Well it's been just about two weeks since my last post and we've had 4 games since then so bare with me as I catch you guys up on hoops!
Our third game was up in Geraldton against the Bucs, which is another country team, except they are 4 hours NORTH of Perth and we are 2 hours SOUTH of Perth haha. So we knew it was going to be a longgggggggggggg road trip, but at least we had a 52 passenger travel bus to spread out and get some rest on the way up. The whole trip took about 7 hours and we got in around noon time. We went to our hotel/condo to set up shop and chillax for a little while before hitting the gym. The Bucs were a team that had been struggling as well and they weren't at full strength quite yet, BUT not on that night... They had all their guys on the court and healthy and they are tough when at full strength. We ended up losing the game and having our worst game of the season, losing by 33points. I had an off night shooting and finished with 13points and 11rebounds.
Our next game was against the Willeton Tigers at home in Bunbury. This was last years Championship club. They also at the moment like most teams were not at full strength and had only won 2 games, that were both close. It was by far the most physical game so far and by the end I was absolutely beat up haha. We dug ourselves a hole and got down 28 points by halftime hahaha. BUT with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter we were within 4 points and the crowd was going nuts. I missed some CRUCIAL free throws down the stretch and we never got over that hump to get the win and lost by 11 points or so. I finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds, definitely not my best game but still somehow won MVP honors for the game and another $50 certificate to the Eaton Tavern.
That next day we had to travel up to Perth to play the Perry Lake Hawks. They were another team that had only won 2-3 games and was a VERY beatable team. Just from the looks of them as a team you would look at us and say "slammers should win this one", but just as in any sport you can't judge by looks. We started off great and it was tied at the end of the 1st quarter. Then we had a "brain fart" that we've often had and they outscored us 34-14 in the 2nd and we were down 20pts and halftime once again... We fought back in the 2nd half at times but still finished losing by 19points. It was a tough loss as that team wasn't super tall, talented, big or anything special but they played hard and together and that does the job a lot of the time. I played better and finished with 15points and 7 rebounds.
Just last night we had another home game against the Perth Redbacks who as of last night were in 2nd place at 4-1. A tough team that has some tough local NBL (national basketball league, top league) guys, who are basically just like import American players because they are that good as locals. We came out tough and ready to play from the get go and were down 4 or 5 points at halftime, right where we wanted to be. The second half was hard fought and the lead was back and forth at times, with them never leading by more that 11pts. We got it down to 4 or so points in the last 5 minutes as we usually do, but we once again couldn't pull it out in the end and lost by 11 or so points. It was frustrating because we were playing well and scoring when needed but we just couldn't get stops at the other end to take the lead in crunch time. We are almost there as a team and we can all taste our first win coming soon, we just have to stick together and continue to get better each day. I played well and finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists. It was enough to get me the MVP of the game honors again and yet my 3rd $50 Eaton Tavern certificate! I'm thinking I'll just take the whole team out to eat one night and use the money then, although out here in Australia $150 doesn't really go that far in a restaurant, especially for 10-11 big guys hahaha!
So after those 6 games up to this point we are 0-6 and in last place on the ladder. Fortunately for us if we can get just 2-3 wins over the next few weeks that will take us up to around 9th or 10th place. There are still about 3-4 teams who have only won 2 or so games, so we are still in the hunt!
We actually have another game tonight in Perth against the East Perth Eagles and my good buddy from Seattle Colin Matteson. He's the same friend that played up in Darwin with me as well. It's been awesome to have someone I know in the same league over the past 7 months, it really helps to talk about home and friends and family when you're feeling home sick. We are looking for a big win tonight as they are only 2-5 and have lost 3-4 straight games! This would be an ideal time to start off the "Win Train"!!! CHOOO CHOOOO!
Well enough about basketball hahaha! Everything outside of hoops has been great! The weather is absolutely amazing. It's been beautiful during the days, we're still getting to the beach about 3-4 days a week to soak in some rays :). And at night it's actually starting to get chilly, which is perfect!! I've been in my hoodie and sweats a few times now and it's awesome. It's kind of like a perfect Seattle summer honestly, hot and nice during the day and cooler at night. And this is our WINTER out here hahahaha! I really couldn't be in a better place to play ball. Definitely blessed.
The school clinics have been put on pause for the next 2-3 weeks because of the break, so that just means that there's more free time for us to hit the gym and beach :) which is fine by us of course. I am currently looking to get a job here shortly and it's pretty much up to me where I want to work. My work visa runs until around June 20th or so, so that leaves me about roughly 2 months to have a job (which is nothing) and I'm cool with that. I think I'm going to look into working at this sports store on the main strip downtown called Sports First, where my teammate Cory works right now. It'd be easy selling sports apparell and what not, definitely stuff i've done before.
Last weekend when we played up in Perth we (Nick, Lavesa and myself) ended up staying that Saturday night at my buddy Ben Beran's place. Nick was entered into a dunk contest for the league on Sunday at the Perth Wildcat's game (top league team) and we were there to support him and watch the game. It was awesome first of all because my really good buddy and AIA alum Jason Faulknor was in town on his way home from Taiwan!! I hadn't seen that guy since our last AIA tour in 07' but we've kept in really good contact while we're both overseas and it was great to finally get to catch up! He'll be in Seattle for our mutual friend Austin Yuen's wedding August 7th so I'm hoping to be home for that, but depending on how far our playoff run goes out here I may miss that... That's the business though... It was another great weekend to see Ben and Jason and a few other buddies in Perth. It always makes me feel like I'm not that far from home when I have so many good friends here!
Sunday morning Ben and I went to church early at Lakeside (the church that sponsors his team the Lakeside Lightning). I really enjoy spending time with Ben because he is really deep in his faith and has a good understanding of the Bible. He's always a good person I can go to to ask questions about my faith and also for advice on how to improve my relationship with God. He has challenged me to get into the Bible more recently and to really take notes on what I'm reading so that things will stick with me. I've started with the Gospels, just reading one chapter a day and things are going well. I'm feeling like the more I get into the word each day the better day I have and more focused I am as well. It's always a never ending walk with faith but it's about growing along the way and not being content with where you're at. I try to give thanks for everything in my life and tend to forget quickly how blessed we all are. Life can be taken away at a blink of an eye.
After Church we headed to the stadium for the game. We had to be there early as the 1st round of the Dunk contest was prior to the game even starting. There were 5 guys from different teams in the league including Nick. He ended up easily being one of the two finalists pretty easy. He then continued to totally dominate the championship round and easily took home 1st place and a reward of $1,000 of And 1 hoop gear (which has yet to come...). The dude can flat out fly and didn't even really get to show what he can do, but it was a fun time as the finals was at the end of the 1st quarter and the house was packed out!
My family back home was moving out of our house and into the new one in Lynnwood this weekend!!! I can't believe it's actually happening after 16 years... That was our 2nd house that we'd lived in since I was born and most of my memories are from that house. I am excited for a new change though, and my parents both deserve a new place. They have both worked hard to have a nice brand new place to start another chapter of their life in, I just can't wait to get home and check it out for myself!
My Bday is coming up on April 26th and it's crazy how time is flying by. I really can't believe it's already been another year! I swear time goes faster the older you get hahah. I'm going to be 28, but I still feel 21 haha! Definitely in my prime BABYYYYY!! I gotta say it's been a great year though. I've spent time in England, Malaysia, Darwin and now Bunbury all over this past year and it's been because of basketball. I've met and am dating an amazing girl that I love and am SOOO thankful for! My family and friends are always supportive and loving. My faith has grown and continues to grow. God has really shown me that the more you pursue him and let him guide your life, that he takes care of you and puts you in the right situation at the right time. They say timing is everything, I think I agree with that one...
Well I think that's about it for now. We have our game tonight and are getting ready to leave here soon. I'm going to be staying up in Perth for the night with my buddy Colin Matteson, so that should be fun times! I hope all is well with everyone back home. I love and miss you all! Thanks so much for following my blog and taking the time to share my experiences with me. Life is good, but God is great.
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
Saturday, 16 April 2011
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Settling right in...
It's been about 2 weeks since my last post and I must say that quite a bit has been going on. So much stuff in fact that I lose track of how much time it's been in-between blogs, then I end up forgetting some funny things that have happened to share with ya'll. From training 2-3 days a week to school sessions 2-3 days a week to games now every weekend (home and away) there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of time to sit down and write, BUT I'm going to try my best to get a new post out every 2 weeks or so. Just a little side note as well, it's almost been 2 months already since I left on Feb 8th... Absolutely crazy how the time has been flying by!
I'll start off with bball news since that's what I'm here for haha!
