Portland Fire - Training Camp Day 3 - Quotes
Today, Nyadiew Puoch and Sarah Ashlee Barker spoke with local media.
Yesterday, Portland Fire rookie forward Nyadiew Puoch spoke in a media scrum. So did second year guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, who shared thoughts after practice. This piece spotlights highlights from those conversations.
Sarah Ashlee Barker on her first impressions of Portland
“Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve never been to Portland before, and obviously being here in a new state, in a new city, it’s been a lot of fun, and just being able to get to know the girls, the coaches, just on this journey, it’s been really cool.”
Sarah Ashlee Barker on joining an expansion team
“I think that obviously being part of an expansion team, you get to come in and have everybody come together as a team and really build that family atmosphere, because obviously it hasn’t been set yet. So for us, we’re trying to get to know each other on and off the court, because that’s so important. Getting to know each other off the court is just as important as important [as] on the court, the chemistry - that has to be into it - but also everyone has to buy in. So I’ve just loved how much everybody has bought into what Alex [Sarama] is trying to do, what the staff is trying to do here, just because that’s the whole part. You got to buy in first, and then everything else goes to flow.”
Sarah Ashlee Barker’s perspective on Alex Sarama’s Constraints-Led Approach
“Yeah, you know the CLA method of learning is the Constraints Led-Approach. So he [Alex Sarama] is just really into putting us in situations on the court that are game-like every single day. We don’t do a singular drill that’s not important, or that doesn’t mimic a game, or a rep that doesn’t mimic a game. For us, it’s even in the shooting and all that kind of stuff. If you look around, like our positioning and how we shoot in this, it’s like everything is so catered to game-like reps. I think that’s very important, too. It’s not just, come in just kind of shoot freely and stuff like that, it’s ‘Hey, this is the importance of it.’, this is what we’re trying to do, and everyone’s bought in. So, it’s been really cool.”
Nyadiew Puoch on her first impressions of Portland
“Oh, it’s amazing! I love it. Lots of things to do. The nature is great. The weather’s been okay. The people are really nice here. There’s lots of good spots to eat. The coffee is really good, which is cool; I’m from Australia, so I love coffee. So yeah, it’s really cool.”
Nyadiew Puoch on setting expectations this season
“We want to win games of course, we want to show people how great we can be, and how good this new club is. So I guess that experience - being in a professional league - helps a lot being with professional athletes doing that day to day schedule, doing all that stuff. [We’re] going to come in, work, and do all that stuff.”
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Matt Bagley is a professional sportswriter and broadcaster with a passion for women’s sports. Outside of work, he cherishes quality time with his birth family, his chosen family, and one very pesky house panther.
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