Wednesday 9 November 2011

2 1/2 months in...

So here we are almost mid- November now and I know it's been a LONG time since my last post, but better late than never!! It has been a quick 2 1/2 months that's for sure, which is a good thing. A lot has happened but at the same time not much has changed lol. Let's just jump right into the bball updates then we'll get to other things...

The season is officially under way and after a slow start we are currently 1-7, but at least we have a win haha! With 2 games every weekend records can change drastically, so the leader board tends to change often. We are still continuing to get better and gel as a team. We should've won another 2-3 games, but had mental lapses and it cost us the game. I think that is just attributed to not knowing each other well enough on the court yet.

It has been a frustrating 2 1/2 months for me personally on the court. After starting off the pre-season liking our coach, it's been an abrupt turn and I've changed my opinion on him being a good fit for the team and especially me. Off the court he's a real cool guy and easy to get along with, but on the court his coaching style and techniques are not the right fit for this team (in my opinion). So in all of this I have lost my "groove" and haven't been having much fun at all while on the court causing for bad play and not much playing time. At this point now we're 8 games in and the season is already flying by. I have just been trying to play hard and get my game back on track, but I am still finding it hard to just play freely as coach is to constrictive over our (imports) game. Not every situation that you get put into as professional basketball player will work, I've just luckily never had that problem. I am going to continue to push through and try to get out of my "funk" and stay positive about coach, but at some point something will have to change, and that might be me leaving this situation to find another one. Time will tell...

Outside of bball all has been great! I'm loving Japan and the people here. My teammates are all real cool and the local guys are funny to be around. We all get along great on and off the court. Now that we've started playing games that doesn't leave much free time to do anything other than hoop. Our typical schedule goes like this....

Mondays- Off day (which is usually spent relaxing and letting the body recover). With no car it makes it hard to get around.
Tuesdays- Conditioning, lifting weights, shooting practice
Wednesday- full practice. 5hrs with travel, stretching, icing etc.
Thursday- Full practice. 5hrs with travel, stretching, icing etc.
Friday- Light practice then possible travel (only if road games)
Saturday- AM shoot around then Game at night
Sunday- Game in afternoon

We have found an Irish pub downtown that serves good mexican food and has numerous import beers. We've been there twice now on off days and had a good time. It's nice to still be able to get some "home food" and atmosphere every now and again!

Shawn, me, Tk, Chris and Tomo (our conditioning coach and translator)

The Irish Pub AKA TexMex AKA Sundance

We've also had a few formal banquets thus far. It's basically a time for people of the community to meet us, the dance team and the staff. The crowd mostly consists of sponsors, boosters and media. We'll have to be in suit & tie attire until we change into our uniforms and parade around to shake hands, take pictures and sign autographs. All part of the job :)!




We've had a few road trips already and they've been fun times, minus the 7-9hr bus rides!! As far as the scenery from the bus on the road trips, I really haven't seem to much other than country side. It's a very agricultural country with lots of farming. Beautiful landscape with lots of mountain ranges everywhere. We were close to Tokyo one weekend but still about 40 minutes away, and unfortunately on road trips there is ZERO time for anything else other than bball. That is the closest we'll get to Tokyo during the season since the team that was in Tokyo last season has dropped out this year.
This is by far the most travel I've done for any team I've played for. It's a lot of fun to bond with all the guys and also see the other arenas and fan support. The best part about traveling though is the fact that it makes the time fly by so that before you know it it's time to come back HOME to the States and real food haha!!!


Our fans are the best!!

So that's about it for now, we really haven't done to much of anything other than basketball, so I really don't have many adventures/stories to tell you quite yet..... sorry, hopefully soon tho!

I hope everyone is doing well and in good spirits! I miss you all very much!

Until next time...
"make it happen"

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