Championship Time - The final test!

Preseason

I won't lie to you.. it's been a long year.  The journey to this point has been full of ups and downs, starting with the first curve ball thrown back in July, when I didn't know if I was going to find a team for this season.  Low and behold, just as I was about to lose all hope on playing overseas again, an email from my agents finally came through giving me some good news - Osnabrück wanted me, and on a plane as soon as possible.  Sorry what?  As soon as possible!?  Yet, when an opportunity comes your way, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and hope you're landing in nice, soft pillows and not sharp, pokey nails.  So, the next thing I knew, five days later I was leaving my job in San Diego with basketball shoes in hand and on a flight out to Germany.

Bye fun summer job making sure kids don't run away at the beach, hello 15 hour flight, new apartment, and preseason training.

From there, I unpacked my bags and settled into a month of preseason two a day training.  It wasn't so bad, but I was doing a lot of laundry... Our full team wasn't quite with us at this point, only the dedicated (the ones who still weren't on summer vacation).  But by the time our camp in Berlin rolled around at the end of August, we had our full squad and our American point guard, Angela Pace, on her way - AFTER she missed her first flight!! (Knowing Ang now, this doesn't surprise me)

The Berlin camp was awesome - well maybe not so much for Ang, who was a little out of shape and jet lagged.  However, naturally in the spirit of sympathy for my fellow American, I caught a terrible cold.  As you can well imagine, it is never fun being sick on the road - especially for your hotel roommate who secretly hopes they can sleep in a plastic bubble away from you.  It knocked me out for a good day and a half, but I wasn't going to let it keep me down and from experiencing a city with so much history!  *Pushes up nerd glasses* Plus, someone on our team had to be enthusiastic about doing a little preliminary research about all the cool things we were going to see.

Season

September was rather eventful, as we scrimmaged several first divison teams including Herne (who we would later face in the Final Four), Oberhausen (who ended up moving down this year), and Rotenburg (who ended up getting third place).  Apparently, this prepared us well for our first league test, as we blew our first opponent - Opladen - out of the water by 30 points.  We continued on our winning streak, but our margins of victory were getting smaller and smaller as the season progressed.  Finally, we were to play at the home of the ever-intimidating Göttingen Veilchen (flowers).  The game was very back and forth, but the flowers ended up getting the best of us and handing us our first loss going into Christmas break.

The second half of the season we lost two of our German posts and added Canadian import, Emma Dunkier.  This definitely changed the dynamic of our team, as you can only play 2 imports on the court at a time.  I was then moved from the guard to the post, which I secretly shed a few tears about as it was the first time in my career where I could play a true 3.  Then again, the 4 isn't a bad position either :)

Our first game back was against Pokal (cup game) competition - Heidelberg, who I played against last year in the DBBL 2nd League South.  We beat them at home, earning us a spot in the Final Four, which is quite the feat for a second league team!  It would be like a mid-major D1 school that you've never heard of making it to the Final Four for NCAA college basketball. The Final Four was to be hosted the last weekend in March, so until then we had quite a bit of league competition to be played.  Rounding out the second half of season we suffered a bad upset loss against a small farm town team by the name of Grünberg, lost once again to our flowery nemesis Göttingen, and an unexpected loss to Opladen at their gym.  This left our record going into play-offs at a solid, yet unexceptional, 18-4.

Top Four

Before we got serious in play-offs, we got to have a little fun in Germany's Final (Top) Four.  Our first opponent was Rhein-Main Baskets, an gritty first league team who is known for playing as a team rather than relying on the talent of their foreigners.  With the odds against us, we battled possession for possession with Rhein-Main until the second quarter when they literally could not miss and rained the threes down against us.  That dug us into a 20 point lead that we could not overcome, and a deficit we eventually lost by.  The next night we played the #2 team in Germany, Herne, who had talent at strength at every position.  We mustered every ounce of heart that we could compete with and made it a game until the very end, until one of their players hit three big threes to put them up by 8 as the buzzer rang.

