My Journey

Hello everyone - I was reminiscing about my past experiences with basketball and how I have gotten to where I am today. I must say that I am greatly blessed and very thankful for everything that has happened in my life thus far. I truly do feel like I am one of the luckiest guys around. My whole basketball career has been amazingly fun. Basketball has provided me the chance to create numerous opportunities for myself. Because of basketball I have my degree; I have the chance to travel the world; I created friendships that will last a lifetime; and I found the love of my life.

I want to take everyone back to where it all started, where my story began. Growing up, my family didn’t have a whole lot but two things we had for sure were each other and basketball. Basketball was an outlet for my brothers and I (all 5 of us); a chance to do something positive with ourselves and stay out of trouble. Well sometimes basketball got us into trouble with my mom because we stayed out past our curfew playing outside in the dark well after the sun had set. I can still hear my mom screaming for us to get in the house :) In high school I was fortunate enough to have played alongside my brothers Jason and Michael. During that time we racked up numerous wins, individual awards, broke records, and won a state championship together. With all the success we had in high school, I still found myself with very limited options to pursue basketball at the college level. Even with all the exposure I got from my AAU team, I still couldn’t attract a scholarship offer from the basketball world. It’s every kids dream to become a Division I athlete and play on the big stage. I so desperately wanted that for myself so I decided to turn to football. There were still no scholarship offers from any Division I football programs but I elected to walk on to Wisconsin. This was as close as I was going to get to my dream and I was determined to make something of myself at Wisconsin. But that dream didn’t last very long. Even though I was having a great time and made great improvements to my overall athletics abilities, something was still missing. That something was basketball. After I completed the spring season in 2004 is when I decided to opt out and find a place for basketball.

I went into my position coach's office to inform him I was leaving the program and wanted to play basketball somewhere. Right there he told me to my face that I was making a big mistake and was never going to make it professionally in basketball and my only chance was the NFL. I took that very personal and set out to prove him wrong. I may not have made it to the big league yet, but there is still time.

After going through the recruiting process for the second time and all the headaches that came with it, I decided to play at Winona State, the Division II school out of Minnesota. Winona State wasn't exactly my ideal choice but it was a school that was willing to let me play and I was very thankful for that. Never did I imagine I would accomplish so much during my time at Winona State. Through all the success I experienced there, I was given the opportunity to pursue a professional career.

So far it has turned out to be quite the ride. I had no idea what to expect or where I would be. I didn't have any big agencies knocking on my door so I had to rely on the little guy to provide me with an opportunity to play somewhere. That opportunity came later than I expected but it gave me my first job which was in Sweden. It wasn't the best paying job but it was a chance to prove I belonged. It turned out to be a great year for me as I grabbed some individual honors as well as helping my team reach the finals before falling in game 7. The things I accomplished last year helped me to a better paying job and a better league which is where I am now.

Everywhere I go I have to prove myself and make a name for myself. I'm one of the little guys that no one has heard of because I come from a Division II school. I love the challenge because it makes a great story for guys like myself, fighting for a chance to belong and to prove themselves. My story will never end as I continue to work hard and keep climbing uphill.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. We have a big game on the road this week. We will be taking on the defending champions from last year. A lot is riding on this game for us to keep our playoff hopes alive. I will be back to provide update about the game. Take care and God Bless!

Amazing...

