Saturday, February 28, 2009

Third

Its probably been about a week or so since my last post. In that time I haven't done anything "spectacular" or done anything really all that different than I have already described. In the basketball aspect we have had several practices recently. One of these include a team scrimmage. It was pretty much an official scrimmage but just us, but there were real referees and score was kept. I think it went well and our coach, Andy, seemed to be pleased as well based on his comments to us and the ones revealed to me as well. As for my personal game, I was pretty pleased how I played. I missed some shots early on that I thought I should have made but later on started to hit those and was able to get to the basket. I ended up slightly turning and "tweaking" my ankle so I only played about half the scrimmage. But not to worry, the ankle is fine and no problems. It was more out of precaution that I sat the rest of the time. I've been shooting the ball pretty well in practice and workouts, the biggest thing for me I think is to get my conditioning to the highest level possible. I feel I'm in fairly good condition, but think if I continue to improve in that area then it will allow me to continue to do the things I'm doing well in practice in the latter parts of games. Also not to mention that it is apparent that Andy likes to play at a very uptempo pace. However, I'm definitely not complaining as there will be a lot of scoring and playmaking opportunities. 

The Canadian import, Jason, and I made our way to Cottosloe Beach a couple days ago. It was really my first time driving a somewhat longer distance away from the areas that I'm familiar with. Well, at least without an Aussie in the car. We did tho eventually make it. I've already mentioned how gorgeous this beach was a couple post ago, but with blue skies and 85 degree weather it was perfect for a quick swim. Well I did some swimming, Jason just sat on the beach. Apparently he is afraid of the slim possibility of sharks in the water. When we first got to Australia of course the topic of the beaches was brought up in talks with the people here.  Some of these people would make little comments like "the beaches are great, but just watch out for the sharks" and things of that sort and then give a little sly grin. From what I've come to learn it was more of an exaggeration on their part and were just having a little fun at our expense. It doesn't seem to be anymore likely to be taken by a shark here than at some beach in South Carolina. However, it seems to have worked in Jason's case as he has promised not to get in more than ankle deep (I will say tho, that we knew that some years ago a man was taken by one at the very beach we were). Wasn't enough to keep me from going in the water tho. Besides, the water was so clear I feel like I could see something in the water 50 or 75 yards away, so I'll just use that as my excuse right now. 

Hope everybody has a good week....I've been informed to provide my email address: luke.payne10@gmail.com

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

2nd Update


Alright, so the big news out of the last couple days is that I finally got a car. So that means a little more added freedom. It's a tiny red Toyota something, but just real small. Clifford (the name I have given it as in the kids book or whatever Clifford the Big Red Dog that I remember as a little kid) and I have been able to go a couple different places. I'm still getting accustomed to the roads and such here. They drive on the wrong side of the road over here. Just have to fully concentrate to drive on the left side of the road here, and the driver's side is on the right.  (Cliff and I on the right)

I don't want to have a repeat of what happened to one of the other imports, Jason. He got his car several days before I did, and managed to get into a car accident pretty much his first time driving. It's kind of a joke now, but luckily he was ok. His accident basically delayed me getting one as Andy (our coach) got a little paranoid about giving out the other ones and delayed giving me one till just yesterday. Even then I felt like I was taking a driving test as Andy made me drive him around a little bit. I imagine he wanted to see if I was capable and knew what I was doing. Seriously tho, it is something that I want to be conscience of because if I was to wreck in Clifford, it wouldn't be good. It's just such a small car. 

With regards to basketball, we had another practice last night. I think it went well. The team had already been practicing I guess 2 weeks before we arrived, so everything seems to flow pretty well. Also helps that this group has been together for some seasons before as well. Outside of Jason and I learning what's going on everybody else knows what to do. I'm coming along just fine tho. The offense we run isn't very complicated so I'm picking it up ok. A major difference that I've noticed versus college is the 24 second shot clock. I knew coming in it would be different, but basically once you get the ball up the floor and you get into an offense all the time allows is 1 maybe 2 ball reversals and then you have to shoot. Not all that bad tho. 

Lastly, if anybody has skype then give me a try at lukepayne10 from time to time. Love to talk whenever possible.


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Arrival to Australia



Hello everybody. My mom came up with the idea of keeping a journal for my trip and stay in Perth, Western Australia. I figured an actual journal is a little too old school for today's world so I decided what would be easier than creating a blog and posting what was going on with me half way across the world. So this is ultimately for my Mom and Dad but I also hope to keep all my friends, other family, or others informed with what's happening 14 time zones away if you feel inclined.

There is no easy way to sugarcoat the trip over here to Perth, so I'll just go ahead and sum it up with one word...AWFUL. It took a total of 25 hours of actual time spent in the air to finally get here. Included was 15 hours from LAX to Melbourne and even 4 more just to get from Melbourne to Perth. Also included along the way was a 10 hour layover in LA. So, pretty much horrible. I'm still overcoming the effects of jet lag as well. 

Once arriving to Perth I was greeted with 39 degrees Celsius of heat, which I was told would be 100 + F (still struggling with the metric system as well). It hasn't been quite as hot since that day but it's still in the mid 30's. 

The first full day here Jason (the other male import from Canada, will speak of him later) and I had to practice.....since I am here to be a professional basketball player this will be fairly important for my stay here, but it was still tough to practice still being so tired and weary. All in all tho, it went well I thought. The other members of the team did a great job of helping us get accustomed to what was going on (they've already been practicing for two weeks) and seem like a really good group of guys. I know I'm going to enjoy playing and getting to know them this season. 

I'm staying with a young couple here a little bit outside of Perth named Clint and Bec. They also are very friendly and I'm going to enjoy staying with them. After a couple days of just doing some paperwork and gym things, I finally got to see a little bit of the city. Clint and Bec took me for a little sight seeing Saturday. Basically, that included the beach and downtown Perth. But there was a lot to see in just those two spots. The beaches are incredible. Crystal clear blue water and very little waves where we were. It seriously was almost like glass. However, I was told that there gets to be some pretty serious waves where all the surfers go at different spots up and down the coast in the area. We went to a beach area called Cottosloe, or something like that, that has restaurants or pubs and an assortment of other things right on the beach. I'll probably be spending a lot of time there when I get a chance. We also went through a port town about 15 minutes away called Freemantle or "Freo" as the people call it, that also has even more shops and restaurants that is apparently where everybody goes on the weekend. Perth is actually inland maybe 10 miles up the Swan River and Freo is the town right at the mouth of the river. Also, got to go to King's Park which sits atop a mountain overlooking the middle of Perth and the river surrounding it. Pretty spectacular view. I got pictures of all this so I hope I can eventually put them up here for everybody to see. 

I probably could go on and on in a little more detail about all that has been going on, but frankly I'm tired of writing for the moment. I hope to be able to update this maybe a couple times a week, but we'll see how it goes. But "no worries mate", check in soon.