SBL Champions and Return Trip Home

In reading the headline of the post you can figure that we won the league title. However, I'll backtrack a little bit and give you more of an idea about how we got there since my last post was some time ago. The last update I gave mentioned that I had been sick and missed the first game of the semi final series against a very tough opponent, but we were still able to come away with a win.

The following week that Geraldton team came down to our place trying to force a third and deciding game. It was a Saturday night game in our home gym, and wow did the people come out to support us. I think it was easily our biggest crowd of the year and the people were packed in tight. I remember taking a look up at the fans at one point during the game and saw people sitting in the aisles, standing two or three deep at the top of the stands, and people pulling chairs into the far corners. All this energy translated into an electric and loud crowd (gym holds less than 1000 people). I think this really helped us in the game. The game could best be described as back and forth. I don't think either team led by more than 7 or 8 points at any point in the game. It was just close the whole way thru. With under a minute and a half the game was tied and we were able to make a couple big plays (I hit a three and another player scored a basket, got fouled, and made the free throw) that gave us the lead by 6 with about 50 seconds left. After some free throws on our part and a made three or so thrown in there by the opposition we were able to come away with a 4 point win. It was a good win, gave us a berth in the championship game, and everybody was loving it. I was ridiculously happy that we won, but just as much so that we won that Saturday night in game 2. If Geraldton had beaten us and forced a game 3. It would have been the following afternoon, about 18 hours later. I would have been STRUGGGLINNG. Saturday's night game was another physical contest and I took many hits and shots thru out the course of the game (nothing necessarily dirty, just a hard fought game). It would have taken a while to get going had we played on Sunday.

Everybody on the team, and again many supporters, were so anxious for the championship game the next Saturday night. This story may put it in perspective (for the interest in the game as a whole). When the tickets went on sale to the public on the Tuesday leading up to the game, they sold out in ten minutes. Granted, the site of the championship game is again, not a very large venue with just a little more that a grand capacity probably, but I mean c'mon TEN MINUTES. People all over were fired up for this game. Even more so that the team we were playing were I guess like the face of the league - they play there home games at the venue - so it was basically a home game for them. Only it wasn't a home game for them when Saturday rolled around, I'll touch on this in a moment.

Leading up to the game, we had a great week of preparation and really worked hard to be ready to go. Finally, Saturday came around. It felt like an eternity waiting as we were all so ready to go out and get things going. When we rocked up to the game about and hour and a half before tip off there were already fans lining up waiting to get in. Not just a few fans, I mean a serious number. What made it great was that I think just about all were Lakeside people, so we walked thru the crowd and everybody just started cheering and getting fired up. By the time I had gotten dressed and ready to go onto the floor to get some pregame shots up, the doors had been opened and our fans were quickly filling up the bleachers on both sides. This is probably at least an hour before tip off and a majority of all the Lakeside people were already getting in. By the time the game started I think both bleachers were filled with about 2/3 Lakeside people compared to the rest for the opposition. It was absolutely great. Such a great following and atmosphere by our fans....I know I've gotten on quite a roll about our fans, but really they deserve it, and was an atmosphere and interest that I personally have never experienced before. All this did was just help us and fuel us even farther. And did it show once the game started. We jumped all over the other team, Mike Tyson style back in his prime. Before they knew what happened we were up double digits and led by 12 at quarter time. If you were watching I think you would have thought the other team looked lost and didn't know what hit them. Maybe they weren't quite ready to play, maybe they were. But regardless, we were and we came out hard, really hard. In the first half we got the lead up to as much as 28 points. It would have been easy to think this was the game, and in reality maybe we did a little bit and they got it to 18 at the half. The second half got even more interesting. They played much better, I think we got a little tired after the amount of energy we expended early, and they made the game very close down the stretch, cutting the deficit all the way down to 3!! Honestly, I'll admit that this was kind of a shock. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the stadium was going crazy again and they were feeling very good about their position, and rightfully so. Personally, I'm not going to say that yea I wanted this to happen (it would have been just as sweet to get an easier title game, a blow out), but really, I was seriously enjoying every minute of this. The game got close and there was just the rush of adrenaline, and just realized how fun it was. The atmosphere, what was happening, ect. However, like we've done all season, we responded very well and just kept defending and getting some key stops and made a couple big buckets and were able to get an 8 point victory. Once the buzzer sounded, everybody - players and fans - erupted. It was a good time, and a good celebration. Just feels real good to have put in hard work the whole season, and to have won the regular season title and the league championship (or Grand Final as it's called) was super satisfying. We took pictures, got the trophy, sang our team song, cut down the nets, did all the things a team does after winning a title, and it felt great. It was also nice that the supporters (who have been there the whole season) were able to come onto the floor following the presentation and share the moment while we cut down the nets. This means just about all the Lakeside people who were there joined on the floor. After that, it was out for a little bit to celebrate with the guys and enjoy my last couple nights in Australia.