This past game was the most exciting finish we have had all season -thanks to my teammate Melody. He provided us with a half court buzzer beater that gave us a win against the top team in the league. You can imagine the whole gym went wild. We were down the entire game from the opening tip off all the way till the last second of the game. Our fans were definitely the sixth man tonight as they were just awesome throughout the game. It was the loudest it had ever been all season and it helped at the end. The game was a very physical match as the officials decided to swallow their whistles for the night. We sure took advantage of it - playing hard nose defense and they did the same. The intense defense caused both teams to struggle from the field as the final score was 64-62. The fourth quarter is where all the action took place. We kept the game close - not allowing the lead to grow larger than 5. Every time we made a big basket they would respond back with a big basket of their own. Then finally the last two minutes of the game we were able to tie the score off a pair of free throws. The score would stay the same till the last 30 seconds of the game. They had the ball and ran a pick and roll - our defense broke down giving up an easy lay-up with 8 seconds left of the clock. We called a timeout and drew up a play for a game winning 3. Instead the play didn't go that way...the play broke down and our point guard was driving down the middle of the paint. I broke away from my defender and came in behind him where he handed the ball off to me and left me to go against two defenders at the basket. I was able to split between two defenders in the air and lay the ball against the glass and watched the ball roll around the rim and then fall through. The game was tied at 61 with 4 seconds left on the clock. They took a time-out to set up a play. We had a feeling there were going to run the same play they did earlier in the game to end the third quarter with a 3 point basket. They did but this time we were playing too tight on defense and the ref blew the whistle giving them 2 shots at the foul line with 3 seconds on the clock. Our crowd was as loud as it been all night and caused our opponent to go 1-2 from the line missing the first and making the second. Instantly we took the ball out of bounds and were able to get it into Melody's hand as he took three dribble up the right sideline with his defender all over him. Melody crossed the mid court line - somehow managing to create him some space by jumping and then tossed it up there. I stood there at the half court line watching him and saw the ball in the air just waiting to see what happened. The gym was all of a sudden quiet and before you knew it the ball bounced off the glass and rolled around the rim three times before falling through. The place just went crazy, and everyone just went into a frenzy. I just couldn't believe it, it was amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better ending. That was an unexpected win but a great win for us. In addition to the game the club was celebrating the 1969/70 team 40 year anniversary that won the Euro-Cup championship that year. There was a big celebration after the game for that group of guys to go along with our celebration.

With our win and an unexpected loss by Paris we are now 1 game behind with 2 games to play. We have the tiebreaker over Paris and they have a tougher schedule so stay tuned. It’s going to be a wild finish.

Well that's all I have for this weekend. Jen took some pics after the game so they are below. I hope everyone had a great weekend and you were able to enjoy some sun. Thanks for checking in and I will be updating soon. God Bless you all.

True Character

This past weekend was possibly the worst performance that I have ever delivered. It's something I don't want to get into details about. But I will say I was pretty upset and disgusted with myself after the game. I am more mad that I took the game for granted and that I didn't play with any heart. I may sound hard on myself but this is the game I love dearly and for me to perform the way I did is just unacceptable in my book. Every chance I get to play should be played to the maximum effort. I realize that there are many guys back home who would love to be in my position. To play the game of basketball and get paid to do it. To some guys this experience is all about the paycheck, but for guys like me it much more than just the paycheck.

As you can see, a lot of thoughts were racing through my head. I was trying to pinpoint what went wrong. The bottom line is I have no one to blame but myself. The positive thing is it was a learning lesson for me. I learn from my mistakes and it is time to brush it off and move forward. But I do know that I will never ever perform like that again. Now I have this extra motivation and I cannot wait for this upcoming game on Saturday. We will be playing against the top team in the league so I'm even more ready to redeem myself against a good team.

Life off the basketball court is great. We've been experiencing some great weather with lots of sunshine. Yesterday Jen was excited about the opportunity to lay out in the sun so she can work on her tan. Well, there isn't much for me to work on when it comes to tanning haha. But it sure did felt good to be outside. With all the good weather we have been getting it is making us more anxious to get back to the states. We will be flying out of here and moving back on May 15th (by the way I guess I should have mentioned that we lost on Saturday and are now virtually a lock to miss the playoffs). Hopefully we will be able to fly without any problems. I know it has to be tough for all those people stranded at the airports for the last couple of days due to the volcano ash. According to the news, the airlines are back up in the air which is good news. I hope everyone can arrive to their destination safely.

Well I hope all is well with everyone back home. Thanks for checking in and I will be back to give an update this weekend. Love, peace, and happiness. God Bless!