Play-Offs

In the second league, only four teams make it to play-offs.  We took first place in the league so we were matched against 4th place Opladen, who narrowly edged out TG Neuss for that last spot.  On the other side, the flowers played the Wolfenbüttel Wolfpack, who was a strong opponent all season.  They battled it out for three games and Göttingen ended up taking the series as we sort of..well..rolled over Opladen in two games.

This takes us to the present, where we hosted Göttingen last Sunday at home for the first round of a best-of-three championship series.  The game got out to a shockingly terrible start, leaving the score at the end of the first quarter 9-25 with most of the team wondering who just played that first quarter, because it sure as heck wasn't us!  Anyway, it happens, and once you dig yourself that deep of a hole it's very difficult to see the light again... regardless of the odds, we battled back to within 2 by the end of the game and hope for an epic comeback win was glimmering in our sights.  But Göttingen is a strong team, and they weren't about to go home empty handed when they had come so far, and as you may have guessed (since we are about to play our third and final game) they clinched the first win of the series on our court.

We had no other choice but to review the film and analyze what went so terribly wrong.  In the end it really came down to lack of aggression in that first quarter - the aggressor ALWAYS wins.  So here we are, warming up for our second game in Göttingen (this past Saturday), thinking it could quite possibly be our last game together if we don't bounce back.  Fans wearing purple and white started pouring into the gym, and our little fan section wearing white, black, and red pounded the drums in the corner of the gym by our bench.  Their fans lined literally every side of the court and there wasn't a seat left open in the gym.

Do or Die

From beginning to end, the game was the most physical we had played all year, and it felt like at times the refs should of taken a mini time out to relook up the rules on fouling.  Both teams started out slow, letting defense set the tone of the game with the first quarter ending at 16-12 (rather low scoring for such a high stakes game), but then again, defense is what wins is it not?  The second quarter we charged at them, winning it 8-18 putting us up by 6 (24-30) going into half time.  Our momentum carried us into the third, and we won that quarter 12-17, extending our lead to 11.  But, with the thought of not being able to cut down their own nets, pop the bottles of champagne they had waiting in their lockerroom, and of letting down their numerous flower fans in the stands, Göttingen clawed their way back into the game sinking their only 3 three pointers of the game in the 4th quarter.  Our offensive spark had somehow completely run out, and we scored a meager 3 points the ENTIRE quarter up until the last 3.7 seconds of the game... when our center, who hadn't scored a bucket all game, sank a fade-away shot off the extended block to put us up by 1 point as time expired.

What goes through your mind in that moment?
The second the ball is in the air and headed toward the basket, you stop breathing...
...you might as well be sitting on the sidelines as a fan because you don't move anything but your head and eyes as they follow the ball...
....it hits the backboard and for a split second you think I need to try and rebound this if it bounces the wrong way...
...but you're paralyzed in whatever position you were in because you know this is the last chance...
...then it bounces once or twice, it's hard to say, around the rim...
...then through the net and a second of shock is quickly erased by pure abandon and triumph as the gym falls utterly silent and you sprint down the court with your arms gloriously thrown in the air as the final buzzer rings.

The Last Test

We were alive.  And we are still alive!  Saturday is our final test against our arch nemesis (title earned over time).  No one remembers second place, and second place gets stuck in the second league, so there is a lot on the line and the stakes as high as ever.  If it so happens that you've made it this far in reading this long blog post, you may be interested in watching the live stats (there unfortunately won't be a live stream) for the game at 9am West Coast time (8am Alaska time) at www.dbbl.de.  As they say in Germany, "Drucken die Daumen!" or push your thumbs up! :)

Giving Back

I used to think the three community service projects we had to do in college were while, worthy of our time, also a nuisance to plan and commit three or four precious weekend hours to (and believe me when you're a college athlete you cherish any free time you get).  I know, what a ridiculous thing, but when you're 20 you are unfortunately more self-focused than anything.  But looking back  now I wish we had done more!  Who would think that something as simple as putting a ball through a net could impact a community so positively.  While the adults are cheering for you, the kids are wishing to someday be like you.  I never truly realized how special that was until my senior year of college when our coach (current head coach of UAA, Ryan McCarthy) emphasized the importance of giving back by having us think back to when we were 8 years old and how awesome it was to have a visit from someone other than our mom.