Yep, I'm finally headed home. It doesn't really seem like finally, as the whole experience seemed to go by really fast. Once that last game was played, those final two days went by extremely fast. So here I am now, 2:30 AM sitting in the Melbourne airport waiting on my 6 AM flight to LA bored as I don't know what. That's why if you're reading this you're probably asking when this post is ever going to end? I got nothing else to do and seemingly all the time in the world. I am glad to be going home, but this journey home is going to absolutely nightmare. Anyways, I'll be home one day in the future - reality, Tuesday night, hopefully. Once I get home I think I'll give a little bit more of a run down on the whole Australian experience, but for now I got to go find some bloody (see more Australian/English slang) food in this deserted airport. See you soon.

Semi Final and Sick Recovery

This past week or so has been pretty uneventful for me minus getting pretty sick and trying to deal with that. About a week ago I came down pretty sick. I'm pretty sure I didn't get the flu but was just floored by a cold. I struggled so much that I was unable to play in our first semifinal game last weekend. That was real tough to take but it turned out great for the team and me. Even tho I wasn't playing the team played an unbelievable game and were able to come away with a big road win. This definitely lifted my spirits as I would have been feeling even worse if we had lost and I knew that I wasn't able to help my guys out. That gives us a slight edge this weekend, but still know that it's going to be a very tough task and we'll have to play our best. As for being sick, I'm good now. No real lingering effects. The only thing that I noticed was that my conditioning and stamina took a hit as I didn't really do anything for a week, and was practically in bed for about 3 of those days doing absolutely nothing.

Other than that there isn't really much else happening. Everything is just winding down. Simply put, I'll be on my way heading home in about 10 days or so. Crazy to think all 6 months of work and so far away is coming down to this last week of basketball. Hopefully, we'll be able to close it out right.

Playoff Win

Hello again. We were able to win our first playoff series in three games (best of three series). It did turn out to be a fairly tough series. We started the round off with our backs against the wall as we lost the first game and were thus facing elimination from there on out. However, following the first game, we had a good week of practice and preparation featuring hard work and good adjustments. The next weekend both games (if needed the 2nd) would be at our home facility. In the 2nd game of the series we jumped all over them and basically crushed them. We won by 25 or 30. It wasn't really even close past the 2nd quarter. Obviously, this was good momentum going into the deciding game the following night, and we used this to cruise to another fairly easy win. Again, in this game we came out and hammered them early, leading as much as nearly 30. In the end they made it somewhat interesting and I think the final difference was 12. Funny incident at the end of the game that pretty much sums up what we did to the other team in the final two games was that I had the ball at the end of the game with maybe a 7 second deferential between the shot clock and game clock. Basically meant that we could get one more shot up or take the shot clock violation but the game wouldn't end with the ball in our hands. As the shot clock ran down I had the ball at the top of the floor right around the mid court circle, and had decided that I was going to shoot it or pass to someone else who could shoot it rather than take the shot clock violation. The defense had already given up the game and weren't going to foul so the guy that was guarding me was a good ten feet off of me. With maybe 2 seconds on the shot clock I took one dribble in from the circle and just let it fly. It's strange, cause when I shot it, it was one of those moments where the ball just seemed to suspend in space for a time, and then it went thru nothing but net and the place just erupted. It was a deep shot....really deep. I think everyone in the gym was kind of shocked that I would shoot it so far out and then almost even more so when it went in. I remember thinking before I shot it that a. I was too tired to drive it or make some kind of play, and b. the games over what the heck just let it go. I guess it was a good exclamation point to finish out the series and definitely created some good laughs. I don't know how many people came up to me after the game and said "great shot" or sarcastically and with a smile on his or her face "that was rude". Definitely capped of a very strong two game performance by our team. 