On March 18th we had our first game of the season against the Rockingham Flames on the road. We had to travel to Perth to play because their gym wasn't ready to play in quite yet and that wasn't really a problem since the gym in Perth was much nicer than their's. BUT we ended up running into traffic on the way and that made the trip 3 1/2hrs rather than the usual 2hrs. So because of that the game started about 20 mins late, not a great start to the night. We only had 8 guys suited up that night as 4 of our players had something going on (like work or were hurt with an injury) that prevented them from playing. So we weren't at full strength at all but knew that we could still win this game. Nick our other import had just shown up a couple days prior and wasn't cleared from Basketball Australia yet to play, so that hurt us as well. The game was tight from the get go and we were down 8pts at halftime. We slowly started to lose momentum at the end of the 3rd quarter and even though we pulled to within 4 pts they ended up pulling away for a 19 point victory. We just didn't have enough legs to keep up for the whole 48 minutes. It was a tough loss when we know we are definitely beating that team at full strength. It would've been nice to get a win right off the bat to start the season, but we'll just keep gelling and working hard. I personally played well and had 23pts and 11rebs, but I had to play a blistering 47 minutes and was completely gassed after the game! When our full team is back in effect I won't have to play hopefully more than 40 minutes, anything more can be killer on your body (especially on double header weekends).
Here's a pic from the Rockingham game:
This past Saturday we had our first home game of the season against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns. They have an AIA import by the name of Dean Hadley. I'd never met him until I got out here (in Perth at the Blitz weekend of games) but he's a really cool dude and another guy to touch base with over the season and chop it up about life and the Christian faith/walk. I also got to talk with their coach (Ash) after the game, he's a guy that I was in contact with over emails during the whole recruiting process and also a Christian guy. Things never worked out because it was right when I was signing with the Slammers, but he was always a really nice guy to talk to and showed interest in me playing for them. This game we had almost our full squad together (just missing one kid that was in the States), finally! Our home venue is pretty sweet and I bet one of the better ones in the league. One of Russell's older girls that is part of the acrobatic dance group in town had a performance at halftime which was crazy. The flips, spins and twists that they were doing were pretty insane, but the crowd loved the entertainment! The gym was pretty packed with around 450 people and a ton of the kids from the schools showed up too, so that was fun. It was the best crowd they've had in a while and we're hoping they continue to support. The game was close from the get go and we were down 5pts after the first quarter. We had only had a week or 2 of trainings together to try and gel with Nick now playing so we were working things out on the court as we went. At halftime we were down 11pts I think but the game was always tight. We got the lead down to 1pt in the end of the 3rd quarter and the crowd was starting to go nuts!! They had a few runs in the 4th quarter where we didn't answer with a score and next thing you know they ended up winning by 13pts. It was a great game for us though and I think the fans and sponsors had a great time. We executed our game plan pretty well and did the things we wanted to but they shot the ball great and that was pretty much the deciding factor. I played well and had 24pts, 12rebs and 4 assists. That earned me MVP honors for the game and a $50gift card to the Eaton Tavern (which I heard has great food! So you know I'm pumped for that lol). One thing that is different here than anywhere I've played before is after each game both teams and all the sponsors get together in one of the meeting rooms for food and drinks to give out awards and also "shoot the breeze" with eachother. It's a way to mingle with guys from the opposing team and to get to know the sponors as well. It's a pretty cool deal.
Here's some pics from our local newspaper before our home opener against Kalamunda:
Here's our commercial for the first game as well, enjoy!
Now that the bball is all caught up with I'll move on to other things...
Last Friday was my last school session at Cowanarup Primary School, which is about an hr. South of Bunbury. It's an extremely small country town and there's only 220 kids in the school, but they are awesome. SOOOOO right out of the gates at the very first session (4 weeks ago) I was there each class that I had one after another during the course of the day asked me the usual question, "can you dunk?" and I answer with a "yes I can" then they proceed with "Can you do it now?". So to avoid having to do a gazillion dunks over the next 4 weeks I told each class that I would do a dunk on the last day! It was a brilliant idea :), especially if they were to forget over time hahaha, BUT they didn't. SOOOO of course as soon as I step on campus last Friday the kids are all going nuts about this dunk haha. I guess the principal even put it in the school paper. So as the day went on I decided instead of doing a dunk per class that I would just do one at the end of the day before I leave while all the kids are outside eating their lunch (this would save more energy for me too lol, I'm getting old now :) ). So at 1:10pm the bell rang and all 200 kids ran out to the court to take a seat enjoy their lunch and also "the dunk" that they'd been waiting for. It was a ton of fun getting them all pumped up and cheering before I threw one down to a bunch of ohhhhhhh's and ahhhhhhhh's followed by some clapping. The kids enjoyed it and the teachers had some fun too. It was a great way to end a good 4 week session!
This past Sunday I decided to check out a local Christian church and wait to check out the new Cathedral at a later date. I did some research online and came across Grace Christian Church and it looked like a young/fun place to go so I headed there. To my luck that weekend there was a men's retreat going on in Busselton (40mins south) and for the most part the church was full of women hahaha. Talk about feeling a littttttle bit out of place haha, but it was cool and the service was great. It's definitely a young church with some good worship music and solid leadership. The woman who was speaking that day focused on this passage from Mark 4:13-20 and she summorized the passage like this, "Hear the word, believe the word, act on the word, bear great fruit". It's quite the passage to think on because how many of us hear something but never quite believe it. Or even if we do believe it how many of us actually act on it to see if what will come from our good actions will be fruitful? It definitely struck home for me personally as there are always day to day challenges where I fall short by not acting on my beliefs. Knowing what's right but almost being to lazy (faith wise) to act on it. God wants us to not only pursue his word but also act it out and share it with others. Bear great fruit. I enjoyed the service and will most likely return there again next week although I do want to check some other places out just to see what's out there.
After church finished I decided to drive up to Mandurah to meet up with Big Ben to watch Casey Crevelone and the Magic play against the Willeton Tigers (who we have on the 7th or 8th). I figured I'd go up there to watch the game and also hang out for the night, maybe even stay over. It was a great game and the Tigers ended up winning in the end. Casey played really well and was upset they didn't get the W. It was nice to get to scout both teams for our future match ups!
After the game we decided to grab some meat and condiments from the store for a "barby" aka barbeque at Casey's teammates place (which was RIGHT on the beach!). Casey's GF (Jocelyn) just got out to Mandurah a few weeks ago and is going to be staying the whole season or as long as her work visa allows, so she is actually living at that house with Casey's mate and his wife. It's a pretty sweet situation for Casey to have someone out here to experience everything with him and grow together. It's probably THE BEST situation for a professional basketball player to have while being overseas if they are in a serious relationship (which a lot of guys aren't or don't want to be). Unfortunately it doesn't always work out for someone to just drop everything they are doing in their life in the States to come out and be with you while you continue to live your dream in whatever country your contract is in. Would I love to have my special someone with me? YES. Is it going to happen for me anytime soon? Nah :( . But that's just another one of the many sacrifices you get for playing ball overseas and being away from everyone you love...
Sorry about that I just went off track there a little bit haha!
ANYWAYS, we ended up going for a quick swim before then endulging on our feast of a barby. It was a lot of fun to meet some new people and chat it up over some good food. After that the three of us went back to Casey's host families place for the night. We watched a couple interesting documentary type movies called "Life" (similar to the series on the National Geographic channel) about animals, mammals, insects, bugs, etc. I gotta say, on the projection screen it was pretty amazing stuff! It was great as always to be able to catch up with some AIA guys, especially Ben and Casey as I've grown really close to those guys! I can't wait for our next weekend of fun.
As far as things back home go... The Smith fam has finally found a house and all is official! It's a beautiful house up in the Alderwood area, just minutes from the mall. It's on a quiet cultisack in a nice neighborhood. My mom was extactic about the whole deal and I think a huge weight was lifted off both her and my dad's shoulders (as the moving out date was closing in). I can't wait to come home to a new crib! Big shout out to my sister for finding the listing the day it opened!!
I think that's it for now. Life is really moving pretty fast especially since the season has started up. We play every weekend which is nice and time starts to fly by. Our next game is Saturday up in Geraldton against the Bucaneers which is another country team up north about 7 hours from us. So it will be a long bus ride, but a fun one! I've heard some stories from past seasons and it sounds like good times. Pictures to come soon! We're still looking for our first win and I think we can get it this time! Prayers would be greatly appreciated!
I hope everyone is loving life and enjoying every minute of it! I miss everyone a ton and think about home all the time. It's a crazy world but it's meant to be that way, otherwise it wouldn't be life. Thanks to everyone for following my blog, I enjoy being able to share these amazing experiences with all of you. Prayers, Blessings and much Love!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
I'll start off with bball news since that's what I'm here for haha!
