I Love This Game

This post has been inspired by Danielle Clark. She's one of my best friends and we played together for 2 years in Osnabruck and she's still playing in Germany this season. She recently wrote a journal entry about why she loved basketball so much. I thought it was really interesting. While we both love the game, we love it for some of the same reasons and for some different reasons.

First and foremost, I love the game because of the competition. Of course, like Danielle, I can get competition pretty much anywhere. Whether is be a game of ping pong (I challenge anyone who is willing), a card game, board game, video game, working out in the gym, etc.) but there is just something different about basketball. It can be such a simple game yet it can also be such and intricate, complex game. And part of me being competitive drives me to be my best. With basketball, I can compete with myself, within the team, against other teams, and players. It's fantastic :) I could go on forever but I'll stick to the point. So what are my favorite parts of the game, and why do I love them????

Favorite sound: Hands down, the swishing of the net! Something about the way it sounds when you hit nothin but net and the net snaps. ahhhh beautiful. Some days I just love to be in the gym by myself and hear that sound over and over.

Favorite Shot: Man, there are so many. I love coming off a screen, rising up and shooting over someone. And I love the step back jumper but my favorite is the 3 pt shot with a hand in your face. Not an open shot but one that is really contested. It's so disheartening for a defender when you run at someone and are right there and they shoot a dagger right in your face.

Favorite Play: The perfect pass. Being a point guard, I take more pride into making that perfect sweet pass and getting my teammates involved than I do in scoring myself. There are those certain passes, that no one else sees that you can slip through the seam, that just feels so good. I love the long baseball pass off the dribble when the defense has their backs turned and I zing it by their ear for a layup, haha.

Favorite feeling: I have 2 here. Physically I love the feeling your body has after you've worked hard and sweated. I secretly hate the European gyms because most of them are freezing in the winter so it's harder to get a good sweat. Yes, I'm aware I'm not like most girls. Most people don't like to wear grey to workout in.....I actually prefer it bc I like to be able to see how much I've sweat and how hard I worked :) Ok, my 2nd fav feeling is being in "the zone". To someone who has never been in it, it's hard to explain. It's like everything on the court slows down, you don't hear much noise....things are just kind of quiet and peaceful. All the while, you are killing it on the court. You make all the right decisions, everything is clicking and working and you just can't seem to miss a shot if you tried. There have been tons of times where small parts of the game, I've been in the zone but there has been maybe a handful where the whole game was more like a dream that I never want to wake from. Everything is just right and in rythymn and in sync. It's a beautiful thing.

Favorite tactic or skill: Instinct and being able to read screens. As far as instinct goes, there are times in the game were my insticts completely take over and I just do things. Whether it's a pass or scoring there are times when I think, "how did that just happen". and I love it when this happens bc I've learned the less I think sometimes, the better. It's really hard to explain but more than a few times,I will make a move in the game that I've never done before. Just something that I've thought about or maybe something I've watched someone else do in another game. And then I'm like, wow, I've never done that before. So the other side of insticts is being intelligent and reading the game. I love it when my team runs plays where they set screens away from the ball for me. To me, it's like a game of cat and mouse. I want to be patient and watch where the defense is and i want to go the opposite way. I think I do a good job of this and feel like I can read a screen well enough that there is a good chance that I will be open for a shot everytime, and if I'm not open, the screener will be open.

Underdog vs. Topdog: Ok, I might have made up topdog but I love being in both positions. I haven't been on many teams where I was the underdog, but personally and individually I have been there. Due to my size, esp in high school, coming from such a small town and school, and let's be honest..the brightness of my skin, haha. I have been underestimated and doubted and I love the feeling of proving people wrong and working hard to get to where I want to be. I mean who would've thought that I would be playing professinal basketball when I was 28......I'm telling you the list is small. On the other hand I find a certain satisfaction in being the Topdog and being succesful. In college when everyone was aiming for us and hated us and we still came out on top with 2 national championships.....no better feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Misc things that I love: Buzzer beaters (end of shot clock, quarter, or game) Setting a solid screen, floating through the air on a shot and nailing it, the few times a game when you jump extra high (it's happening less and less for me, haha) to grab that rebound or shoot over someone, and last but not least ADRENALINE!

I could seriously go on and on but hope this gives you a glimpse into my world. Hope it answers some questions about why I'm still playing. These are the small things that keep me going when I'm so far from home. I think that making so many great friends and getting to see the world is just icing on the cake!

Observations in the Land of Ice

I've been here for a little over 2 weeks now. I really didn't know much about Iceland besides what I googled the day before I flew here. So here are some interesting facts and observations that I've come up with so far.