On to the next task, and a tough task it will be. Our next opponent is the Geraldton team that we split with during the regular season and who also beat us by 35 at there place (5 hours up the road). It's going to be a very tough series and we'll have our work cut out deep for us. 

In other bad news it's about 2 days before the first game against them, and I'm coming down pretty hard with a cold (hopefully just that and not flu). Other teammates are also having similar problems so we're not getting any favors before hand. 

Wish us luck, I'll check in soon. 

Playoffs

Ok, so we won easily last weekend and thus wrapped up the regular season title and number 1 seed going into the playoffs. It's very rewarding to have completed such a successful season (team and personally), but again, there is still a lot to accomplish in these playoffs. Our first round opponent (best of three series) is against a team that we split with in the regular season. I think it'll definitely be a tough matchup and we'll have to play good and consistently to guarantee our survival to the next round. We'll see how it goes, but we are very confident and also seem to be very loose going into this series. 

In other news....well, actually there isn't really any other news. In between the fairly consistent rainy days here in Perth its really quite nice. For example, today I wake up to find it fairly cold yet sunny in the morning (sweatshirt and sweatpants needed), only to leave the house around lunch time to be able to change into shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops. Very niiice. Keep in mind that this is basically the middle of the Perth winter. That's pretty much how the weather goes unless its raining, but even then still not really that cold, just depressing overcast skies. 

Ok, will let everyone know how the game goes tomorrow night. Till then.....

Gameday

It's about mid day Saturday as I am writing this. We have a game here in about 7 hours or so, and it's actually the last regular season game. I'm sitting here thinking where did the rest of the season go? Everything has really gone by fast. As far as the playoff situation goes, its pretty simple. We win and we're the regular season champions and the number one seed in the playoffs. If we lose then we could possibly fall to number two. Obviously, it's a pretty big game for us as we want to win the regular season and go in to the playoffs as the number one seed. I'll give a update or so tomorrow to let everyone know how we came thru. Take care back home. 

Back On A Winning Streak

Since the last time I wrote two weeks ago or so, the Lightning have gotten back on a winning streak yet again. Three to be exact. There wasn't anything really all that unordinary in the three games. After somewhat of a slow start in our first game following the loss, we really picked the defense up and kept it up very strongly in the following two games. In some other news, the team that was in second place behind us has now lost three in a row and we have basically a three game lead in order to win the regular season. I will admit that that is pretty exciting. When I first came over here I thought we had a good team and had a chance to be successful in the league. However, at the same time I had really nothing else to go on. I didn't know what any of the other teams were like or any of the players. So honestly, I can't say that I necessarily came in thinking that we would compete for the regular season title. Of course I hoped for that but there was just too much uncertainty. Now, we certainly got a chance to finish the regular season on top, but there is still plenty of work to do. With that said, I haven't even mentioned the playoffs yet, so there's lots to still take care of. 

Talking about when I first arrived here and then my impressions of where the team stands today brings me to a new line of thought, which is just how quickly the time has passed. In about another week, I'll have been here five months already (believe me I know, I got it on the calendar). There are only four regular season games remaining, and depending on how far we go in the playoffs I could be home in 6-8 weeks. I won't lie that's pretty exciting as well. Don't get me wrong I love being here in Australia and hope to stay through a Grand Final win, but also the prospect of going home is starting to get under my skin slightly. It's been a while since I've seen family and friends (and dog Honey) and after a while it starts to wear a little bit. Now if you're reading this, don't think that I'm trying to say that yea I'm ready to come home now or that I'm homesick. It's not like that at all, I'll just be happy to come home. Until that time take care and wish the Lightning luck. 

A Loss?.....