On March 18th we had our first game of the season against the Rockingham Flames on the road. We had to travel to Perth to play because their gym wasn't ready to play in quite yet and that wasn't really a problem since the gym in Perth was much nicer than their's. BUT we ended up running into traffic on the way and that made the trip 3 1/2hrs rather than the usual 2hrs. So because of that the game started about 20 mins late, not a great start to the night. We only had 8 guys suited up that night as 4 of our players had something going on (like work or were hurt with an injury) that prevented them from playing. So we weren't at full strength at all but knew that we could still win this game. Nick our other import had just shown up a couple days prior and wasn't cleared from Basketball Australia yet to play, so that hurt us as well. The game was tight from the get go and we were down 8pts at halftime. We slowly started to lose momentum at the end of the 3rd quarter and even though we pulled to within 4 pts they ended up pulling away for a 19 point victory. We just didn't have enough legs to keep up for the whole 48 minutes. It was a tough loss when we know we are definitely beating that team at full strength. It would've been nice to get a win right off the bat to start the season, but we'll just keep gelling and working hard. I personally played well and had 23pts and 11rebs, but I had to play a blistering 47 minutes and was completely gassed after the game! When our full team is back in effect I won't have to play hopefully more than 40 minutes, anything more can be killer on your body (especially on double header weekends).
Here's a pic from the Rockingham game:
This past Saturday we had our first home game of the season against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns. They have an AIA import by the name of Dean Hadley. I'd never met him until I got out here (in Perth at the Blitz weekend of games) but he's a really cool dude and another guy to touch base with over the season and chop it up about life and the Christian faith/walk. I also got to talk with their coach (Ash) after the game, he's a guy that I was in contact with over emails during the whole recruiting process and also a Christian guy. Things never worked out because it was right when I was signing with the Slammers, but he was always a really nice guy to talk to and showed interest in me playing for them. This game we had almost our full squad together (just missing one kid that was in the States), finally! Our home venue is pretty sweet and I bet one of the better ones in the league. One of Russell's older girls that is part of the acrobatic dance group in town had a performance at halftime which was crazy. The flips, spins and twists that they were doing were pretty insane, but the crowd loved the entertainment! The gym was pretty packed with around 450 people and a ton of the kids from the schools showed up too, so that was fun. It was the best crowd they've had in a while and we're hoping they continue to support. The game was close from the get go and we were down 5pts after the first quarter. We had only had a week or 2 of trainings together to try and gel with Nick now playing so we were working things out on the court as we went. At halftime we were down 11pts I think but the game was always tight. We got the lead down to 1pt in the end of the 3rd quarter and the crowd was starting to go nuts!! They had a few runs in the 4th quarter where we didn't answer with a score and next thing you know they ended up winning by 13pts. It was a great game for us though and I think the fans and sponsors had a great time. We executed our game plan pretty well and did the things we wanted to but they shot the ball great and that was pretty much the deciding factor. I played well and had 24pts, 12rebs and 4 assists. That earned me MVP honors for the game and a $50gift card to the Eaton Tavern (which I heard has great food! So you know I'm pumped for that lol). One thing that is different here than anywhere I've played before is after each game both teams and all the sponsors get together in one of the meeting rooms for food and drinks to give out awards and also "shoot the breeze" with eachother. It's a way to mingle with guys from the opposing team and to get to know the sponors as well. It's a pretty cool deal.
Here's some pics from our local newspaper before our home opener against Kalamunda:
Here's our commercial for the first game as well, enjoy!
Now that the bball is all caught up with I'll move on to other things...
Last Friday was my last school session at Cowanarup Primary School, which is about an hr. South of Bunbury. It's an extremely small country town and there's only 220 kids in the school, but they are awesome. SOOOOO right out of the gates at the very first session (4 weeks ago) I was there each class that I had one after another during the course of the day asked me the usual question, "can you dunk?" and I answer with a "yes I can" then they proceed with "Can you do it now?". So to avoid having to do a gazillion dunks over the next 4 weeks I told each class that I would do a dunk on the last day! It was a brilliant idea :), especially if they were to forget over time hahaha, BUT they didn't. SOOOO of course as soon as I step on campus last Friday the kids are all going nuts about this dunk haha. I guess the principal even put it in the school paper. So as the day went on I decided instead of doing a dunk per class that I would just do one at the end of the day before I leave while all the kids are outside eating their lunch (this would save more energy for me too lol, I'm getting old now :) ). So at 1:10pm the bell rang and all 200 kids ran out to the court to take a seat enjoy their lunch and also "the dunk" that they'd been waiting for. It was a ton of fun getting them all pumped up and cheering before I threw one down to a bunch of ohhhhhhh's and ahhhhhhhh's followed by some clapping. The kids enjoyed it and the teachers had some fun too. It was a great way to end a good 4 week session!
This past Sunday I decided to check out a local Christian church and wait to check out the new Cathedral at a later date. I did some research online and came across Grace Christian Church and it looked like a young/fun place to go so I headed there. To my luck that weekend there was a men's retreat going on in Busselton (40mins south) and for the most part the church was full of women hahaha. Talk about feeling a littttttle bit out of place haha, but it was cool and the service was great. It's definitely a young church with some good worship music and solid leadership. The woman who was speaking that day focused on this passage from Mark 4:13-20 and she summorized the passage like this, "Hear the word, believe the word, act on the word, bear great fruit". It's quite the passage to think on because how many of us hear something but never quite believe it. Or even if we do believe it how many of us actually act on it to see if what will come from our good actions will be fruitful? It definitely struck home for me personally as there are always day to day challenges where I fall short by not acting on my beliefs. Knowing what's right but almost being to lazy (faith wise) to act on it. God wants us to not only pursue his word but also act it out and share it with others. Bear great fruit. I enjoyed the service and will most likely return there again next week although I do want to check some other places out just to see what's out there.
After church finished I decided to drive up to Mandurah to meet up with Big Ben to watch Casey Crevelone and the Magic play against the Willeton Tigers (who we have on the 7th or 8th). I figured I'd go up there to watch the game and also hang out for the night, maybe even stay over. It was a great game and the Tigers ended up winning in the end. Casey played really well and was upset they didn't get the W. It was nice to get to scout both teams for our future match ups!
After the game we decided to grab some meat and condiments from the store for a "barby" aka barbeque at Casey's teammates place (which was RIGHT on the beach!). Casey's GF (Jocelyn) just got out to Mandurah a few weeks ago and is going to be staying the whole season or as long as her work visa allows, so she is actually living at that house with Casey's mate and his wife. It's a pretty sweet situation for Casey to have someone out here to experience everything with him and grow together. It's probably THE BEST situation for a professional basketball player to have while being overseas if they are in a serious relationship (which a lot of guys aren't or don't want to be). Unfortunately it doesn't always work out for someone to just drop everything they are doing in their life in the States to come out and be with you while you continue to live your dream in whatever country your contract is in. Would I love to have my special someone with me? YES. Is it going to happen for me anytime soon? Nah :( . But that's just another one of the many sacrifices you get for playing ball overseas and being away from everyone you love...
Sorry about that I just went off track there a little bit haha!
ANYWAYS, we ended up going for a quick swim before then endulging on our feast of a barby. It was a lot of fun to meet some new people and chat it up over some good food. After that the three of us went back to Casey's host families place for the night. We watched a couple interesting documentary type movies called "Life" (similar to the series on the National Geographic channel) about animals, mammals, insects, bugs, etc. I gotta say, on the projection screen it was pretty amazing stuff! It was great as always to be able to catch up with some AIA guys, especially Ben and Casey as I've grown really close to those guys! I can't wait for our next weekend of fun.
As far as things back home go... The Smith fam has finally found a house and all is official! It's a beautiful house up in the Alderwood area, just minutes from the mall. It's on a quiet cultisack in a nice neighborhood. My mom was extactic about the whole deal and I think a huge weight was lifted off both her and my dad's shoulders (as the moving out date was closing in). I can't wait to come home to a new crib! Big shout out to my sister for finding the listing the day it opened!!
I think that's it for now. Life is really moving pretty fast especially since the season has started up. We play every weekend which is nice and time starts to fly by. Our next game is Saturday up in Geraldton against the Bucaneers which is another country team up north about 7 hours from us. So it will be a long bus ride, but a fun one! I've heard some stories from past seasons and it sounds like good times. Pictures to come soon! We're still looking for our first win and I think we can get it this time! Prayers would be greatly appreciated!
I hope everyone is loving life and enjoying every minute of it! I miss everyone a ton and think about home all the time. It's a crazy world but it's meant to be that way, otherwise it wouldn't be life. Thanks to everyone for following my blog, I enjoy being able to share these amazing experiences with all of you. Prayers, Blessings and much Love!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
Saturday, 12 March 2011
5 days till season opener!
Wow here we are again...it's been almost 2 weeks since my last blog and things have really been flying!
I left off with a "scratch match" AKA scrimmage game against the Mandurah Magic on my last post. Well the game ended up going very well, it was a full 48 minute match (which is a SUPER long game BTW lol), and we didn't have our full squad in action for the day but we came out on the losing end after a great effort by 9 points. So that was a real positive outcome for us to be that competetive against a team that finished in the #9 spot last season without our full team suited up. I personally had around 30pts and 11rebs and it was a good opening impression for me in front of some of our board committee that came to watch. It was a lot of fun to play against Casey too, he played well and has a good team this season. It's gonna be a blast to play almost every game against a good friend, always makes for some good ol' trash talking :)
Last weekend was the "Blitz" tournament in Perth. All the teams from the SBL were there in action and playing 2 games each day. This was going to be our time to showcase that this season was going to be nothing like the last one (1-25 record...ouch). The gym facility we played at is a newly built arena that the Perry Lake Hawks play in for their home games. It was absolutely HUGE! On one side of the building there were 6 full bball courts, 2 X 2 X 2 and on the other side of the building were the 2 main courts (with A/C thank GOD! haha). The game formats for the weekend were 2 twenty minute halves with a running clock, so they went pretty quick and the scores were quite low (like in the 40's or 50's).
