game till 5am sunday morning.
I hope everybody enjoyed the Superbowl, the game started at half past midnight here in France and i stayed up for the (very disappointing) half time show at 2am then went to bed.
Congrats to Gummersbach Jr Women and Pax Jr Men for winning Jr league.


Bisous
Kimberley

Kim Ewanovich Blog#13

Hello,
This week was a slow week in handball but not in drama. Because we had no game this past weekend we played in an exhibition game on friday against a team in N3 (a division below us). We have played this team many times and have always won and fridays game was no exception. Although i wont go into details we had 2 girls from my team walk out on the game very unhappy with the team (specific players) and coach. So when we arrived at practice today (monday) i was interested in seeing who was going to show up. Luckily for the team both players were there and we had a team meeting after practice to sort things out. I understood what was going on during the meeting but kept my mouth shut for the most part because none of it involved me directly. Oh the joys of a woman's team!!!
Tord had a game about 15 min away on saturday so i went and watched the guys team play and they won by 10. After the game it was the 20th birthday of a guy on tord's team so we went to the "team pub" for drinks and a surprise for the birthday boy. I thought when they said surprise they were meaning cake and some gifts but that was not the case. There was a stripper waiting for him and i don't mean one that just dances around, she was a full on party time stripper. She got completely naked and did a dance routine with this guy, in a room with about 25 guys and 10 other girls. It was kinda awkward for me but it was all just for fun and games and the guys really seemed to enjoy themselves.
Sunday Tord and i went to watch Toulon play then made it home for the 2nd half (and overtime) of the final for the World Championship in Handball with France vs Denmark. It was a very exciting game but France ended up winning by 2 in overtime.
This following week i will be training at least one extra practice with Toulon because one of their goalies is sick. As well as the second goalie on my team burnt her arm cooking so i will be the only goalie this whole week at my trainings. :)
Bisous
Kimberley