After about two months of not experiencing the feeling of a loss, the Lightning finally had that feeling after this past weekend. More on that in a minute, but I'll start with the victory we picked up on Friday night. There isn't much to say about this one. This would probably been somewhat boring for someone just sitting in the stands. We ended up winning by about 20, it's just that there wasn't much happening in this game and the other team was not very good. I will say that it was absolutely freezing in the gym where we were playing (away game). I walked in before our game and didn't take off a jacket until the starting five had to walk out on the floor for the tip off. This isn't the first time that this has happened. I've come to figure out that most homes and other places in Australia do not use central heating (even as I'm writing this I'm sitting by a little heater in the living room where I'm staying at). Apparently, it just doesn't quite get cold enough for a long enough time here for people to really consider needing (or wanting to pay) for heat. Instead, people just really pile the clothes on and bundle up at night. Right now during the day it warms up to about 65 to 70 degrees (great), but at night it goes down to about 40 (not good). Obviously, at night...no heat...it gets a little nippy. As you can see, this comes in to play when all our games are after the sun goes down. 

Enough of that, on to the game that we lost. As I mentioned, this was the first time that we have lost since the end of March. It's quite disappointing that we lost, but also in the way that we played and that we beat this team by 35 the time before. I could get into a lot of reasons about what happened, but basically our defense wasn't there as it has been before (a long with some offensive issues). That said, a lot of credit to the other team, who I thought was very much improved and shot the ball extremely well. We are still sitting on top and in good position, but we MUST look at this loss and improve on some areas that we haven't been doing very well as of late. Hopefully, we will do just that starting tonight at practice. 

June 11, 2009

It's about 10:30 pm here in Perth and there isn't a whole lot for me to report on regarding the last week or so. We picked up another hard fought game at home in our game last week. It was close pretty much throughout pretty much the whole game. I think the final difference was 8 in our favor. This game was pretty much like many of the ones over the past two months. We just kept grinding and grinding and eventually were able to find some breathing room. Much of this was a result of our defense which is pretty much becoming the "backbone" of our team. This coupled with our ability to run the floor, play fast, and knock down shots gives us a large edge. Again I had a pretty solid game coming off an ankle injury, so I'm fairly pleased about that. 

One thing that I've found interesting (and comical) about Australia and the people here are some of the words that they use. Unfortunately, I had several that I was going to mention, but at this moment can only really think of one or two such words. The first word that I hear often and picked up on the meaning quickly is the word "heaps". This word is used to convey a lot of something. So Australians use this word "heaps" instead of maybe hearing the word many in America.  I don't think I've ever heard this word used back in the states.  However, by far my favorite word that I've heard or even used is the word "dodgy" (I'm bringing this one home). I hear this word all the time. When someone says "dodgy" he or she is describing a bad, dirty, or sketchy person, place, or thing. Example; that is a "dodgy" area to be by yourself. What I like about this word is just its broad use to describe all kinds of things. There are a couple words that I've picked up on. If I remember anymore here soon I'll be sure to let you know. 

Time for me to get some rest. We got two games this weekend. If it's anything like the past ones I'll be needing all the rest that I can get. 

Finally

Alright so it's been quite a while since I last posted. Between a couple early internet problems and the my parents coming to visit for two weeks I never got around to making an entry. 

I guess I'll start by catching everybody up on the basketball. May was a very good month for the Lightning and myself. We didn't lose in the month of May capped off by a three point win against the 2nd placed Geraldton Bucs who also are the only team to defeat us so far this year. It was a very good feeling to get a little revenge. However, if things continue to go as they are, then I got a good feeling that we'll see them again in the playoffs at some stage. Personally, I feel like I had a very productive month as well. I'm still very pleased with how I am playing but also want to continue to play even better. With a little bit of bad news, in that game against Geraldton I sprained my ankle early in the second half and was slowed up a bit the rest of the game. It's not terrible but enough to swell up a decent amount and start to develop some slight color. With a pretty heavy load of treatment I'm pretty confident I'll be ready to go full speed for our game this Friday. Currently, the Lakeside Lightning sit atop the table with a record of 15-1 and a 12 game winning streak. 