We started off our first match against the Geraldton Bucaneers (a final four team last season). The game started off great as we jumped to a 21-10 lead and I personally had 8 quick points. At halftime we were down 2pts. We ended up losing by 20pts. We only scored 6 points as a team in the 2nd half!! Talk about a brainfart haha. BUT we definitely showed that we have the potential to hang with a top team in the league. I finished that game with 12pts and 5rebs.
We then took on the Stirling Senators (usually a middle to bottom of the ladder team). This was a tight game from start to finish but we pulled out a victory by 1 point!!! I was SO happy to just get the "W" hahaha. This was literally only the 2nd "W" the Slammers had seen in quite some time, so I was happy about that. The team went well and our young boys made some nice plays and showed their potential, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I finished that game with 14pts and 6rebs.
The whole team stayed together that night in a hotel and decided to go out for dinner as a group at a restaurant right next door. It was fun to get all the fellas in one spot and get to eat and chill and spend some "team time" together. Our next game was Sunday morning at 9:30AM so I headed back to my room, got ready for bed, chilled and watched some movies on TV. Some of the boys on the other hand wanted to "get on the piss" (drink), even though we had disscussed as a team prior to leaving Bunbury that there would be NO DRINKING (or maybe 2 beers at dinner but that's it) for that weekend. I tell you what, these guys out here LOVE to drink no matter what the situation hahaha. That's going to be one of my missions with these guys while I'm here playing, to get them more serious about preparing for games and saving the partying for afterwards(hopefully after a win!). Thankfully everyone was good and the whole team showed up on time for the early AM game.
Our first game was against the powerhouse Lakeside Lightning. I was excited because my good buddy Ben Beran and also another AIA guy Luke Payne (who i hadn't met yet) play for Lakeside. This is a really good team that always finishes in the top 3 year in and year out. Last season they lost in the championship game by 8pts and the year before that they won the "Ship". So we knew it would be a tough game for us. To my surprise their coach decided to give some of his players a "rest" for their afternoon game so he sat both imports (ben and luke) and also 2 of their really good local guys. Even without their full team they still had a very solid squad and we ended up losing by 2 points. They are going to be a tough one during the season. I finished that game with 12pts and 5rebs.
Our last game of the day and tournament was against the U20 Metro State team (under 20yrs old). Every SBL team had to play at least one game against the U20 squad. I don't think any SBL team had lost to them and you can bet I wasn't gonna let us be the first!! I had watched them play earlier against the East Perth Eagles and my good buddy Colin Matteson(from Seattle and also played in Darwin with me). They were a talented team of young kids and played hard, so I knew it wasn't going to be an "easy win". SBL teams were only winning by 15-20pts at most. This game wasn't easy by any means as we were only up 2 points at half time. I had a good first half and scored 15pts to keep us ahead. We finally took ahold of the game and ended up winning by about 16pts. I had to play the whole 40 minutes due to a few of our guys being "hurt" from previous games, but that's ok as I want to be in premium condition for the long season. I finished that game with 22pts and 8rebs.
Overall it was a really good weekend for us and we finished up with a 2-2 record. I think the coaches and board committee liked what they saw and can see the potential this team has to have a successful season. We now just have to continue to build as the time goes on.
Only 5 days until our season opener against the Rockingham Flame, and a very winnable game might I add as they didn't look to strong at the Blitz tourney. We will see how things go but I'm overly excited to get back on the court and get this club back to winning some games!!
Article from the Bunbury Herald after the weekend games...
I decided to stay that Sunday night up in Perth since I had nothing on Monday to do. So I asked Ben Beran if I could stay with him at his host families house (to just happened to be my old host family from the AIA tour in Perth in 09'). The Weir family is an awesome family to be around and they LOVE the game of basketball. They actually came on Sunday morning to watch us play Lakeside because they are supporters for the Lakeside squad. It was an awesome night as we went over to Jane's (host mum) daughters home to celebrate her husbands Bday. There was a big barbeque and a night filled with Settlers of Catan Seafair Edition (which is a ton of fun as well as the original version). After a late night Ben and I headed back to his house to just lounge for a little while and catch some ESPN (which is now on out here at certain times! It's pretty sweet to get that taste of home.) then we zonked out! Monday consisted of some more settlers and an awesome lunch cookout then it was back to Bunbo aka Bunbury for me :) . The weekend was awesome and I can't wait to have many more with some good bball and fun with the fellas. This really is the perfect situation to have SOOOO many friends in one spot playing the game we all love.
It's pretty cool being the only team in Bunbury because then we get all the "media attention", where as in Perth there are like 10 teams that are all within about 30 minutes of eachother. So last week I did 2 TV interviews, one for GWN7 and the other for WIN TV. It was pretty sweet getting interviewed and the kids loved seeing it on TV. Then as I showed up for my usual bball session at their school they went nuts! Along with the TV we also have the newspaper and radio who all sponsor the Slammers in some fashion. I am currently trying to get a DVD copy of one of the TV interviews to put online so everyone can check it out!! Stay tuned for that!!
Last night we had our "singlet" presentation banquet for both the men's and women's team. It was basically a time for all the sponsors to get to come and mingle with all the players and coaches. It was a good time and I got to meet all the important people who are giving us the money to have a season. So its important now for us to WIN so that the crowds will fill the gym and bring some money in for the sponsors. That's the name of the game....WIN!!!
The new women's import player flew in about a week ago, her name is Lavesa and she's from Miami. She's also living here in the Donovan family house with me. She's a real cool chick and we get along great and have a lot in common. She's already brought some good laughs into the house and should make for more good times! Our other mens import player Nick is suppossed to be getting in on Wednesday, which is awesome! I don't know yet if he'll be able to play on Fridays game because of paperwork stuff yet but we're hoping he can! That will make for almost a full house for the next 5 months, but many good times I'm sure.
On days when we don't have practice I tend to make it down to the beach for a little while to read, relax, and soak in the sun :). BUT only once I've gotten my daily workout in of course! I've quickly found that that "beach time" tends to be my "quiet time", where I can think about life, love, God, basketball, family, etc. The beach here to me is so peaceful and amazing that I always end up lost in my own thoughts. I am so blessed to be here and have this opportunity to play ball and hopefully change some lives along the way with my attitude and influence.
A beautiful beach sunset...
Perfect place for a little R & R
The book I just currently finished is called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. My good friend and old England teammate John Olinger reccommended some books for me to read while out here for the season. If you want to read a good book about faith and where you stand in your current Christian walk then give Crazy Love a try. It is a real "ball buster" in so many ways. It really gets you to take a step back and look at your current life to see how exactly you are living your life for Christ and if not then how are you going to change that. It's challenging in so many good ways. There of course is plenty of encouragement throughout the book as well, as the author Francis admits to having his own "issues" just like anyone else does. It was a great read and I reccommend it to anyone, even those not of the Christian faith or religious at all. It is an eye opener and will help to change your life for the better.
It is the time of Lent now for the next 40 days, and my mom usually always makes us give up something. A sacrifice to the Lord as he has sacrificed so much for us. As I was brainstorming for ideas of meaningful things to give up other than the usual pop, candy, tv, fast food, etc. I found myself coming to a blank... Not that I BY ANY MEANS don't have things that I could give up, its just that I couldn't think of many "meaningful" things that were really a "problem" or major issue for me. I then started to think "why not just make this a time to START some positive habits???" Like reading more (both the Bible and just in general). Giving more of my time to help others around the team and house. Giving more of my money to those who need it more. Giving more verbal encouragement when sometimes I bite my tongue. In the end I think I came up with some good ideas and it'll be a good Lent this year. I am also giving up listening to Rap/Hip Hop music that is particularly crude with language and lyrics (this will be a tough one). You are what you surround yourself by...
As far as updates from back home goes... The house in Lynnwood that my parents were set on buying didn't get the "GO" because of a bad inspection. SOOO now its back to the "house search" drawing board, which I can imagine is a long and stressful process, but we're hoping that sometime pops up soon that will work out as time is closing in for them to move out of our current home! Other than that I don't think that there is too many "new" things going on back home except for the usual day-to-day activities.
I think that about wraps it all up for now! I'm having a blast out here and it's only getting better. I hope everyone is doing well and life is rolling right along. Send prayers out to those in Japan and anyone effected by the tragic earthquake and tsunami. I miss and love you all! Here's some pics and also a video I made of my Bunbury home...
Here is a link of a video that I made of my crib here in Bunbury! Enjoy it haha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg029o7bJRU
Here's a pic of my new car for the season. I'm calling her "Great White" lol! It only seemed right...
