Road Win

Last night we picked up a victory on the road against St. Vallier beating them 94-72 in a French Cup match-up. To refresh everyone’s memory about the French Cup – it is a tournament format that involves all the teams from each different level here in the country of France. There is five different levels  with Pro A being the highest followed by  Pro B and then there is National 1, National 2, and National 3 in their respective order. With that win we are now among 16 teams left competing for the French Cup trophy. Our next game is scheduled for March 15^th against another team from Pro B (Antibes).

More details about last night’s game – we jumped out to a fast start scoring 8 straight points before they scored a basket. From that point on we never looked back and built a 22 point halftime lead. The rest is history. I ended up playing 25 minutes, registering 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists. It was a good effort overall from the team but now we have to refocus for Saturday’s showdown with Orleans. This is a big match up for us because the winner of this game will qualify to play in the Semaine des As  – a mid season 4 day tournament that features the top 8 teams in the Pro A standing during the first half of the season. The tournament will take place February 10^th-13^th at a neutral location. There is a lot riding on this game for us and the challenge will be difficult as we are playing on the road this weekend. It’s a long travel weekend for us too. We will fly to Paris Friday morning and then take a couple of vans to Orleans – which is about an hour or two away. I know I’ll be ready because just thinking about this game is getting my blood pumping!  

This is all I have for now; I’ll be back on this weekend informing you all on how the game went. Enjoy the rest of your week, the weekend is almost here! As always – love, peace, and happiness. 

2 in a Row

Six days after a 19 points loss at Nancy, Gravelines came into our house and beat us 91-68 on France national television this past Friday night. Poor defense is the blame for this game. We couldn’t defend anything and allowed our opponent to shoot 54% from the floor including 40% from beyond the arc. We really let them have their way with us – they were more aggressive than us and did what they wanted to on the offensive end. Also it didn’t help that we were 27/77 from the floor – a whopping 35%. Our schemes and approach need to change or we need to find a better way to execute our game plan at a higher level. We need to be able to dictate the game from the start and force our opponent to play our style instead of us always playing catch up.

On a more personal note, I had a decent game. I had 18 points on 8/12 shooting from the floor to go along with 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and one steal in 27 minutes of action. The playing time has continued to improve which is good but if I want to keep seeing those minutes, I have to keep playing at a high level.  I should feel good about my game as I am getting back into the flow of everything but nothing feels good when the final result is a loss. The good thing is that we can forget about the loss and move ahead to our next game which will be tomorrow. This game will be a French Cup game and we will be playing against a team from Pro B (second division). This is a good chance for us to regroup and get a win.

This is all I have for now – I will update you all about the French Cup game. I hope this post find you all doing well.  As always – love, peace, and happiness! 

Road Test

This past weekend was a big game for us on the road as we matched up against one of the top teams in the league – Nancy. Unfortunately, we found ourselves on the losing side of the scoreboard 86-67. I have to give credit to Nancy for executing a great game plan. They forced us into playing at a faster tempo than we wanted to; that caused us to cough up a few extra turnovers and most importantly they beat us on the boards. There is no shame in losing to a team like Nancy but we had our chances to take the lead in the game but just couldn’t capitalize.

From an individual standpoint I played a decent game. I finished with 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, one block, and one steal in 20 minutes of action. The stats don’t speak much volume but I was very active out on the court and did a lot of things that didn’t show up in the stat sheet. I feel great playing again and the ankle feels great. Since I’ve been back playing I haven’t had any trouble with the ankle whatsoever (knock on wood). I have to give special thanks to Michelle – a certified athletic trainer in Fort Dodge, IA - for working with back me while I was back in the states. Her hard work has definitely paid off and she definitely made me a better athlete. I do look forward to working with her again in the future. In the meantime I will continue to work hard and improve my game and hopefully do great things this second half of the season.

This is all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing well back in the states. I will be more active and updating this blog more often. As always Love, Peace and Happiness.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s hoping your 2011 is off to a great start. We are back in France and I will return to the court tomorrow for a game against my old team Vichy. I will give an update after the game.

I think they call this venting...

This past week a lot of things have been going sideways. I’ve tried my best to balance out the lows but every corner I turn seems to bring me right back. Never felt so disrespected in my life – no need to go into further details. This post alone will be mine forever to serve as a reminder that life is a constant battle. I’m sure you feel my pain, we’ve all been there before. I just try my hardest to turn the page and go about my business as if none of this bullshit existed.

Through all the stress and pain, GOD managed to shine his light upon us. A few hours from now my wife and I will be boarding a plane heading back to the states – a place where we can ease our mind because there is no place like home. No need to worry, no cut has been made by the team if that is what you’re thinking, we are just coming home so I can work with my physical therapist. Home is just the best place for me to begin my rehab and for us to escape this place…

More great news is that we saw the baby again this past Wednesday. The ultrasound was just amazing, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We were fortunate enough to experience what we did at the doctor office. We could see everything about our baby, the heart, eyes, brain, nose, we even saw the baby’s bladder. We even know the exact measurement of our baby’s legs, feet, hands. Man it was just unreal. The baby is continuing to grow healthy which is always refreshing news for us. Jennifer is in great health as well.

This is all, I will be sure to keep you all posted on my progress with the rehab. As always love, peace, and happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving

Life's Greatest Gift...

A few months from now GOD will be providing my wife and I with life’s greatest gift – the birth of a new child. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about this process. With this child entering my life, I feel like I have developed a whole world of new feelings deep within me. Of course like any prospective father, I had my share of fears, worries, and concerns but with my wife by my side, I have no worries. She is the best teammate I could ever ask for. I thank her every day for the sacrifices she making to make all this possible.

Today Jen is 20 weeks, making us halfway through the process (140 days to go) – the due date is set for April 7. We’d decided to have the baby here in France. With the help from one of my teammates, we were able to find a doctor who will deliver the baby for us. After visiting with the doctor twice, we feel comfortable with him even though he does not speak much English but the nurses/midwives do. To help cope with the language barrier, one of the ladies who works for the team has been coming with us to our appointments as our translator. I must say she has been very helpful throughout this whole process so far.

The baby is growing well which is always refreshing news – 3 ultrasounds have already been done. Basically every time we visit our doctor he will do an ultrasound. In addition to that, we have 3 separate in depth ultrasounds done at a different location during week 14, 22, and 32 – these ultrasounds provide us with the measurement of the baby. Our next ultrasound for week 22 is schedule for Dec. 1st. This will be the first time we can learn the sex of the baby but we have chosen not to find out the sex; to instead be surprised at birth (that may change). All we pray for is a healthy baby come April 7.

We thank everyone for all of the well-wishes and for the prayers that have no doubt been helping. This journey is amazing and we feel very blessed. Have a great weekend everyone…until next time…love, peace, and happiness!