As I mentioned Mom and Dad made the long trip from South Carolina to Perth to visit for two weeks. It was great to see them and had a lot of fun in the meantime. I saw more of Perth and surrounding areas with them in those two weeks than I probably had seen my whole time here. That's ok tho because I definitely can get around the city with no problem after all the driving I did with them. They chose not to rent a car for the first week and a half so it was all three of us in my tiny car. Right before they left we had an opportunity to travel several hours south of Perth to an area called Margaret River. This was the first chance that even I have had to go anywhere outside of the greater Perth area (other than two bball game roadtrips). Traveling down south was an opportunity to experience a landscape and environment that maybe I would have considered more "Australian", or at least would have visualized sitting in my South Carolina living room. Everything was much more rural (or the bush as Australians call it). The coast line and beaches were scenic and was just different than anything I have ever experienced before. It was just very cool. It was also the first time we had seen a kangaroo. Didn't just see one either, there were tons of them in the fields along the road (also meant seeing lots of ones as roadkill). The whole trip was just very cool. Being able to experience that and explore Perth more in depth with Mom and Dad was a great time in and of itself. Yea so all that was great, but just as good was that while they were here they saw us win 4 games and me play well. I will try and get up a couple pictures from the past month up in the next couple days. 

Life is good. 

Still Streaking

This past weekend saw us pick up two more wins. This was the first time that we have had two games in two days since the opening week of the season. Its tough, wish we could have a day off in between games. Not the case tho. We played at home Friday night against a really physical team. After a fairly competitive first quarter we pretty much cruised the rest of the way and ended up winning by about 35. However, I think the farther we got ahead the more physical the other team got. It was something that we fought through and continued to keep our heads and play our game. This is good, because if we continue to play the way we are playing other teams are going to try and get a little rough with us and sometimes border line dirty. The way the game was played made the next game the next night a little more tougher to be ready for. Saturday night saw us struggle a bit more than in the past couple weeks but we were able to fight for another win. This one was a little bit closer coming down the stretch and we pushed the final margin to 10 or so. I don't think we were as sharp as we had been in other games. Some of that has to do with the game the night before. However, I thought it was very positive that even tho maybe we weren't playing our best basketball that night we fought it out and ultimately won the game on the defensive end. An example of this would be the second quarter where we only gave up 11 points and were able to have a double digit lead at half time. Its been interesting to see how our defense has improved so far this season and we'll need to keep it up if we are to continue our top level play. I think this is something we can do tho. On a personal note, I played all 48 minutes of the second game. After a physical game Friday night and then playing the whole game Saturday night I was just a little bit tired, only slightly. I wasn't able to sleep in Sunday, but made up for it Sunday night and Monday morning. 

I haven't had the opportunity to write much about Australian culture or society that much lately so I thought I might try and provide a little insight for a couple things. First thing is that music or the radio would be best explained with the word horrid. Its awful, that's all I can say. I should correct that. It's not so much Australian musicians but the radio stations. I don't know that many Australian musicians and really haven't heard all that many on Australian radio, but there are a couple that I have taken a decent liking to. I just can't get over the radio. Consider this, if (and that's a big if) a station does happen to play a song (may not even be a good one) then in almost certainty there is going to be a commercial or a radio host is going to come on and talk about some insignificant topic for 5 minutes. I know you're reading and thinking that this sounds like American airwaves.....NO, this is much worse than in the states. I can probably count on one hand the times I've heard two songs without an interruption in between. The next thing about the radio is that the choices of stations is very limited and that the same type of music is played over and over again. What I've discovered so far is that in Perth there are basically only about 6-8 stations across the FM wavelength or whatever (I'm sure the lack of choices is a big part of the problem). Believe me, I've spent some good time searching through static to see if there is anything else out there to no avail. Before I start commenting on the selection of music and musicians I'm going to step back and say that I have no musical abilities at all, BUT honestly can listen to and enjoy many different types of music. It's just that Australia radio either seems to pick very few of those types or just overly play types and artists that I have absolutely no liking of. Think of it this way, if one were to ask me to describe the general sense of Australian radio by naming a single musical artist I would instantaneously say Britney Spears. Maybe its just that I've heard her on the radio an insanely amount (which in my opinion is no good), but I think its just that this pop style is what seems to be played most (male and female artists). I'm not sure I know how to explain it anymore its just annoying to hear this kind of music constantly, well when music is actually played. Alright I got to get off the radio, but the last comment is that songs and lyrics are unedited on the radio here. One can hear the full explicit meaning and words to a song if such a song is played, and this happens quite a bit. In the meantime I'll be charging my iPod and finding my iTrip so I don't have to listen to the ads and poor selection. 

