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Been busy. There has been a lot of movement across countries and time zones lately. It is a good kind of busy. Mind you, because of the craziness, I haven't been able to execute my planning properly. I am trying not to sweat it, though. It is a good opportunity for others to learn and organise stuff for themselves.

Case in point: Hunter forgot the plane pack I put together for him. He then asked me at the airport if we had a copy of his I-20 visa form. 🤦♀️ It is a work in progress, but I will take the wins where I can get them. Note: Always travel with a hard copy of your I20.

I wrote this whilst on a flight to Mercyhurst University with Hunter. I don't really think I'm needed on this trip. However, we put it on Hunter to make the call if he wanted someone to come over this round. When we put him on the spot, he was surprisingly decisive with a "yes." Next question: who? Mum! It would have been fine if he picked his dad, but I was quietly stoked he chose me. I'm going to assume he has matured enough to know I will get things done and think of the small details the male side of our family might miss. Or, he just wants his mama or was being nice. Either way, I am happy to oblige.

Val did the official visit with Hunter at Mercyhurst last October. Like most parents, Val and I offer different things to our children. With that in mind, we felt Val was the best option to join Cooper in South Carolina last month for the final Adidas AAU session and it times out with Hunter's choice that I came on this visit.

To recap, July saw Hunter head to Mercyhurst for his summer preseason session, Val head to South Carolina and return to NZ with Cooper, and then the real chaos began. We had to sort out Cooper's visa for India, Hunter return to NZ and also sort his Visa (Cause his last one wasn't replaced when he lost his passport last year), and then send Cooper out to India the very next day with the NZ team.

Obtaining those visas to India was an absolute mission. Firstly, we were told to send hard copies to Wellington. Some did, but then it turned out you had to do biometrics at the physical place of submission. Since Cooper landed back in NZ a little later, we tried the E-Visa instead. The E-Visa system was relatively straightforward to start with but then told me I needed to re-upload documents. I did that and emailed them, but got no reply.

Naturally, I went into panic mode as was running out of time so made an appointment at the Auckland office. We attended the appointment and paid another $200 fee, because apparently, E-Visas and physical Indian NZ consulate don't acknowledge each other. Anyhoo, I got home after the appointment only to find his E-Visa had just been approved. FML. Oh well, I'd rather have a double up rather than none! Let's just say, given my past experience sending multiple 5-team tours to South Africa with manual visa process (toot toot 🤣), I was less than impressed with the instructions and process but trying to look at it from the National Body’s perspective and be understanding which does not come naturally to me. Ahwell onwards and upwards and learnings, I guess.

Meanwhile, Cooper is finding his feet in the NZ team, working out his role and navigating the team dynamic. It hasn't been pretty, but the feedback from Coopz on the ground is positive. He just needs to grind it out, and then I think we will see the Cooper we know.

In my opinion, the entire team looked awful in their first game against Syria. However, we can attribute that to first-game jitters, travel exhaustion, and possibly the food and medication they are on. Cooper was definitely nervous—or possibly over-zealous, as he tends to get into dumb foul trouble when he is in this space. There is also a bit of an adjustment back to the NZ style and FIBA rules for him. After just getting used to the little or no foul calls in the States to whistle central at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup. Plus in AAU you also get 6 fouls, which is crazy, I know. But pros and cons to attending Prep School in the States and still wanting to rep on the national team.

Their second game against Bahrain was much better as a team, with many of the non starting five finding some flow. Coopz wasn't feeling flash before this game but decided to see how he went with the warm up. He ended up playing. He looked like he was getting going, but then took a solid thwack across his face and eye. He went back on but was still a little green following that. Now on precautionary concussion watch with a black eye and also a bout of gastro and in isolation.
Poor Cooper Adams has been crock too all week and in iso. Luckily there is a three day break so hopefully both Coopers will be back in action and no further victims to sickness.

Amongst all this international movement, I had a few Lei orders to get done before this trip, alongside the Netball season semi-finals and finals.

We won our Final Saturday! By one point. Auckland Senior A champs 2026!!! The club matriarch, Jan Lundon, passed away the day before, so we were so pleased to get the dub for her. Ia manuia lau malaga, Jan.

We were down subs in the attacking end, so I ended up playing a full game—three quarters of it at Goal Attack. I was absolutely farked after the first quarter at Goal Shooter . In all fairness, we had dinner and a few wines the night before, which probably didn't help my already shallow fitness level.

So, I was a little tired on Saturday morning. We did the Finals, followed by the celebratory and standard visit to the pub afterwards (being the elite athlete that I am). The girls asked if I had packed yet. Answer was  a hard no!. I hadn't even got the suitcase out.

As much as I rate myself as an organised person, I had to laugh at my Saturday lineup: a late slightly seedy wake-up, finishing off some leis, the netball final, the pub, heading home for a shower while my walking capability slowly diminished, hitting the night markets for dinner, getting my nails done, packing, watching Cooper's NZ game, and sleeping for a grand total of a fourish hours before the 5:30 AM airport run.

Got there in the end! Perhaps I just work a little better under pressure 🤪.

Anyhoo, that’s my update, thanks for reading. Keep an eye out for more including my trip to Mercyhurst,  Vals Trip to South Carolina and our most recent partnership!