This is where the Donovan family posts pictures of all the exchange students and others who have stayed in their home over the past 2 years.
This is the Donovan fam. Back row left to right- Laticia, Sophie, Bianca. Middle row- Russell and Karen. Front row- Alex and James.
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
I left off with a "scratch match" AKA scrimmage game against the Mandurah Magic on my last post. Well the game ended up going very well, it was a full 48 minute match (which is a SUPER long game BTW lol), and we didn't have our full squad in action for the day but we came out on the losing end after a great effort by 9 points. So that was a real positive outcome for us to be that competetive against a team that finished in the #9 spot last season without our full team suited up. I personally had around 30pts and 11rebs and it was a good opening impression for me in front of some of our board committee that came to watch. It was a lot of fun to play against Casey too, he played well and has a good team this season. It's gonna be a blast to play almost every game against a good friend, always makes for some good ol' trash talking :)
Last weekend was the "Blitz" tournament in Perth. All the teams from the SBL were there in action and playing 2 games each day. This was going to be our time to showcase that this season was going to be nothing like the last one (1-25 record...ouch). The gym facility we played at is a newly built arena that the Perry Lake Hawks play in for their home games. It was absolutely HUGE! On one side of the building there were 6 full bball courts, 2 X 2 X 2 and on the other side of the building were the 2 main courts (with A/C thank GOD! haha). The game formats for the weekend were 2 twenty minute halves with a running clock, so they went pretty quick and the scores were quite low (like in the 40's or 50's).
We started off our first match against the Geraldton Bucaneers (a final four team last season). The game started off great as we jumped to a 21-10 lead and I personally had 8 quick points. At halftime we were down 2pts. We ended up losing by 20pts. We only scored 6 points as a team in the 2nd half!! Talk about a brainfart haha. BUT we definitely showed that we have the potential to hang with a top team in the league. I finished that game with 12pts and 5rebs.
We then took on the Stirling Senators (usually a middle to bottom of the ladder team). This was a tight game from start to finish but we pulled out a victory by 1 point!!! I was SO happy to just get the "W" hahaha. This was literally only the 2nd "W" the Slammers had seen in quite some time, so I was happy about that. The team went well and our young boys made some nice plays and showed their potential, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I finished that game with 14pts and 6rebs.
The whole team stayed together that night in a hotel and decided to go out for dinner as a group at a restaurant right next door. It was fun to get all the fellas in one spot and get to eat and chill and spend some "team time" together. Our next game was Sunday morning at 9:30AM so I headed back to my room, got ready for bed, chilled and watched some movies on TV. Some of the boys on the other hand wanted to "get on the piss" (drink), even though we had disscussed as a team prior to leaving Bunbury that there would be NO DRINKING (or maybe 2 beers at dinner but that's it) for that weekend. I tell you what, these guys out here LOVE to drink no matter what the situation hahaha. That's going to be one of my missions with these guys while I'm here playing, to get them more serious about preparing for games and saving the partying for afterwards(hopefully after a win!). Thankfully everyone was good and the whole team showed up on time for the early AM game.
Our first game was against the powerhouse Lakeside Lightning. I was excited because my good buddy Ben Beran and also another AIA guy Luke Payne (who i hadn't met yet) play for Lakeside. This is a really good team that always finishes in the top 3 year in and year out. Last season they lost in the championship game by 8pts and the year before that they won the "Ship". So we knew it would be a tough game for us. To my surprise their coach decided to give some of his players a "rest" for their afternoon game so he sat both imports (ben and luke) and also 2 of their really good local guys. Even without their full team they still had a very solid squad and we ended up losing by 2 points. They are going to be a tough one during the season. I finished that game with 12pts and 5rebs.
Our last game of the day and tournament was against the U20 Metro State team (under 20yrs old). Every SBL team had to play at least one game against the U20 squad. I don't think any SBL team had lost to them and you can bet I wasn't gonna let us be the first!! I had watched them play earlier against the East Perth Eagles and my good buddy Colin Matteson(from Seattle and also played in Darwin with me). They were a talented team of young kids and played hard, so I knew it wasn't going to be an "easy win". SBL teams were only winning by 15-20pts at most. This game wasn't easy by any means as we were only up 2 points at half time. I had a good first half and scored 15pts to keep us ahead. We finally took ahold of the game and ended up winning by about 16pts. I had to play the whole 40 minutes due to a few of our guys being "hurt" from previous games, but that's ok as I want to be in premium condition for the long season. I finished that game with 22pts and 8rebs.
Overall it was a really good weekend for us and we finished up with a 2-2 record. I think the coaches and board committee liked what they saw and can see the potential this team has to have a successful season. We now just have to continue to build as the time goes on.
Only 5 days until our season opener against the Rockingham Flame, and a very winnable game might I add as they didn't look to strong at the Blitz tourney. We will see how things go but I'm overly excited to get back on the court and get this club back to winning some games!!
Article from the Bunbury Herald after the weekend games...
I decided to stay that Sunday night up in Perth since I had nothing on Monday to do. So I asked Ben Beran if I could stay with him at his host families house (to just happened to be my old host family from the AIA tour in Perth in 09'). The Weir family is an awesome family to be around and they LOVE the game of basketball. They actually came on Sunday morning to watch us play Lakeside because they are supporters for the Lakeside squad. It was an awesome night as we went over to Jane's (host mum) daughters home to celebrate her husbands Bday. There was a big barbeque and a night filled with Settlers of Catan Seafair Edition (which is a ton of fun as well as the original version). After a late night Ben and I headed back to his house to just lounge for a little while and catch some ESPN (which is now on out here at certain times! It's pretty sweet to get that taste of home.) then we zonked out! Monday consisted of some more settlers and an awesome lunch cookout then it was back to Bunbo aka Bunbury for me :) . The weekend was awesome and I can't wait to have many more with some good bball and fun with the fellas. This really is the perfect situation to have SOOOO many friends in one spot playing the game we all love.
It's pretty cool being the only team in Bunbury because then we get all the "media attention", where as in Perth there are like 10 teams that are all within about 30 minutes of eachother. So last week I did 2 TV interviews, one for GWN7 and the other for WIN TV. It was pretty sweet getting interviewed and the kids loved seeing it on TV. Then as I showed up for my usual bball session at their school they went nuts! Along with the TV we also have the newspaper and radio who all sponsor the Slammers in some fashion. I am currently trying to get a DVD copy of one of the TV interviews to put online so everyone can check it out!! Stay tuned for that!!
Last night we had our "singlet" presentation banquet for both the men's and women's team. It was basically a time for all the sponsors to get to come and mingle with all the players and coaches. It was a good time and I got to meet all the important people who are giving us the money to have a season. So its important now for us to WIN so that the crowds will fill the gym and bring some money in for the sponsors. That's the name of the game....WIN!!!
The new women's import player flew in about a week ago, her name is Lavesa and she's from Miami. She's also living here in the Donovan family house with me. She's a real cool chick and we get along great and have a lot in common. She's already brought some good laughs into the house and should make for more good times! Our other mens import player Nick is suppossed to be getting in on Wednesday, which is awesome! I don't know yet if he'll be able to play on Fridays game because of paperwork stuff yet but we're hoping he can! That will make for almost a full house for the next 5 months, but many good times I'm sure.
On days when we don't have practice I tend to make it down to the beach for a little while to read, relax, and soak in the sun :). BUT only once I've gotten my daily workout in of course! I've quickly found that that "beach time" tends to be my "quiet time", where I can think about life, love, God, basketball, family, etc. The beach here to me is so peaceful and amazing that I always end up lost in my own thoughts. I am so blessed to be here and have this opportunity to play ball and hopefully change some lives along the way with my attitude and influence.
A beautiful beach sunset...
Perfect place for a little R & R
The book I just currently finished is called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. My good friend and old England teammate John Olinger reccommended some books for me to read while out here for the season. If you want to read a good book about faith and where you stand in your current Christian walk then give Crazy Love a try. It is a real "ball buster" in so many ways. It really gets you to take a step back and look at your current life to see how exactly you are living your life for Christ and if not then how are you going to change that. It's challenging in so many good ways. There of course is plenty of encouragement throughout the book as well, as the author Francis admits to having his own "issues" just like anyone else does. It was a great read and I reccommend it to anyone, even those not of the Christian faith or religious at all. It is an eye opener and will help to change your life for the better.
It is the time of Lent now for the next 40 days, and my mom usually always makes us give up something. A sacrifice to the Lord as he has sacrificed so much for us. As I was brainstorming for ideas of meaningful things to give up other than the usual pop, candy, tv, fast food, etc. I found myself coming to a blank... Not that I BY ANY MEANS don't have things that I could give up, its just that I couldn't think of many "meaningful" things that were really a "problem" or major issue for me. I then started to think "why not just make this a time to START some positive habits???" Like reading more (both the Bible and just in general). Giving more of my time to help others around the team and house. Giving more of my money to those who need it more. Giving more verbal encouragement when sometimes I bite my tongue. In the end I think I came up with some good ideas and it'll be a good Lent this year. I am also giving up listening to Rap/Hip Hop music that is particularly crude with language and lyrics (this will be a tough one). You are what you surround yourself by...