1. There are only 300,000 people in the entire country!
2. Because of this, there's alot of space and not much traffic.
3. Unlike most of Europe there are actual parking lots everywhere and I haven't had to search for a spot yet.
4. Because of the space, the city setup is alot more like the States and things are more spread out and everything is not crammed together like most of Europe.
5. The hot water SMELLS really bad! I still haven't gotten used to it and not sure I ever will.
6. Everything here is ridiculously expensive. I was going to buy a Magazine the other day..in English, and a mag that cost $5 in the States was going to cost me almost $15 here. Needless to say I just laughed and put it back on the shelf.
7. I think there are more roundabouts than actual intersections.
8. At the movie theater, they take a 10 min break so that everyone can go to the bathroom and get some snacks. Pretty good idea for them to make more money...suprised the US hasn't thought of that.
9. They have most of the things that I always want my mom to send me.....american brownie and cake mixes, and bisquick. But guess who doesn't have an oven now?!!
10. AT noon, it looks like the sun has just came up...weird. And in a month or so, there will only be 4 hrs of daylight. From noon until 4....not sure what that will be like.
11. I've only been here a short time but I've already seen the huge waterfall, geysers, and the Northern Lights. Next on my list is to hike the big mountain here, go to the Blue Lagoon, see the glaciers, and go whale watching!!
12. They have a KFC/Taco Bell, Friday's, Ruby Tuesdays, Subway, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, and an imitation Chipotle, but NOOO McDonalds!!!
13. Oh and last but not least. Their language is crazy and I understand pretty much nothing. Unfortunately there are several girls on the team whose names I still can't pronounce :(
13. Overall I'm really enjoying my time here so far and the change of scenery has been nice. It's alot different than where I've been in Germany and especially different than Ames Oklahoma :)

Germany to Iceland

Ok, so I promised to write more blogs this year and as you can see...I have failed miserably. My life has been a little crazy lately, which should be the perfect time to write! So, in the last week I have moved from Oberhausen Germany to Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. People have told me "Professional Basketball is a business and blah blah blah" I've only heard stories of this and never really thought it would happen to me. It's tough for me to accept partly because of my competitive nature and also because of the part of me that feels the need to please everyone. About 3 weeks ago, I was released from my team in Oberhausen. I didn't see it coming so it was a pretty tough situation for me. Luckily I have made some really great friends while I've been in Germany so I had several people who were willing to be there for me.

All of a sudden I had some pretty big decisions to make. I could call it quits and go home and move on with my life....which I considered very strongly. Or I could stay in Germany for a month or so and wait to see if any teams had openings and wanted to sign me. I decided to stay and wait for a little bit while I decided what I really wanted. While I stayed in Oberhausen with 1 of my teammates, I tried my best to be an adult about the situation and to handle it gracefully. Trust me, it was not easy. It was a very pride swallowing ego reducing few weeks. Although painful, it was good for me. I continued to workout and practice with the team to stay in shape. I even went to their games, which was almost physically painful to watch because that was my team out there and I wanted to play so badly.

I think one of the hardest things about playing overseas is how hard it is to leave. I mean, I have made so many great friends at each place that I have played. Some will even be friends that last a lifetime. Because I'm here to play basketball, I'm with my team way more than I'm with my actual family and friends back home. I see these people everyday, and sometimes several times a day. And if you live with a teammate, you are always together, so you tend to form strong bonds fairly quickly. So essentially when you are in my profession, you are constantly saying goodbye to someone, either family and friends at home or friends that you meet in your new place. It's also a positve, because now I have friends all over world (thank goodness for facebook and skype)so I should always have a free place to crash when I travel, haha.

After about 2 1/2 weeks of waiting I signed with a team in Iceland. My new team is called Haukar, and I live just about 10 minutes outside of the capital of Reykjavik. Although this year has not turned out how I thought it would, in any way. I feel blessed to be where I am right now. I know that God is in control of my life so who am I to question it. So now I'm facing all the new challenges of moving to a new country where I know no one. I was really feeling comfortable in Germany, I knew my way around pretty well, I was really starting to understand the language and I have alot of friends there. Now, I'm having to basically start over, which can be a little intimidating. I just try not to think about it to much, ha. The good thing is is that I'm automatically on a team so I'm immediately involved with a group of people. Of course I'm having to go through all the steps that it takes to make new friends and again feel comfortable in a place far from home. It's the little things like learning the best places to eat, how to drive different places, how a team practices, finding the foods you like at the grocery store because now all the brands are different and everything looks different, and of course the language. Really just adjusting to a new way of life. Luckily I was born with the personlity trait to adjust well to new situations and to be sensitive to new cultures and to fit in fairly quick.

So here's to a new chapter and adventure in my life. I promise that there will be new blogs weekly. I am going to do some exploring this weekend so I should have some good stories about Iceland coming soon..........