Top of the Ladder

This past Friday saw the top two teams in the league meet. We were the second place team and the opponent was the top team of the league up to that point in the season. In the week leading up to the game I could tell everybody around the club and fans were very excited for the game. I don't know how many people came up to me to tell me that it would be a big and good game and that the place would be packed (playing at home by the way). Also, apparently Lakeside and our opponent, Cockburn, are pretty big rivals and always have tightly contested and heated games. The game only turned out to be only one of those types of games. We jumped on them quickly and built a double digit lead fairly early on that reached a 30 point lead at the end of the third quarter. We began to coast a bit in the 4th quarter but the damage was already done and we ended up winning by 19. 

Despite it not being a very close contest it was still very competitive. I would say this was one of the most physical games that I have been apart of (definitely since I've been here). This was especially the case for me. One of the things that has annoyed me the most about the refereeing in this league is that they call absolutely nothing off the ball. It has to be murder for them to make a call. Holding, grabbing, robbing, throwing, you could almost do whatever here. This is tougher for me because teams have really started to try and focus on doing as much of this as possible to me to try and slow me down. So far, I've done a really good job of playing through it, using other alternatives, and keeping my cool and not letting the defenders throw me off my game. BUT, that still doesn't mean it hasn't affected me physically. Saturday morning I was absolutely a wreck. So sore and bruised and knocked. At least thats all it was tho, and nothing serious. So I'm ok and as I'm writing this on Thursday, but wow it can take a toll especially if we have back to back games like we do this weekend. All in all tho, I had another good game against Cockburn, and was very satisfied with the result. 

Also like to note that this past Saturday I got to go to another AFL (football A.K.A. footy) game. This time it was a regular season game and the action was much more intense and interesting. Me talking about a physical basketball game compared to this game makes me almost want to never complain about getting bumped or bruised again. Maybe I should just suck it up. These guys absolutely look like they could kill each other sometimes. Made for some very entertaining football and a fun night.  

Nice Road Win

This past Saturday we made the road trip into somewhat of the interior of Western Australia to the mining town Kalgoorlie. This wasn't just a short ride, it was an 8 hour bus ride. This would equal about one of the longest bus rides I've ever made to play a game. The difference is that in the past we have never made such a long ride and then played the SAME day. Yep, thats what we did. Well not only did we do that but we played a really good game and ended up winning against one of the better teams in the league. They had also won the league championship each of the last two years. Needless to say, everybody was very excited. Of course we knew we could win, but given the circumstances of the trip and also that very few teams ever win there it was a good feeling, and made the ride home a lot easier. As for me, I also had a very good game. I think I scored like 21 points in the first half, and in the second half they made it more difficult by throwing a box in one on me and I finished with 30 points. However, late in the game they had cut our lead to 4 points and not too long after that I hit a couple big shots that gave us a little more space. That was then tho, and now we got another big game this week against the team that is tied with us atop the standings. So obviously, whoever wins will be in first place in the league at this moment. Let you know how it goes!!

Blowout

This past Thursday we had a very easy win. I believe we won by 41. It wasn't necessarily that the other team was very bad, but it was our most complete defensive performance thus far this season. We totally dominated the game defensively. In the third quarter alone we gave up only 7 points. Guys were all over the place on the defensive end, and this was the first time all year that it has been like that. I probably had my weakest offensive performance of the season (16 points on 5-15 shooting) but despite that still thought I played a good all around game. 

Our game was on a Thursday instead of the usual Friday or Saturday allowing for a long weekend without any commitments. I haven't really planned to do anything in particular. Several of the guys that I would usually hang out with have gone away for the holiday, so that's not really an option for me. I do know that Australia will get Masters coverage, so I'm sure I'll be finding time to check that out. Also hope to get out and about and maybe explore a little more of Perth and the local area. Who knows tho, we'll just have to see what comes about. 