Birthday Wishes

Hey everyone – it’s Jen. Jonté and the guys just left – they are heading to Chalon for a big game tonight. They really need a win in order to keep pace for the playoffs. Chalon has been playing well lately and it’s always hard to win on the road but hopefully Vichy will come ready to play!

I just wanted to take a second to send birthday wishes to some very special people. My awesome dad is celebrating his birthday today – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Wish we could celebrate with you – but we’re thinking about you :) Also celebrating today is a very special pair of young people. Keara and Kyle Ryan are hitting the double digits today! HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY Keara & Kyle! I can’t believe you are already 10 – where does the time go?!?!

Hope you all have a great Saturday – GO DRAGONS!

A New Day

This past weekend we came away with a win at home against Strasbourg 74-69. The game was a physical affair that featured players pushing and shoving one another (I came away with a couple of bumps and bruises as I didn't shy away from the action). Additionally, inconsistency by the officials led to players and coaches jawing with them and one another but no technicals were handed out.

We started the game much better than we had in a long time. We didn't take the lead right away but we kept it close eventually taking the lead by three points to end the first quarter (17-14). We kept the lead most of the second quarter but Strasbourg was able to overcome us and take the lead. It didn't help that we missed a lot of easy buckets around the paint area. We had to be strong finishing around the basket because the officials weren't going to blow their whistle. This is where the game became a little more intense and a little out of control. Strasbourg was able to get out front, ending the first half with a five point lead (31-36).

We refocused for the second half and put together a nice run that gave us the momentum. We captured the lead and never looked back from there. We had a couple of players make some nice plays to help get us out front. I was able to give us a couple of baskets and cause a few turnovers on the defensive side. Other than that I didn't do anything special this game, just had a decent game finishing with 7 points. The more important thing is we came away with another victory.

We needed the win to stay in hunt for the playoffs. With the help from other teams around the league, we are now one game behind the eighth spot. We have four games left to go with the schedule playing in our favor but anything can happen on any given night. We just need to continue to take care of our business on the court.


With all that happened this past week, I'm really thankful for this opportunity. This made me think a lot about life and how precious it is. I think sometimes we all forget we have to live life to the fullest because you just never know when your time is up. With all that being said, I still wish I was back home to honor my uncle and be supportive of my mom and my family...

That’s all for now. Hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for all your support ~ God Bless!

Paris!

Hi everyone – hope your Saturday is getting off to a good start. It’s beautiful here today – after a dense fog greeted us this morning – the sun has come through and it’s going to be a great day. Game day - which is both Jonté’s and my favorite day of the week :) The Dragons have a very important game tonight against Strasbourg. They lost on the road to this team in the game right before the Christmas break and Vichy really needs to win tonight if they have any hope of staying in the race for the playoffs. Thankfully it’s a home game so hopefully the Vichy faithful come out and help the guys get the win. Tune in tomorrow for Jonté’s recap.

I had the very good fortune of spending a couple of days in Paris this week…yes PARIS!! However the timing wasn’t all that great – with everything Jonté had going on with his family. I was feeling very guilty as I got ready to leave – but our trip had been planned and Jonté really wanted me to go. The hardest part about this week was just being so far away from family. Jonté was hurting a lot – for himself, for his mom and for his whole family. Him hurting made me hurt – and there just wasn’t a lot we could do from way over here. It was an emotional start to the week and I hope today he can channel some of that emotion into his game. He’ll play for Uncle Ted tonight – and I know Uncle Ted will be there with him every step.


My American friend Shereen and I made plans to spend Wednesday and Thursday in Paris. She even got it arranged so that we could leave her daughter back here in Vichy so it was just us girls – heading to the big city. Shereen and Kalyn are heading back to the states Monday so it was sort of our “last hurrah” if you will. We boarded the train at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and arrived in Paris around 9:30. Our first challenge was just getting ourselves acquainted enough with the subway system. We bought 2-day passes so we could ride the subway as much as we wanted or needed to and set off to get some breakfast and find our hotel.