As far as updates from back home goes... The house in Lynnwood that my parents were set on buying didn't get the "GO" because of a bad inspection. SOOO now its back to the "house search" drawing board, which I can imagine is a long and stressful process, but we're hoping that sometime pops up soon that will work out as time is closing in for them to move out of our current home! Other than that I don't think that there is too many "new" things going on back home except for the usual day-to-day activities.
I think that about wraps it all up for now! I'm having a blast out here and it's only getting better. I hope everyone is doing well and life is rolling right along. Send prayers out to those in Japan and anyone effected by the tragic earthquake and tsunami. I miss and love you all! Here's some pics and also a video I made of my Bunbury home...
Here is a link of a video that I made of my crib here in Bunbury! Enjoy it haha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg029o7bJRU
Here's a pic of my new car for the season. I'm calling her "Great White" lol! It only seemed right...
This is where the Donovan family posts pictures of all the exchange students and others who have stayed in their home over the past 2 years.
This is the Donovan fam. Back row left to right- Laticia, Sophie, Bianca. Middle row- Russell and Karen. Front row- Alex and James.
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
Saturday, 26 February 2011
3 more weeks till season tips off...
Since my last post a lot of things have been happening... My schedule has picked up a little bit and with that time has really been flying bye (which is a good thing when you're gone for 6-7 months). A big part of that is because of how comfortable I feel here so far and how easy its been to fit in. My host family is so easy going and fun to be around that I feel like I'm at home. My teammates are a really cool bunch of guys that are easy and fun to chill with off the court which helps for chemistry on the court. It's all things that you hope for when going to a new situation, and I have it all here, so I'm very thankful for that blessing.
Practices have been going well and with each session we have we get better. We have a scrimmage game tomorrow against the Mandurah Magic and my good buddy Casey Crevelone. I first met Casey on the AIA tour in Perth back in November of 2009. So it should be a fun game and a good measuring point to see where we need to improve as a team. The first weekend of March there is a pre-season tournament called "the blitz" that takes place in Perth every year. All the teams from the league will be there and playing twice a day both Saturday and Sunday. It's a time for scouting other teams as well as seeing where exactly your club is at compared to others in the league. It's also a nice little road trip to further bond as a team, so it should be a good time.
Last weekend I went up to Mandurah (which is just 1 hr north and only 40 mins south of Perth) to visit with Casey Crevelone and Ben Beran (he plays at Lakeside Lightning and also is an AIA guy). I went up Friday night and stayed until Monday morning. Ben came down from Perth Saturday morning and we all headed to the beach to do some boogie boarding. As we were enjoying the water and waves we all of a sudden noticed people from shore waiving at us to come in, so we hurringly scurried out of the water. As Casey and I were making our way in we both took a look back to see why exactly we were getting out. We both saw what WE believed to be a dolphin swimming through one of the waves, BUT supposedly there was an 8ft shark "chasing" the dolphin that we didn't see. SOOOO once everyone was out of the water we then learned that they were shutting down the beach for at least 1 hour to make sure that it would be safe to get back in the water or not. We then decided to play some good old American grid-iron in the sand, which turned out to be a lot of fun since we couldn't be in the water. We ended up leaving after about an hour anyways, but it was a nice beach and boogie boarding was fun while we had the chance to do it.
Ben was albe to stay Saturday night which was awesome because we were able to cook up a nice big meal and get some good "sharing time" in since I haven't really been able to catch up with those guys for a while. I learned quickly that all the AIA play the most ultimate game of 2011, Settlers of Catan!
So of course we started a few games and ended up having to play 4 because we each took a victory as the games progressed, leading right into an epic championship game that ended with Casey winning (but only because of home court advantage really! haha).
Sunday morning Ben had to leave back to Perth because he had practice with his team, but Casey and I didn't so we decided to head off to his church he attends while in Mandurah called Eastlake. It was a nice service with a pretty young feel to it, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to finding a good church here in Bunbury I can get plugged into while I'm here, there's plenty of options and I'll probably try a few out to see which best suits me.
As far as for the rest of Sunday, Casey invited me to go to Perth with him and a group of friends to a music festival called "good vibrations". There was going to be around 20-25 artists there performing on 4 different stages!! It sounded like a great time and since I love music so much I said "WHY NOT!?". It was a long day of walking/standing and music but man it was great. I got to see Erykah badu, Mike Posner, Nas, Damien Marley, Phoenix, Yolanda Be Cool, Ludacris, The ting tings and Kelis!! All the acts were great and live music is always fun to be around, so it was an awesome day!
It ended up finishing around 10:30pm and me and Casey were so poooped that we just grabbed about $30 worth of Mackers (Australian for McDonald's) and drove back home to Mandurah for the night. It was a great day to hang with Casey and also meet some new people and obviously get to see so many artists perform that I grew up on!
There are a total of 10 AIA guys in the leauge this season and we're all within about an hour of eachother, so it should be pretty easy to get together to hang out and also keep eachother accountable for our actions over the course of the long season. I know I'm looking forward to having some good solid Christian blokes around to be able to meet up with and grow in my faith. It's really the ulitmate experience as a professional basketball player away from home, family and friends...
There's been some exciting news going on back home in Seattle Washington of course. My family has recently sold our house of 16 years!!! ANDDDDD already found a new one in Lynnwood to move into, which is perfect timing! So that's exciting to hear, I'm just bummed that I'll miss the whole moving process and what not. It'll be pretty cool to come home to a new house though, that will be a first for me. ALSO my cousin Robby and his beautiful wife Katie had their twin girls just about a week or two ago and that was amazing news for the family! I want to give a big shout out to them! Every time I leave I feel like soooooo much happens, its crazy.
I think that's about it for right now. Not tooooooooo much else is going on really. We'll just continue with practices and what not until the official season begins March 18th!! I'm enjoying my time so far and think it will be a great season. Hopefully a few of my friends and family will be able to make the journey out here to visit at some point! That would really be awesome! There's so much to do here on the Westcoast of Australia and some absolutely beautiful beaches. We'll see as time goes on. Much Love to everyone and many blessings.
Remember life is good, but God is great!
Until tomorrow...
"Make it Happen"
Practices have been going well and with each session we have we get better. We have a scrimmage game tomorrow against the Mandurah Magic and my good buddy Casey Crevelone. I first met Casey on the AIA tour in Perth back in November of 2009. So it should be a fun game and a good measuring point to see where we need to improve as a team. The first weekend of March there is a pre-season tournament called "the blitz" that takes place in Perth every year. All the teams from the league will be there and playing twice a day both Saturday and Sunday. It's a time for scouting other teams as well as seeing where exactly your club is at compared to others in the league. It's also a nice little road trip to further bond as a team, so it should be a good time.
Last weekend I went up to Mandurah (which is just 1 hr north and only 40 mins south of Perth) to visit with Casey Crevelone and Ben Beran (he plays at Lakeside Lightning and also is an AIA guy). I went up Friday night and stayed until Monday morning. Ben came down from Perth Saturday morning and we all headed to the beach to do some boogie boarding. As we were enjoying the water and waves we all of a sudden noticed people from shore waiving at us to come in, so we hurringly scurried out of the water. As Casey and I were making our way in we both took a look back to see why exactly we were getting out. We both saw what WE believed to be a dolphin swimming through one of the waves, BUT supposedly there was an 8ft shark "chasing" the dolphin that we didn't see. SOOOO once everyone was out of the water we then learned that they were shutting down the beach for at least 1 hour to make sure that it would be safe to get back in the water or not. We then decided to play some good old American grid-iron in the sand, which turned out to be a lot of fun since we couldn't be in the water. We ended up leaving after about an hour anyways, but it was a nice beach and boogie boarding was fun while we had the chance to do it.
Ben was albe to stay Saturday night which was awesome because we were able to cook up a nice big meal and get some good "sharing time" in since I haven't really been able to catch up with those guys for a while. I learned quickly that all the AIA play the most ultimate game of 2011, Settlers of Catan!
So of course we started a few games and ended up having to play 4 because we each took a victory as the games progressed, leading right into an epic championship game that ended with Casey winning (but only because of home court advantage really! haha).
Sunday morning Ben had to leave back to Perth because he had practice with his team, but Casey and I didn't so we decided to head off to his church he attends while in Mandurah called Eastlake. It was a nice service with a pretty young feel to it, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to finding a good church here in Bunbury I can get plugged into while I'm here, there's plenty of options and I'll probably try a few out to see which best suits me.
As far as for the rest of Sunday, Casey invited me to go to Perth with him and a group of friends to a music festival called "good vibrations". There was going to be around 20-25 artists there performing on 4 different stages!! It sounded like a great time and since I love music so much I said "WHY NOT!?". It was a long day of walking/standing and music but man it was great. I got to see Erykah badu, Mike Posner, Nas, Damien Marley, Phoenix, Yolanda Be Cool, Ludacris, The ting tings and Kelis!! All the acts were great and live music is always fun to be around, so it was an awesome day!