Hope everybody has a wonderful Easter and takes time to reflect and appreciate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Win

We picked up another win Friday night here at Lakeside. I believe the final score was 111-89. It was a better showing by us compared to last weekend. Also helps to have our best rebounder back playing with us. We still have many areas that need improvement, but its always good to get a win regardless. Personally, I had a pretty solid game finishing with 30 points. 

Not a whole lot going on right now. Basically been relaxing a bit and then either practicing or working out. Although today (Sunday), is the first game for the 14 year old team that I am helping coach at Lakeside. Be interesting to see how that goes but it'll be fun. 

Also know that the Final Four games have been on and already played. I'm trying hard to keep my eyes and ears closed around here as to not hear or see the result of the games, to some success. I think I've heard that there was an upset. I'm guessing that that mean's either UCONN or UNC went down. Also, would mean that any hope I had at winning my bracket competition just died. My suspense will be lifted later tonight when the games will be broadcasted here. So hopefully, I won't hear anything else till then. 

First Loss

Alright, so we've lost our first game of the season. We didn't just lose either, we got smoked. Saturday night saw us make a 5 hour bus trip to a town up north on the coast called Geraldton, get smacked around then have to make the trip home in the middle of the night. Not fun. The opposing team exposed all the weaknesses and faults that I have talked about in earlier posts. It's just that they were good enough to punish us, and I mean punish us. However, we didn't play well and were missing an important player. They are better than us right now, but I know they are not 35 points better. It will provide us a good opportunity to see what areas we need to improve drastically in order to be around come the end of playoff time. As for me I feel I had a decent game. I just had to work extremely hard for whatever I got. There weren't many easy looks in this game. Think I finished with 23 points. 

All and all, minus the past game, everything in general is still going well for me. It is a good and fun group of teammates and I'm still enjoying everything about Australia. I haven't had much time to see much of anything that I assume would be considered very exciting lately, but again its still enjoyable. A couple days ago, Jason and I went with a couple teammates to go eat and hang out a lil bit at a restaurant that was right on the beach. It was a good time. There was good food, a  live band playing, and then a clear day with the sun setting over the ocean. Made for a very relaxing and neat evening. So, basically I'm still not homesick. 

Lightning 3-0

This past Friday night we had another game at home. During the week leading up to the game, most of the fans I ran into kept saying that we should have a pretty easy time with the team we were playing. It was far from that. It was a tough and physical game. We seemed to be a little shocked and were down at halftime. In the second half we came out with more energy and a sense of urgency and ended up pulling away and winning by about 10 or 11. I played a fairly good game. I believe I finished with 22 points, but I struggled in the second half. I think part of the problem was that I got tired. That's something I'm still working on and need to improve, my endurance. The game can get fairly lengthly with a 24 second shot clock and 48 minute game. In this game I played 44 minutes. That's a good deal more than I ever played in college on a given night. 

Our next game is this Saturday. We have to make about a 5 hour bus ride up north to play apparently a very tough team. It's going to be a real challenge for us. We are going to be without one of our top inside players and the consistent league leader in rebounds every year (also didn't have him this past Friday). That will give them a significant advantage. That's ok tho, I'm looking forward to it. It's traditionally a testy contest and will provide us good assessment of where we are against the rest of the better teams in the league. 