I've found it doesn't matter what part of the world you are in either, if you do something that people pay money to come see, then you are a role model, and with that comes great responsibility.  After representing the club or organization you are apart of to the best of your ability, there is also an unspoken obligation to give back.  Here in Germany, about every three weeks we go visit a couple of schools and play basketball games with the kids.  Contrary to the U.S., many of the kids don't even know how many players are on the court at a time in basketball, so it's just as much of a promotional gig for the Panthers as it is for the sport in general.  Nonetheless, they are fascinated by "the Americans".  The fact that I come from Alaska usually gets a couple of "woaahhhh"'s, but when my roommate who is from New York is announced she gets "WOAAAHHHH!!!"'s.  What's so special about a state that is associated with a piece of fruit anyway, we have polar bears!

To conclude, the moral of my short story is: volunteer!  Giving back is a win-win for everyone.  The recipients get the result of someone's unselfishness, which could be anything from soup to reading to the elderly to promoting sports and activity in school.  The giver gets the priceless gift of gratitude, which for me anyway, puts a smile on my face the rest of the day.

AmsterDaaayymm

I say Amsterdam, you say...

Weed?  Drugs? Prostitutes? Red Light District?

Maybe this was just my perception of Amsterdam, but it is in fact a very lovely and charming city.  On top of this, it's an architectural and civil engineering achievement that would make any college professor drool.





















While it is true that anything goes in Amsterdam, it's centuries old, culturally tolerant and accepting society is unlike any other.  Being here was almost just as much a lesson in parenting as in European history.  I know what you're thinking - parenting? what the heck is she talking about?  To me, the city seemed so normal despite knowing that the Coffee Shops weren't just for drinking some espresso, a whole few blocks of the city is a major sex industry, and LED display boards light up across town reading "Caution, Ignore Street Dealers, White Heroin Sold as Cocaine, 3 Tourists Have Died".  And with all this in mind; it was not dirty, there were no signs of crime, and nobody was walking around incoherently high or drunk.

A pair of locked up bikes. We were nearly hit in the narrow streets by a dozen of the ones that weren't unlocked!

And yes I can't say that I wandered the streets of the Red Light District during the wee hours of the night, so my previous statement may be inaccurate at some times, but I would think that the majority of cities have their share of night-life problems.  Where would Amsterdam rank?  According to a data summary by The Guardian news, as far as deadliest cities go, Amsterdam falls down into the middle of the pack with many cities in the Americas being 10-40x more dangerous (based on homicide rates).  So what does this have to do with parenting again?  Well, I couldn't help but think about Amsterdam as that kid in school who's parents lay down some basic guidelines, but make typically "forbidden" things more accessible, and therefore, less desirable as less opportunity is created for rebellious behavior.

Parents: "Come on Ams!  Come have a few drinks with us."  (16 year old Ams proceeds to have one too many with his parents and discovers his drinking limits the hard way.  He throws up under his own roof with his parents chuckling next door and lays in bed the next day with a gnarly hangover.. Ams is much wiser in the future and less pressured in peer situations, and proceeds in life with overall responsible decision-making)

A palace..no wait...a train station?? 

Now we all know about U.S. regulations, federal and state law, this rule, that rule, blah blah blah... A U.S. city, Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania for example, is like the kid in school who gets out of mom's minivan in the morning with a lunch packed with love and good intentions.  This straight A honor student, key club member, and class secretary doesn't stray from the rules all through adolescence under the watchful and strict eye of their parents until the freedom of college is reached and party chaos ensues.

