Here we go again...

I'm back in England playing basketball for another season. That is such a simple statement but the road to making that a complete truthful sentence was quite a long and bumpy one full of u-turns and detours. Nonetheless, I'm back!!

I arrived back in London on December 31st, (New Years Eve and also my moms birthday) after a 10 hour flight. It wasnt all that bad, I just didnt sleep which is unusual because after backpacking for 7 weeks last summer in Europe I was convinced I had narcoleptic tendencies.

Well I got here and was greeted by one of my teammates Ruth and my coach Terry who immediately asked me if I had lost weight. I didnt think I had, but that question was like a late Christmas present after I felt like I had stuffed my face all holiday season!!

I took a quick power nap and after a steady flow of Red Bull was ready to bring in the New Year in Greenwich mean time!! We went into the city and ended up battling the crowds to get down to the banks of the River Thames to watch the fireworks go off above the London Eye, think glorified ferris wheel, and Parliment Building. Well it was a little too cloudy to see the actual fireworks but it was a nice setting. Okay, horray New Year!! But I was knackered (english for tired), so we embarked on the journey back home which on a normal day would have taken about 15 minutes. New Years however, was a whole new ballgame. With all the police barracades it actually ended up taking a solid 2.5 hours- no joke!! I guess the most shocking thing about that night was not the volume of people but the volume of rubbish (garbage). If you have ever been to London you might have noticed that finding a garbage can is pretty close to impossible. The ones you do find are usually clear a skeleton of a can so you can see everything that is inside. Well, I was told that this was because of the bombs planted throughtout the city by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in the 70's 80's and 90's. As a result most garbage cans were removed which makes for a messy New Years Eve!!

Well, that week we had training where I was introduced to my teammates. The majority of them are from last year but a few are new. My team is probably the most diverse team in the entire league. We have 4 English girls, 2 Brazilian, 1 French, 1 Spanish, 1 Italian, 1 Scottish girl and me, the sole American. Communication on the court can be hard, but off the court it usually provides hours of comical entertainment with mispronunciations and word usage issues...

The first week back we played Manchester, the team my mate Megan plays for, although she didnt play because of an injury. We won- it was really close. I played pretty well for my first game back, but still got to shake the game rust...

That 2nd week I kind of went homeless and I stayed with 4 different people in the course of a week. There were some ususual circumstances, but I now have a place I can stay in (dont worry mom!) until I move into a new flat with Lucy and Patricia (Brazilians) on the 24th of January. The club has tried a variety of diffent housing ideas for me, but sometimes things don't exactly pan out for whatever reason. Bottom line, I have realized that being able to unpack is one of the most under rated things I've just taken for granted in the past.



I'm going to just fast forward to the last 3 games in which we are 0-3. Mind you we played the #3 team in the league 2x and the #2 team 1x but regardless, we still lost. This is a rough little patch for our team, but I think this is where I have evolved as a basketball player and more importantly as a person. When I was in college after we lost (which seeemed to happen a lot more than we won) I was absolutely pissed after a game for about 3 days. I always felt personally responsible and that by me denying myself fun or happiness that it somehow made the situation better. Um, not anymore. Oh I'm pissed , but after a quality shower and something to eat after the game I'm over it. Dont get me wrong, losing sucks and it still bothers me, but I think I've learned to compartmentalize that feeling and use it for basketball motivation only. After all, my life is pretty good!!