It ended up finishing around 10:30pm and me and Casey were so poooped that we just grabbed about $30 worth of Mackers (Australian for McDonald's) and drove back home to Mandurah for the night. It was a great day to hang with Casey and also meet some new people and obviously get to see so many artists perform that I grew up on!
There are a total of 10 AIA guys in the leauge this season and we're all within about an hour of eachother, so it should be pretty easy to get together to hang out and also keep eachother accountable for our actions over the course of the long season. I know I'm looking forward to having some good solid Christian blokes around to be able to meet up with and grow in my faith. It's really the ulitmate experience as a professional basketball player away from home, family and friends...
There's been some exciting news going on back home in Seattle Washington of course. My family has recently sold our house of 16 years!!! ANDDDDD already found a new one in Lynnwood to move into, which is perfect timing! So that's exciting to hear, I'm just bummed that I'll miss the whole moving process and what not. It'll be pretty cool to come home to a new house though, that will be a first for me. ALSO my cousin Robby and his beautiful wife Katie had their twin girls just about a week or two ago and that was amazing news for the family! I want to give a big shout out to them! Every time I leave I feel like soooooo much happens, its crazy.
I think that's about it for right now. Not tooooooooo much else is going on really. We'll just continue with practices and what not until the official season begins March 18th!! I'm enjoying my time so far and think it will be a great season. Hopefully a few of my friends and family will be able to make the journey out here to visit at some point! That would really be awesome! There's so much to do here on the Westcoast of Australia and some absolutely beautiful beaches. We'll see as time goes on. Much Love to everyone and many blessings.
Remember life is good, but God is great!
Until tomorrow...
"Make it Happen"
Monday, 14 February 2011
Made it in safely!!
Well I've been here for almost a full week now and time is already flying by. I arrived last Tuesday after 29hrs a flights and layovers!! Coach Carl picked me up from the airport and brought me back to my new home for the season. I am staying with a host family for my time in Bunbury. They are the Donovan family, made up of Karen (mom), Russell (dad), James (5yr old son) and Alex (3yr old daughter). That's all of the family who lives here in teh house as well. Russell also has 3 other girls from his first marriage, but they don't live in this house. The Donovan family also hosts students from a foreign exchange program school in town, so at the moment there are 2 Swedish girls staying here as well with the family. They've been hosting people/students over the past 2 years and love doing it. My other American teammate Nick will be staying here too, once he gets in from Germany where he's playing now.
I got to meet most all of my teammates over the first few days as I had my first practice with the team last Thursday. Everything went well and the team looks pretty good. We are definitely young, but we have some good athletes and a few shooters as well. We'll just have to wait and see how the season progresses. All the guys are really cool though and I don't see any problems happening on or off the court between any of the guys, so that's good.
I've gotten to see most all of Bunbury as its not a huge town, but it is quite spread out. The beach is absolutely beautiful and is only 5 minutes down the road from my house.
My schedule will start to pick up pretty quickly as I'm doing 2 schools a week where I will do some coaching, we'll be practicing about 2-3 times a week, and I'll shortly be getting a little side job somewhere probably working about 15 hrs a week. So with all that going on my time will start to fly by. The season will roughly go until August, but could go into September if we can make it to the late rounds of the playoffs. So it's going to be a longggggggggggg season, but it looks as though it's going to be a lot of fun and hopefully some friends will be able to make the trip out to visit me at some point!!
I've already asked around about a good church to go too and there seems to be a pretty good variety of choices. I didn't get to go on Sunday because it was Bianca's 18th Bday breakfast and the whole family was here for that, so I figured I should probably be here as well to meet everyone (plus the the food was awesome!). Bianca is Russell's oldest girl. I'll be sure to get out next Sunday and give one of the church's a try.
Our first official game is on March 18th but we have a few "scratch matches" as they call them before that official start game. We play on the 27th of Feb against another club from the league that's only 20 mins away, so that will be a good game to see where exactly we're at and what things we need to change before we get the season kicked off. There's also a tournament the first weekend of March in Perth that the league hosts where we will get to play a few games over that weekend against some other clubs. So that will be fun to see all the teams there, but also good for us to get some more practice games in before the season starts.
As for now I'm just practicing 2-3 times a week with the team and coaching at 2 schools twice a week. I'll eventually get a job, but that's no rush for right now. I'll just be enjoying my free time while I have it! The weather out here is beautiful and usually in the 80's-90's but with an awesome breeze that helps keep things cool. The sun out here is vicious though and I've already gotten a little bit burned just from being outside without sun tan lotion on. You really have to put it on ANY time you go outside hahaha, I'll learn eventually!
I hope everyone back home is doing well and loving life! I wish only the best for everyone for 2011!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
I got to meet most all of my teammates over the first few days as I had my first practice with the team last Thursday. Everything went well and the team looks pretty good. We are definitely young, but we have some good athletes and a few shooters as well. We'll just have to wait and see how the season progresses. All the guys are really cool though and I don't see any problems happening on or off the court between any of the guys, so that's good.
I've gotten to see most all of Bunbury as its not a huge town, but it is quite spread out. The beach is absolutely beautiful and is only 5 minutes down the road from my house.
My schedule will start to pick up pretty quickly as I'm doing 2 schools a week where I will do some coaching, we'll be practicing about 2-3 times a week, and I'll shortly be getting a little side job somewhere probably working about 15 hrs a week. So with all that going on my time will start to fly by. The season will roughly go until August, but could go into September if we can make it to the late rounds of the playoffs. So it's going to be a longggggggggggg season, but it looks as though it's going to be a lot of fun and hopefully some friends will be able to make the trip out to visit me at some point!!
I've already asked around about a good church to go too and there seems to be a pretty good variety of choices. I didn't get to go on Sunday because it was Bianca's 18th Bday breakfast and the whole family was here for that, so I figured I should probably be here as well to meet everyone (plus the the food was awesome!). Bianca is Russell's oldest girl. I'll be sure to get out next Sunday and give one of the church's a try.
Our first official game is on March 18th but we have a few "scratch matches" as they call them before that official start game. We play on the 27th of Feb against another club from the league that's only 20 mins away, so that will be a good game to see where exactly we're at and what things we need to change before we get the season kicked off. There's also a tournament the first weekend of March in Perth that the league hosts where we will get to play a few games over that weekend against some other clubs. So that will be fun to see all the teams there, but also good for us to get some more practice games in before the season starts.
As for now I'm just practicing 2-3 times a week with the team and coaching at 2 schools twice a week. I'll eventually get a job, but that's no rush for right now. I'll just be enjoying my free time while I have it! The weather out here is beautiful and usually in the 80's-90's but with an awesome breeze that helps keep things cool. The sun out here is vicious though and I've already gotten a little bit burned just from being outside without sun tan lotion on. You really have to put it on ANY time you go outside hahaha, I'll learn eventually!
I hope everyone back home is doing well and loving life! I wish only the best for everyone for 2011!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
Friday, 4 February 2011
3 days and counting till takeoff...
Well its that time again... I was only home for around 1 1/2 months since I had left Darwin and already its time to take off for the next season. I'll be gone from February 6th until roughly around the end up July or possibly end of August/early September. It all depends on how our season goes and if we can make the playoffs or not. I personally want the season to go really well, BUT my brother is getting married on August 20th and I HAVE to be there!!!! So we'll see what happens...
I ended up signing with a team called the SouthWest Slammers that play in the SBL (State Basketball League) for the 2011 season. I signed with them in December when I got back from Darwin. The other club (the Eagles) that I was 99% close to signing with before I left Darwin had some minor issues that we couldn't agree with on the contract so I decided to look else where and ended up with the Slammers (in the same league). I am very excited about being with them and think we will have a good season with the right effort and attitude. They really struggled last season and finished in dead last with a record of 1-25... So anything more than 1 win will be a success for this season hahaha. The team is located in a town called Bunbury which is about 2 hours south of Perth (the main big city) in Western Australia. I will be staying with a host family set up by the club just like in Darwin, which is going to be awesome. Plus I'll still be on my work visa until late June so I will most likely have another side job as I am playing. That really helps with keeping me busy and not thinking about missing home. It's also a great way to meet new people and get out into the community.
I'm really excited for this new opportunity to continue playing and further my pro bball career. I've been training extremely hard since I've been back and am ready to have a big season! It's gonna be a long 6-7 months but that's the job for ya hahaha. Originally I was suppossed to be leaving on the 19th of February, but the team wanted me there as soon as I could make it out SOOOOOOO we changed the ticket to an earlier date. The season is creeping up around the corner and I understand that the more time I have with the team to mesh and bond, the better.