Parents: "Harri, you must get good grades, not succumb to peer pressure, drink until 21, and be home by 11 sharp." (18 year old Harri goes to college and realizes no one can tell him what to do anymore and gets in multiple bad situations from poor decision-making)

While I went off on a huge tangent from the awesomeness of Amsterdam, the point of my Harri & Ams story is how surprisingly charming a kid/city with a "bad" rep can be and how even your most regulated of Townsvilles can't stop dangerous, irresponsible, and illegal behavior.

Westerkerk (Kerk = church) 100m from the Anne Frank House. 

Anyway, enough talk about parenting.  Everyone has their opinions on how to properly raise a child, and I am no where close so time to move on to more present, Amsterdamly matters!

Walking through Amsterdam you would  never begin to think that this large scale city was built on an entirely artificial foundation.  Much like Venice was built into a lagoon, Amsterdam was built on top of marshy swampland.  It's name reflects this as Amstel is the river that flows into the city and Dam indicates just that, a dyke or dam to hold back the sea.  Before driving the pilings for the foundation of the city, the marshland first had to be drained into a semi-circular canal, which today is known as the Singel Canal.  Not only was it used for engineering purposes, it was also used for defense (think giant moat) against attackers and ferocious, man-eating squid.  Okay, okay not the squid.

A beautiful Amsterdam neighborhood on the Singel Canal. 

Amsterdam joined the Hanseatic League in 1369, which back then was like being a shareholder in Google, so naturally with time the city grew rich and expanded beyond the Singel.  They couldn't very well build on the marshland yet, so they had to construct several more canals to drain the ground and pile on the pilings.  Eventually what was created was a ring of canals, which today is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

Castle-ish building near the Red Light District. 

More has come out of Amsterdam than just it's illicit drugs (I forgot to mention in my parenting rampage that, unsurprisingly, Amsterdam is Europe's major producer of ecstasy, illicit amphetamines, and other synthetic drugs).  Famous individuals such as Anne Frank, Van Gogh, Rembrant, Abel Tasman (discovered Tasmania), Daniel Fahrenheit, and Gerard Heineken (yes the beer) have also had the pleasure of claiming Amsterdam as home. 

Directions to several notable sites.  Yes you read the middle one right, and
though it may have a funny name, it was built way back in 1987 to commemorate
gay men and women who were the subject of persecution because of their
sexuality.  Just another example the amazingly accepting and tolerant
Amsterdam culture.  

The National Monument built to commemorate the fallen soldiers of WWII.  

 As you could imagine, the work of draining the land and then building on top of pilings must of been incredibly tedious, the Palace alone required ~1,600 of them, but it really paid off for the Dutch as Amsterdam became the capital of Europe's economy with a per capita income 4x that of Paris.  Not only that, but urban cities began to model themselves after the flourishing Amsterdam.  

Our day in the city was nothing short of ordinarily spectacular.  We first found free parking in the most expensive district (the Jordaan) in the city.  Then we walked along the canals while avoiding speeding bikers and ran into the Anne Frank House and Westerkerk, which were to be visited later in the evening when there was NO line.  Next we veered out of the Jordaan district and into the heart of the city where we saw the once nominated 8th wonder of the world Palais (palace), National Monument, and flock of pigeons. Feeling a little hungry we searched for food, mind you there was literally every type of world cuisine available and discovered the sweetest (ha!) little waffle shop and opted to have healthy Dutch waffle lunch - yaaammm, full of vitamins.  

We continued to walk around the city, waiting for something exciting to catch our attention since it was nearing dark, but the only strange thing we saw was my purse trying to strangle me as I took photos at unflattering angles.  As the sun was setting over the canals, we finally went and warmed up and ate some real food then ventured briefly through the Red Light District and then back out into the cold towards Anne Frank's house.  We left the Anne Frank house a little disheartened... humbled by her tragedy... but disheartened by the fact that the city has turned one of the most well known self-documented experiences of the Holocaust into a profit making little machine.  I am willing to bet that the 9 Euro they charge for entry is far more than is required for the type of museum it is and that all members of the Secret Annex would be flattered at the number of people who care to see the place they fought to survive in, but shocked at the changes made to the building and money being made off of their suffering.  