Our first tourist stop of the day was at the Eiffel Tower. We walked up out of the subway and within about 10 steps we turned the corner and there it was. Shereen said the look on my face was priceless :) I got very excited – I think I was just so shocked that I was really in Paris and looking at the Eiffel Tower! It was awesome – just a very cool sight. I think it actually looks better from about 100-200 yards away. Once we got right up close – and were standing underneath it – it really didn’t look all that great. But regardless – it’s one of the most famous landmarks in the world and I was there!

Wednesday was spent doing the “touristy” things. We walked from the Eiffel Tower over to the Avenue de Champs Elysees – visited the Arc de Triomphe – did plenty of shopping as we walked down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre and enjoyed the amazing art and history of the Louvre. We grabbed some dinner and then headed back to the Eiffel Tower to check out the nightly light show. Every hour on the hour the Tower sparkles as white lights shine all over the already lit Tower. It was beautiful. Thursday we head to the Notre Dame and spent the day just walking along the Seine River and enjoying the beautiful sights of Paris. We were back on the train at 6:00 p.m. and back in Vichy just after 9:00 Thursday night. We were exhausted – we didn’t waste a single minute of our time in Paris. I will say that it was the most beautiful and historic city that I have ever seen. I could have spent much more time there but I am so thankful I had the chance to see what I did. Jonté and I plan to go back for a couple of days before we head home so now I have a “lay of the land” so we can really maximize our time. I still pinch myself when I look at the pictures. I never – in a million years – would have thought that I’d be a simple train ride away from spending a couple of days in Paris. PARIS! This journey that Jonté and I are on is providing us so many opportunities. I feel incredibly blessed.

Of course I attached some pictures – I hope you enjoy them. I actually took over 100 :) Those of you that know me well are not surprised at all by that – haha. I tried to pick the best ones to show you all a little piece of Paris.

Enjoy your weekend…Go Dragons! Miss you all…Au revoir!

Not much to say - it's just one of the most awesome sights!

The Arc de Triomphe which is the signature of the west end of the Champs-Elysees

The Grand Palais on the left; the midway point of the Champs-Elysees - you can see the Arc de Triomphe in the background

The Louvre - it's bigger than what you see in this picture - I wasn't able to fit it all! The pyramid in the main entrance.

That's me with the Mona Lisa - and no she didn't smile at me :) The painting itself was actually smaller than I was expecting and that was as close as we could get. The picture on the right is my favorite - I just love the color.

On the left is how the Tower looks at night; on the right is my attempt at showing you the light show

A view of Paris along the Seine River; the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris

More pictures along the Seine - Paris is such a beautiful city

A Tribute to Uncle Ted...

Unfortunately I have some very sad news today. My uncle lost his life to cancer this afternoon. Recently the doctors had given him a few weeks to live. I was hoping he could have held on long enough so I could have said good-bye in person. This is my good-bye...

Uncle Ted - I cannot communicate with you since you passed on to the other side. I'm happy that your mind, body, and soul are free from the pain. But I am sad I can't reach out to you anymore. Your presence will be felt everyday with memories I hold of us. For those memories I thank you. Each game I play will be dedicated to you along with Grandma Z. I will continue to work hard to fulfill the dream of you seeing me or Mike in a NBA uniform. I know you will be proud and watching as I continue this amazing journey. I thank you for all the laughter and smiles you provided my family and me.

Uncle Ted, I love you and you will be greatly missed.

"I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid." John 14:27

My brother Mike, cousin Teddy, Uncle Ted and me; Uncle Ted showing his Badger pride before one of Mike's games

My mom with cousin Teddy, Aunt Mary and Uncle Ted before Mike's game at Texas a couple years ago; Uncle Ted in the middle with Uncle Cliff and Uncle Delano at a Flowers family reunion

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! We hope you all were able to enjoy the holiday and remember why it is that we celebrate. Jonté and I enjoyed a relaxing day – neither one of us went to sleep until like 6:00 a.m. this morning so our day got started off a little late. I stayed up watching basketball (Go Butler!) and then he got home so we chatted about his game and finally fell asleep.