Since I've been home it's just been 24/7 bball for me. With workouts 5 days a week with personal trainers and getting shots up everyday with my buddy Chuck, I feel like I'm more ready than ever to rip this season up! It's been a blessing to be home for as long as I have been, even though it wasn't that long at all!!! It's been great to catch up with friends and family and see how everyones life is going for them. There are sooooo many exciting things going on in my family with new babies being born and weddings around the corner, it's always crazy to come back and hear all the news I've missed out on (even though I stay pretty up to date from my family with things).
I've had a blast being home and I'm going to miss everyone very much, but I love playing basketball and the traveling isn't that bad either :) ... besides this is what I do best! The longer I can put off the 9-5 job the better, at least that's what EVERYONE tells me lol. So until I "have" to start a "real" life I guess I'll just keep on trucking with hoops thing :)
Feel free to hit me up whenever. I have my own skype number 206-855-6868 or just to chat, my screename- Matthew Robert Smith. Email- bigsmith52@hotmail.com . And of course I'm on Facebook with all my new pictures and game updates.
I wish everyone a blessed 2011 and thank you for following me on my adventures of being overseas and playing the game I love!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
I ended up signing with a team called the SouthWest Slammers that play in the SBL (State Basketball League) for the 2011 season. I signed with them in December when I got back from Darwin. The other club (the Eagles) that I was 99% close to signing with before I left Darwin had some minor issues that we couldn't agree with on the contract so I decided to look else where and ended up with the Slammers (in the same league). I am very excited about being with them and think we will have a good season with the right effort and attitude. They really struggled last season and finished in dead last with a record of 1-25... So anything more than 1 win will be a success for this season hahaha. The team is located in a town called Bunbury which is about 2 hours south of Perth (the main big city) in Western Australia. I will be staying with a host family set up by the club just like in Darwin, which is going to be awesome. Plus I'll still be on my work visa until late June so I will most likely have another side job as I am playing. That really helps with keeping me busy and not thinking about missing home. It's also a great way to meet new people and get out into the community.
I'm really excited for this new opportunity to continue playing and further my pro bball career. I've been training extremely hard since I've been back and am ready to have a big season! It's gonna be a long 6-7 months but that's the job for ya hahaha. Originally I was suppossed to be leaving on the 19th of February, but the team wanted me there as soon as I could make it out SOOOOOOO we changed the ticket to an earlier date. The season is creeping up around the corner and I understand that the more time I have with the team to mesh and bond, the better.
Since I've been home it's just been 24/7 bball for me. With workouts 5 days a week with personal trainers and getting shots up everyday with my buddy Chuck, I feel like I'm more ready than ever to rip this season up! It's been a blessing to be home for as long as I have been, even though it wasn't that long at all!!! It's been great to catch up with friends and family and see how everyones life is going for them. There are sooooo many exciting things going on in my family with new babies being born and weddings around the corner, it's always crazy to come back and hear all the news I've missed out on (even though I stay pretty up to date from my family with things).
I've had a blast being home and I'm going to miss everyone very much, but I love playing basketball and the traveling isn't that bad either :) ... besides this is what I do best! The longer I can put off the 9-5 job the better, at least that's what EVERYONE tells me lol. So until I "have" to start a "real" life I guess I'll just keep on trucking with hoops thing :)
Feel free to hit me up whenever. I have my own skype number 206-855-6868 or just to chat, my screename- Matthew Robert Smith. Email- bigsmith52@hotmail.com . And of course I'm on Facebook with all my new pictures and game updates.
I wish everyone a blessed 2011 and thank you for following me on my adventures of being overseas and playing the game I love!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
Friday, 3 December 2010
Last day of work, last weekend in D-Town, 4 days left!
Hey Hey Hey...
Today is the 3rd of December out here and it's also my final day of working at the Casuarina All Sports Club! I'm excited but also sad at the same time (if that makes sense..??) haha. I've been blessed with my bartending job there and being able to meet all my co-workers as well as the "regulars" who I've come to know pretty well through many a poured beers. At the same time I'm happy to get back to my schedule of being in the gym 24/7 and on the bball grind without having to worry about working at all! Overall it's been a great place to work and I'm thankful for them taking me on as an employee the past few months.
That leads me into my U.G.L.Y. fundraising efforts that ended a few days ago. We had a huge raffle night last Friday and raised around $1,400!!! It was a fun night and we raffled off meat trays, ham, electronics, a keg and much more... I wasn't behind the bar at all that night, I was working the floor selling raffle tickets and making jokes! It was a ton of fun and everyone was very generous for some prizes but ultimately the foudation. After that night that brought our final total to around $3,400 for the whole month!!! Not bad at all when our original goal was just $1,000. The winners and prizes are awarded on Monday so we'll see how I stacked up against the rest of the NT. I'm happy with how everything turned out and feel lucky to have had the opportunity to help make an impact in peoples lives here in Darwin outside of basketball.
Our Eagles basketball club end of the season banquet went very well and we had a good time spending it with everyone from the club. Bobby and myself were also there for the youth banquet to help support the kids and mess around with them on the dance floor :)
-The Eagles mens senior team-
-Here's a picture of Reidy our President for the club-
After my last night of work tonight there won't really be much that I "have" to do haha. Saturday is the grand finals day for the youth teams as well as the senior squads so I will most likely be at the gym allllll day supporting some of our youth teams that made it to the Finals as well as to watch the finals mens game at night. Saturday night should be a fun one too because all of the teams will be out on the town since the season will officially be done and over with! So i'm looking forward to getting out on the town with all the fellas one last time, I'll definitely miss some of these guys out here for sure. I've had a great time while here in Darwin and wouldn't of change it for the world. I've met some great people and played some good bball, everything I wanted and more. I can only hope that Perth has just as much to offer me as Darwin has.... we'll see!
I think this will be my last post until I start up again in February when I'm over in Perth for the 2011 season with the East Perth Eagles! The paperwork is coming through today for me to sign and then all will be finalized!
I want to give a big shout out to everyone who reads my blog, I appreciate it. It definitely helps keep me busy and also helps me look back on the good times I've had while traveling the world playing ball. I also want to thank friends and family for another bball season of support through Skype and emails! If it wasn't for them I know I wouldn't be where I am today. Finally I gotta give all the props to God for blessing me with the ability to play this game and stay healthy and in shape. Hard work always pays off, remember that!!!
This is Big Matt signing off for the last time from Darwin 2010.....PEACE!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
Today is the 3rd of December out here and it's also my final day of working at the Casuarina All Sports Club! I'm excited but also sad at the same time (if that makes sense..??) haha. I've been blessed with my bartending job there and being able to meet all my co-workers as well as the "regulars" who I've come to know pretty well through many a poured beers. At the same time I'm happy to get back to my schedule of being in the gym 24/7 and on the bball grind without having to worry about working at all! Overall it's been a great place to work and I'm thankful for them taking me on as an employee the past few months.
That leads me into my U.G.L.Y. fundraising efforts that ended a few days ago. We had a huge raffle night last Friday and raised around $1,400!!! It was a fun night and we raffled off meat trays, ham, electronics, a keg and much more... I wasn't behind the bar at all that night, I was working the floor selling raffle tickets and making jokes! It was a ton of fun and everyone was very generous for some prizes but ultimately the foudation. After that night that brought our final total to around $3,400 for the whole month!!! Not bad at all when our original goal was just $1,000. The winners and prizes are awarded on Monday so we'll see how I stacked up against the rest of the NT. I'm happy with how everything turned out and feel lucky to have had the opportunity to help make an impact in peoples lives here in Darwin outside of basketball.
Our Eagles basketball club end of the season banquet went very well and we had a good time spending it with everyone from the club. Bobby and myself were also there for the youth banquet to help support the kids and mess around with them on the dance floor :)
-The Eagles mens senior team-
-Here's a picture of Reidy our President for the club-
After my last night of work tonight there won't really be much that I "have" to do haha. Saturday is the grand finals day for the youth teams as well as the senior squads so I will most likely be at the gym allllll day supporting some of our youth teams that made it to the Finals as well as to watch the finals mens game at night. Saturday night should be a fun one too because all of the teams will be out on the town since the season will officially be done and over with! So i'm looking forward to getting out on the town with all the fellas one last time, I'll definitely miss some of these guys out here for sure. I've had a great time while here in Darwin and wouldn't of change it for the world. I've met some great people and played some good bball, everything I wanted and more. I can only hope that Perth has just as much to offer me as Darwin has.... we'll see!
I think this will be my last post until I start up again in February when I'm over in Perth for the 2011 season with the East Perth Eagles! The paperwork is coming through today for me to sign and then all will be finalized!
I want to give a big shout out to everyone who reads my blog, I appreciate it. It definitely helps keep me busy and also helps me look back on the good times I've had while traveling the world playing ball. I also want to thank friends and family for another bball season of support through Skype and emails! If it wasn't for them I know I wouldn't be where I am today. Finally I gotta give all the props to God for blessing me with the ability to play this game and stay healthy and in shape. Hard work always pays off, remember that!!!
This is Big Matt signing off for the last time from Darwin 2010.....PEACE!
Until tomorrow...
"make it happen"
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