Anyway, that's enough of my opinions for one day.. till next time!

Palace of Amsterdam peaking between two buildings.

Tot ziens!

Sorry Blog, I Hope You're Alwrite

Poor neglected empty, white space on my screen that is my next blog entry.  I'm sorry I've forgotten about you, it won't happen again, I promise.

Onwards!  Hello 2015, what will you have in store for all of us this year?!  I'm excited by the possibilities, ready for the hardships, nervous for the unknown and unexpected, but wanting to embrace this year like no other year before it.  Maybe there's something about the exploding of fireworks, drunken toasting, and company of good people that makes us want to set all these new goals and resolutions for life improvement that eventually fizzles out just as fast as the fireworks... but I think our intentions are good.  My goals for the new year are no more profound than my goals for last month, but if there's one goal you can't set at any other time, it's to make this year yours and live for the moments.  Whether that means making the extra effort to take the little people in your life for an afternoon at the park, to star gaze on a clear night with someone special, to cook a nice meal for friends, or even to just frame and hang up that darn picture you've been meaning to get on the wall, just do it.  Don't wait for another day.  Do it now!

Pour Me Some More Coffee

Alright moment of vanity and bossiness over.  I have exciting news on two types of levels.  The first is personal (vanity aside), I've been lucky enough to sign a contract to play in Australia this summer with my former teammate and very bestest of friends, Sid, for the Logan City Thunder!  That's basically right on Brisbane for those of you unfamiliar with the geography of down undah.  The second bit of exciting news is that the Panthers will be moving on to the Final Four of Deutschland!  Sounds lovely I know, but what does it mean?  Remember those Pokal (Cup) games I've been droning on about in the last few blogs.  Well we've survived another round, defeating Heidelberg (a team I played against last year in the Southern League) and earning a spot amongst three first division teams who have also left a trail of defeated opponents behind. 

Pre-game introductions.

Team huddle before tip-off against Heidelberg.

Some advice from Ang.

Ang driving to the hoop.

 --------------------------------------------------

Final Four

Wasserburg Lions

Herne 

Osnabrück Panthers

Rhein-Main Baskets 

The location at this point is unknown, but we are hoping it will be nearby (Herne is only an hour away) so we can bring fans and not make the 8 hour drive to Wasserburg or the 4 hour drive to Rhein-Main!  We are the only second league team left, so anything to our advantage would be a great help.  The Final Four will be played the second to last week of March and we will compete back to back on Saturday and then Sunday to place and hopefully join the ranks among David's who have beat Goliaths! 

An Athlete's Confidence

Bigger, faster, stronger! Who hasn't sized up an athlete based on these physical qualities?

What many overlook, is how fundamentally important the mental aspect of the game is.  It can make or break you as far as long-term success, or even day to day success.  Surprisingly, your mind is something you can train, just like your body.  No, no don't picture your cerebrum doing push-ups.. Training your mind comes down to a lot more than doing Sudoku and Crosswords.. it can be complex, but also as simple as repetition.

Technically, it's not what you do that makes you who are.  It boils down to our perceptions, which shape our thoughts, which shape our beliefs, which ultimately translate into our actions.  Realizing how you perceive yourself, those around you, your environment, and obstacles (whether those be the hurdles of daily life or the mountains we seek to climb to achieve a goal), can really impact a person's happiness and success... and for an athlete, their performance.

Think about it.

Some of the greatest athletes have been no bigger, faster, or stronger than the rest.  They simply believed they have something those athletes don't, whether that be grit, heart, preparation, passion, etc., they believe in what they are made of.  As sports psychologist Gary Mack puts it, "they believe in their 'stuff'."

Talent aside; if you believe in the right things, then you have potential.  If you then do the right things, you will be successful. 