Anyway – I said I would post some pictures today so here you go :) I posted a couple more from our picnic a few weeks ago and then some shots from our team outing the other night. Hope you enjoy.

Once again – Happy Easter! Au revoir!

On the left that is Marie, Melina, me, Shereen & Kalyn; on the right that's me with Liam (Dounia's youngest)

That's me again with Liam (I think he likes me!); Jonte' and I smile for the camera at dinner

The whole group (from both angles) at the restaurant

Jonte's form looks pretty good - even though it took him a while to decide which bowling ball was going to get him a strike

The form of a champion (even though the ball looks like it's headed for the gutter!); we're taking a break from the action

Virginie and I (and yes those are our drinks!); the whole crew after a fun-filled evening

Tough Loss

Last night’s game was a good game for us even though we lost. Considering the circumstances we faced for this game - playing without a true center - I thought we responded pretty well. But once again we started the game slow, playing bad defense and just letting our opponent have their way with us. This has happened way too many times and is becoming a bad habit for this team. Nancy got off to a fast start getting easy buckets which forced us to play zone defense. That didn't stop them from scoring as they picked apart our zone hitting 3’s all over the court and getting plenty of offensive rebounds. They forced us once again to change our defense as we went back to man to man. We ended the first quarter down 17 with the scoreboard reading 28-11. The second quarter came around and we started to gain some momentum and crawl back into the game. We changed back to the zone defense hoping this time around it will be more effective. This time we were more active, faster with our rotation and limited them to one shot. Great defense leads to good offense and we capitalized off that. We had great ball movement that led to easy baskets and I became more aggressive on offense creating for myself and my teammates. I was able to hit 16 foot jumper as time expired and we cut the lead down to 6 points; 37-31.

The second half was filled with plenty of action. The game became much more intense. Both teams picked up their physical level of play, the crowd was growing louder and louder, and the refs made some crucial calls that got players from both squads fired up. Both teams took turns making runs in the third quarter. At the start of the quarter, Nancy pushed the lead back to ten and then we made a run to close the gap to five - only to let them make another run to increase the lead once again to double digits. Halfway through the third, the momentum switched back to our side. I was able to help cut the lead down to two by driving along the baseline drawing a foul as well as finishing the play with a basket. But I didn't convert it into a three-point play by missing the free throw (that'll cost me an extra hundred free throws per day this week). We continued to battle it out with them through the rest of the game. Every time we would get the lead down to a two or four, they would respond with a big basket or the refs would make a questionable call that would go their way.


We eventually lost the game 75-65. I finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and only 1 steal. I was proud of the effort we gave last night even though we lost the game.

After the game we usually get pizza for the bus ride home and occasionally we stop at McDonalds. Last night we made a special stop at KFC and boy was that good! KFC isn't quite the same as the one back home but that didn't bother me. The way I was eating my dinner made it seem like I hadn't had a good meal in days, haha. That made the six hour bus ride home somewhat enjoyable. I didn't make it back to the apartment until five in the morning. So I was bummed to miss all the Final Four action last night but I stayed up long enough to watch the highlights and read some of the stories. Well I think that is enough for now. Once again, thanks for tuning in and I will post again throughout the week. God Bless and take care.

P.S. Don't be afraid to leave a comment :)

Quote

Hey everyone, it’s Jonté. I love to read quotes and today I felt inspired to share this one with you all.

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."  Martin Luther King Jr.

Have a good day!

Team Outing

Hi everyone – it’s Jen. Jonté and the guys hit the road this morning for their game against Nancy tomorrow night. So that means I have a couple of days to myself. I thought I would take a couple of minutes to blog about our night on Wednesday. Myself and one of the other wives organized a bit of a team outing. All of the guys and the wives/girlfriends went out to dinner and then headed to the bowling alley for a hilarious night of bowling. It was a really great night – and a much, much needed night. It was very fun to see everyone away from the gym and to get know some of the personalities on this team.

