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