Take for example Tyler Hansbrough.  Not only is this one good-looking guy, he was also one of my idols growing up watching college basketball.  He holds a series of accolades from his days at the University of North Carolina, including National Player of the Year with the retirement of his jersey, which now waves triumphantly up in the rafters at the Tar Heels stadium.  What earned him these things (not to mention kick ass bragging rights) though, was not the size of his talent, but how much harder he worked than his more talented competitors.  When the camera would zoom in on his face as he shot at the free throw line, you would of thought there wasn't enough air in the gym.  And no, he definitely was NOT out of shape, but he worked as hard as he possibly could..every..single..game.  He believed that his preparation, hard work, and heart could match up against anyone, which ultimately allowed him to have an outstanding college career and a National Championship his senior year.

The best athletes gain confidence from preparation so that a few early mistakes won't take them out of the game.

We can all hope for the best, but seldom does anything go just how we would like it to.  That's where the crucial task of planning and preparing comes in.  What many fans don't realize is how much preparation actually occurs before the ball is tossed into the air on game day.  

"Practice" is more than just doing drills for 2 hours... it's breaking down an opponents offense and how to defend it, it's learning how to properly box out and gain position for a rebound,  it's teaching people how to move and work together in a zone defense, and so much more. There's more to sports than that stereotypical meathead, Letterman-jacket wearing jock that used to bully the puny nerd in the hallways in high school.  There's a rhyme and reason behind the players who are running up and down the court, and oftentimes it comes from the coach's office as s/he breaks down film, analyzing what their team could do better and how the opposing team works then translating that into the practice plans for the week.  The infamous John Wooden was well-known for his preparation and attention to detail, all the way down to making sure your socks were properly put on to prevent blisters.  He earned so much respect in his lifetime and is so often quoted that the things he would say are now referred to as "Woodenisms".

Woodenism at it's finest:

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out." 

The best athletes, and all successful people for that matter, chase their dreams relentlessly. 

My amazing friend Torle joined the Peace Corp this past summer.  She is a rising star in the world of unsung heroes because she has believed in the beauty of her dreams through all the trials and tribulations that have tried to stand in her way.

I hope she doesn't mind me sharing the Cliffnotes version of her incredible story, but her and her family came to the United States when she was only 10 years old.  She worked to learn a new language and culture and eventually found herself pursuing college athletics at the University of Alaska Anchorage, with - you guessed it - this girl.  There I watched her silently struggle through the brutality of our coaches and the major set back of a torn ACL and meniscus.

All of that said, what amazes me most about Torle's story, is that through all the adversity she remained true to herself and always remembered what she was working for, which was not just to bring pride to her family by being the first to graduate from college, but to be back in Nigeria giving back to her people.  Her ultimate dream is to work for the United Nations and now she still relentlessly works towards that goal and is making a difference in Lesotho (South Africa) today.

Torle, if you're reading this, you're one of my heroes :) and I'm proud of you!

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."  - Eleanor Roosevelt 

Panther Update

In other news, we have narrowly won our last two games against Hannover and Wuppertal.  The league is shaping up, and it looks like their are a strong 8-10 teams that can compete with anyone.  Last year in the Bundesliga South, there were probably about 5 top teams and the rest weren't anywhere close.  Now we are battling to hold our first place spot, which we recently got knocked off from after our loss to Göttingen.  But, the heart of our team is strong and we are all working daily to pursue our one common goal: to be the best in the league! 

Last week, we also received our draw for the next Pokal game.  Turns out we will be playing (drum roll pleassseeeeee) HANNOVER! Again.  This time at their place on December 6th.  Our next game features Phoenix Hagen at home, who we beat earlier this season in our first Pokal game.  To see how the league is shaping up, click on this link! 

http://www.dbbl.de/de/meisterschaft/2-bundesliga-nord

Ball is in the Air

The leaves are starting to fall off the trees, the mornings feel a bit more crisp, and the season has gotten underway.  We've jumped out to a 3-0 start to our season, amassing a total of 93 points (double that of second place) to decisively take first place.  What points you say?  Well over here it's not just the W that matters, it can also come down to how many points you won or lost by (when taking into consideration league rankings).  Our first game of the season kicked off at home against Opladen, who we defeated by about 30 points.  Then we made the 5 hour road trip to Berlin (incidentally where the Spurs were playing later that week) and won by around 40 points.  Somewhere in between there, we also took down our first Pokal opponent, an in-league team by the name of Hagen.