We started with dinner at La Médina, a Moroccan restaurant here in Vichy. Jonté and I both sampled the “signature” dish – which was called couscous. I had never even heard of that before – and if you haven’t either I’ll try to describe it for you. You start with a bowl of white rice and then you put some sort of stew on top of the rice. The stew has potatoes, carrots, squash, beans and maybe some other things in it. The last addition to the meal is your choice of meat. We decided to add a couple of different kinds of chicken, some hot sausage and some kefka (meatballs). It was very good – a little different – but very good. And it was so filling! Almost everyone at the table (all 16 of us!) had the couscous so needless to say no one left the restaurant on an empty stomach.

After dinner we made our way to the bowling alley. After figuring out what size shoes we needed – which was a challenge because we had to figure out European sizes! – we got ourselves onto some random teams to get our bowl on. Not everyone was skilled at bowling so there were plenty of gutter balls but there were also lots of strikes and trick shots. Most importantly there was a LOT of laughing. Not to mention dancing and trash talk. Get these guys off of the basketball court and they are still very competitive! Not that I mind though – because I am the same way :) I had the highest score out of the ladies – I bowled over 100 in both games! – and I was actually better than most of the guys. That tells you how bad some of them were! Jonté beat me in game 1 but I beat him even better in game 2!

It was a fun night – hopefully we’ll be able to do it again before we come home. I promise to post a bunch of pictures on Sunday. I forgot to charge up our camera battery so I had no camera :( One of the other wives took all kinds of pictures and I’m going to get them from her tomorrow night. All the ladies are getting together again for dinner, etc. On a sad note, the other girlfriend here that is from America is headed back to the states next week. I’m pretty bummed about that – she and I (and her daughter Kalyn) spend quite a bit of time together. We’re actually headed to the aquatic center in a couple of hours!

Good luck to the Dragons tomorrow night – I hope they play well and I hope my husband has a good game! Thanks for reading – hope you all have a great Friday!

Au revoir!

I Gotta Feeling...

Hey everyone, hope all is well. I got this feeling I needed to post again in light of my previous post. I was thinking about my last post the past couple of days and how negative I was. I think I owe myself an apology as well as everyone else. I'm the kind of person that can turn a negative into something positive regardless of the situation. I was out of character and I guess sometimes frustration can get the best of you and that was a prime example. I kind of bashed coach and portrayed him to be a bad guy when he is a good guy with a great personality off the court. On the court he’s different but hey that’s life. Instead of focusing on him, we as players need to focus on our game and working as a team because it is us who decide the outcome of the games. We just have to take responsibility and take care of our job on the court. This team was doing so well, exceeding everyone’s expectations. We had the best defense in the league and we were making a name for ourselves. Then the past month or so we have performed far below our abilities which cost us some key wins. I feel like we're throwing it all away, myself included. We worked hard to get where we were and it is hard to watch it all go down the drain. Personally I haven't been happy with my performances and I let that get the best of me. I just need to buckle down and make the best of it. So far this week I got myself off to a good start doing some extra workouts. Thanks to Jen for the help and the extra motivation! I just hope this can carry over to the game.

We still have a chance to make the playoff but it's going to take a lot of hard work. The hardest part is getting everyone on board. This weekend will be a great test for us as we play on the road against Nancy. We're going against a pretty good team with lot of great athletes so it will be a fun challenge for us. The downfall that is our frontcourt will be limited. We will be without our starting and backup centers and maybe without our starting power forward. If that’s the case, our frontcourt will be down to two players for the game. Not the best situation for us but I know we have it in us to overcome it. We usually respond well to adversity, so I'm really looking forward to the game...

Congrats to my teammate as he is expecting a baby boy this weekend. Check back on Sunday for an update on the game. Thanks for tuning in!