Lakeside Lightning 2-0

Well we finally had a real game this past weekend, actually two. The first game was a home game on Friday night. I'll start off by talking about the atmosphere at our stadium/gym. Our home games are played at a rec center (Lakeside Rec Centre). The main court has one side of stadium seating, probably 20 rows high and the length of the court (not as big as the seat side at Upstate). On game days a removable grandstand is put up on the court adjacent to the main one, so this gives a little bit of extra seating. Obviously, it's not a very big arena, but once the game got started the atmosphere was very good. I was impressed actually. Very loud and involved crowd, and I noticed that it was just standing room only. We played a team that would probably be about 25 minutes away called the Eastern Suns. Throughout the game it was very close and I don't believe either team led by more than double digit points at anytime. We ended up winning 93-90 as the Suns hit two three pointers with under 20 seconds left to make it even more interesting. Some thoughts on the game; this was my first experience with a longer game (games are four 12 minute quarters) and the 24 second shot clock. The biggest thing I think this does is obviously lengthens the game, and the game is played at a faster pace than the college ball I'm accustomed to. The funny thing tho, is that we played at such a fast pace anyways the shot clock didn't even matter. Speaking of the length of the game, I think this had an effect on several of the players including myself. There were three or four of our players who had trouble with muscle cramping. Keep in mind that it is also summer at the moment here, and even tho it's not 90 degrees at night (like many daytimes) it is still pretty hot in the gym. Interestingly enough, I still managed to play about 40 minutes. With regards to team play a lot of times we took seemingly ill advised shots or tried to force plays. Some of this is probably that it was the first game, the team we played was pretty good, and also this doesn't really bother Andy (coach). I think we'll get a better feel of the offense that we run and improve in these areas, but overall I think we did pretty good job anyways. Always helps to start with a win anyways. As for me, I think I played a pretty good game. I didn't shoot the ball particularly well but finished with 19 points and feel it was a good start. 

Our next game was less than 24 hours later against a team called Perth Redbacks. This was an away game but here in the city of Perth, so didn't take but about 20 minutes to get to the facility. After a physically difficult game the night before, it was quite nice to have an easier game. We won this one easily with a score of 120-85. The game was actually about a 10 point game late in the second quarter but we went on a 24-3 scoring run and never looked back. This team wasn't as good as the one the night before, but we still did a better job offensively and got whatever we wanted. I am a little concerned about our team defensively, it was even visible in a game like this. It could come back and haunt us against a better team. Once in the half court I think there are some deficiencies especially guarding screens and such. However, this doesn't really surprise me as we don't do any defensive breakdown drills in practice. Whatever tho, seems pretty apparent we are going to try and outscore people. I had a very good shooting game and finished with 38 points and 7 threes. Hopefully, the team and I will be able to continue to play well and win in the upcoming weeks. Our next game is at home this Friday night. 

Few Pictures

I'll eventually get some more up. But just one of the city at dusk, Natalie, Jason, and I at the football game, and Jason, Chris (teammate), and myself out one night.

AFL or "Footie" Game

Well the big event this weekend for me, being American, was going to an Australian rules football game on Saturday. Otherwise, known as the Australian Football League or simply "footie". I would classify it as a combination of rugby and maybe American football. However, this football is almost non stop running and contact and the players wear no pads. There isn't any really stoppage of play like in America after a play is run and everybody has to go back to their respective huddles. AFL is non stop until somebody scores. Basically, teams score by kicking a rugby like ball thru two uprights which are on different ends of the fields. Besides the roughness, I guess this is the only similarity to American football. If more information is wanted about this game I'll leave it up to you to Google it, but basically the ball can be moved up or down the field by either: A. running the ball, B. A underhand like pass to other players, or C. kicking the ball to players. All this is done while guys are trying to tackle the ball carrier. And yes, this is a very physical game. I saw numerous hard collision, but the worst would have to be the constant knees to the kidneys that players receive when jumping up to catch the ball. It was very interesting to watch. I went to the game along with Jason and the female import Natalie. The teams we saw are the only AFL teams in Western Australia and are both in Perth (well one is Fremantle, basically Perth), so its a little bit of an understatement to say that these teams are rivals. AFL is the most popular sport in Australia and is one of the first things we learned about when we touched down in Australia. So the fans of these teams are just a little hardcore. Very fun to watch and observe tho. I look forward to hopefully being able to go back and watch another one.

Our first basketball games are this weekend. One on Friday and Saturday. I'm very excited to finally get to play a game. I really don't know what to expect from the other teams or competition so it's going to be interesting to see what the weekend holds. I'm just glad to finally have the opportunity to play. First game as a professional basketball player. Kind of fun to say. So I'll have to give an update ASAP after the games this weekend to let you know how it went, and I'm also going to hunt the website that carries the results and such (I know its out there). Talk soon. 

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

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.

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.