While tourists lounged around on the sunny beaches of Florida, the Carleton men’s varsity basketball team was hard at work in the gym, getting ready to bring the heat back to Ottawa for the second half of their season.
“It’s a lot of work,” said co-captain Kevin McCleery, “but it’s a lot of fun being down here with the entire team.”
The team left Dec. 27 for Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and returned Jan. 4.
For the first three days, the team practiced two times a day for two hours and went down to once a day for three hours in the four remaining days.
“It’s getting us in great shape for the second half of our season,” said veteran Anthony Ashe.
McCleery said the focus of the trip was defence and being able to defend for the full 40 minutes.
“We are talented enough to win another championship but it will all come down to defence and this trip will go along way towards that,” he said.
The men start the first games of 2010 on home court Jan. 8 against Laurentian University and then Jan. 9 against York University.
“The focus is still the same from the beginning of the year,” Ashe said, “to win a national championship.”