Kara Lawson and Rebekkah Brunson

Winning Gold at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Chile
The experience of playing with my teammates was probably the biggest thing I took away from my time with the US Senior Women's National Team. Being that it was the National Team, we had a unique circumstance in terms of the time we had to be able to train together. So it was very important for us to work hard on gelling together quickly and learning how to play with each other as fast as we could. That process was easier for some than others because some people have played with each other before. So for me, as a guard, one of the biggest challenges was trying to get my teammates the ball in the right spots to help make them be as productive as possible.

Solid Tournament for Both Monarchs
When you look at the big picture our team did well, because we won the gold medal and qualified for the Olympics, which was what we set out to do. Rebekkah and I were both very excited to help the team achieve that goal. We both did what we do best and I think that was important because as players you're invited because of the things you do well. B did a great job of rebounding the basketball, defending and being an active player on both ends of the court. My goal, whether it was practice or a game, was to just bring energy, toughness and competitiveness every day. I thought we both did a good job of just being ourselves, which sounds simple, but it can be hard to do at times. When you are around great players or when you are in a tryout-type situation like we were, players often times try to press things.

Plans for Playing with US Senior National Team
This Monday I leave for a tournament in Russia. I'll be training with the National Team in Russia for two weeks. Directly following the two weeks in Russia I'll be with the National Team for a two week college tour, where we play a number of different schools around the country in exhibition games before their season starts. Both training tours are coming up quickly since we just returned from Chile 10 days ago, but I am looking forward it.

Shopping for Wedding Dresses
I went shopping for a wedding dress yesterday. It is fun to see the wedding coming together, but I shopped for a little too long! I tried dresses on for about an hour and a half. I'm used to getting in and out of the mall when I shop, so I had to focus towards the end of the outing. A lot of women may have dreamt of what they wanted in a gown, or what they looked like with it on, but that's not me! To be honest, I was just trying to get through it as quickly as possible and find a couple that I liked. I did try on some nice dresses, but I'll have to do more shopping which isn't going to be very easy with all the traveling I have ahead of me.

The rest of the wedding is coming together smoothly. It's great to have modern technology because it makes it very easy to just take care of stuff over the internet. For example, it's easy to correspond with vendors and look at pictures of different options online. I have to be there when I'm trying a dress on, but luckily I can take care of the other details while I'm traveling.

Keeping In Touch with Monarchs Teammates
I live in Sacramento year-round so it makes it easy to keep in contact with all of the coaches. I am working out at the Monarchs Practice Facility a few times a week, sometimes every day, it just depends on how busy I am. Since the coaches offices are in the facility I am able to see the coaches that are in town when I am in there working out.

When B and I are were training with the USA Team we both texted Jenny often.

As for my teammates, we keep in touch through e-mail because everyone is all over the world. Some people are overseas and other people are with their families, so everyone is busy and e-mail is the easiest way to keep in-touch during the off-season.

I'll check in with you guys from Russia next week!