Wondering what the Pokal is?  Pokal basically means "Cup Games", so think the World Cup or any other series.  I like to compare it to an extended NCAA tournament where you play to win and knock off teams throughout all of Germany.  The games are quite spread out throughout the year though, so if you continue to win you could be looking at more games in your schedule and less time on the weekends for Bier and Bratwurst competitions.  Our next game for the cup will be against another Osnabrück club, which is actually quite a lucky draw because they are a league lower than us and we don't have to take any long trips anywhere!

In other news, the weather is getting colder, my elderly neighbors are very rude, and I've lost hope on my game faces ever improving (those pictures will be conveniently left out of this blog).  Our next game is this weekend against Göttingen, who by the sounds of it should be a tough opponent.

All the best :) and bundle up!

Game Time

A long seven week preseason is finally coming to an end on Sunday with our first game against Opladen on our home court.  We've played four preseason exhibition games against first league competition, finding ourselves outmatched at nearly every position each time, but still fighting and never letting the odds best our minds.

A huge difference between European basketball and basketball in the states is the age range you can have on your team.  Some of our players are older than the coaches, some players are coaches, some are looking into colleges in the states next year, some do this after work, and some do this for work.  This is primarily due to the club format, where many of the Germans grow up in their town/city's club and play there from their youth well into their adult years.  Sometimes clubs lose players who go to the states to play in college and or who pack their bags and move towns to play for different clubs.  But, there are some who cherish their club and have pride in it as many of my teammates do.  In fact, we have a mom and daughter on our team (#14 and #8) who get to experience something very rare in the world of sports, playing with each other.  Good thing they don't play at the same position because  they are both extremely competitive, which could make things awkward at the dinner table.

Our team has several young, talented players, who sometimes I want to yell at for making rookie mistakes until I remember, oh yeah.. they are as old as my sister and haven't been playing as long as I have.  Then, we have four 20 year olds followed by our more seasoned players, who are 27, 28, 31, and 42 years old... and me, smack dab in the middle of the youth and the veterans at 24.  This combination makes for an interesting dynamic at times, but to me it just seems like we are one big estranged family reunited by basketball.

Introducing: the Dynamic Mom/Daughter -Duo!  Anna is only 17 and comes up to my shoulder, but she's an exact replica of her mom's toughness.  She went up against ex-Division 1 point guards the past few games without complaint and worked her butt off to take care of the ball and play defense.  Her mom, is the best rebounder on the team (yes I'll swallow my pride on this one, she even beats me out), and battles every game in all the toughness areas.  For 42 years old she is very fit and also gave ex-Division 1 small forwards a run for their money in the paint.

You may have noticed that the floor we are playing on in the pictures isn't an odd blue rubber like the one last year at Viernheim.  One thing I haven't been a fan of here in Germany are the rubber-floors as they are less forgiving than hardwood. By the end of last year I could definitely feel the impact they had on my feet, ankles, shins and knees.  Luckily, the club here in Osnabrück has two gyms with wooden floors, which isn't too common for the second league.  Only one team in the second league south had a wood floor last year, and that was Bad Aibling, who ended up winning the championship and moving up to the first league where wood floors are required anyway.  On the opposite end, last season Osnabrück struggled and found themselves battling to stay in the first league at the end of the season with Nördlingen (coincidentally Sid's current club and also the club of one of my former opponents in college from Simon Fraiser).  Therefore, we have a wood floor left over from their many years playing in the first league and we obviously hope to move back up at the end of this year.

Coming Sunday it will be back to the hardwood here in Osnabrück as we take on second division opponent Opladen in our season opening game!  I'm excited to see what our 7 weeks of hard work and preparation will amount to when we take on "someone our own size".  To see more about the team check out our website:

http://www.girolive-panthers.de/

...and as always, thank you for your support :) and all the best from Germany!