Bulk Update

Greetings everyone,

So it has been a while since I have been on this site. My apologies. But I was without Internet over the past 3 or 4 weeks, traveled a bunch and had my computer crash on me! The computer crashing was the biggest deal because it left me unable to get back into this site. There was a username issue (I couldn’t remember it b/c I was automatically signed in on my computer). In the end, the username ended up being incredibly simple, so simple that I should have known it (even though it wasn’t one that I made up). That being said, I will be sure to keep the updates coming from now on.

So let’s see…where did I leave things last time? Well, it seems that the last time I updated things was after the Galatasary game. But that was about a month ago! Time goes by quickly, especially, it seems, when you travel a bunch and move into an apartment in the process.

Well, after that game, I got injured again. I shouldn’t have played. It was too much too soon for me. We played Sunday night, traveled right after the game and all day Monday. Then practiced. Then played Tuesday night. Third quarter and I pulled my right adductor. Big bummer. It was harder still to accept because I knew my body needed to rest. I should have said something. But I live and learn.

After that, I played just a bit in our next game, scored two points on only 3 shots I believe. (You know I am hurt when I only take 3 shots!). But we got a good victory and I was able to get a few days rest. The next week we played the defending champs at our place and I didn’t play very well at all. Seven points on 2 for whatever shooting I believe. Felt terrible actually. Timing was off. Lacked confidence. Just didn’t do much to help the team. We then traveled to the Ukraine for a Eurocup game that I didn’t play in and returned home to play on Saturday in Istanbul against a team we are better than. But we lost. One of our guys got hurt in the first quarter. Another was in foul trouble. And our shooting guard was (and is) out with a back injury. We got blasted by 25 in fact. Not fun. However, I did start to feel like myself again and ended up with 20.

Finally, I just returned last night from Ankara. We played another very good team and came up short at the end. We were still missing two of our Americans, but our team played hard and quite well. I was proud to fight alongside of them and in the end, was praising God for the opportunity to compete. It is surely a blessing to be able to do so. I know it is what I was created to do. I played better and continue to get into better shape. I ended up with 20, but still missed a few shots I thought I should have made. But that, of course, is always the case.

Interestingly enough, we now prepare to play the same team we lost to yesterday on Saturday, but this time at home with one of our players returning. Also, we will be home all week (a wonderful blessing) as we are just getting settled into life here in Bandirma.

I think that about covers it all. It’s been an interesting month to say the least, but great lessons were learned through the ups and downs and I am sure that I will be better because of it. I am hopeful that I will also be able to say the same about our team. We have a big stretch of games coming up. For there are only 11 more games on the schedule and we are in the battle for the playoffs.

I’ll be sure to check back in soon. I will also be posting a few tips of the week this week. For I wrote down a bunch of ideas over the past few weeks!

Checking out for now,

Joe