October 5th, 2014 | Uncategorized
Yesterday we had a game against our rivals Moycullen who moved from Super League to our league (National League). It was my second game here in Ireland, so I’m still trying to get adjusted to it. Long story short, it was a great game but we ended up losing. I don’t think that I’ve quite mastered the game here, like I was hoping to by now, but the best part about it is that the season has just started and I have a long journey ahead of me!! I have many more practices and many more games to achieve the level of satisfaction that I’ll be happy with, and knowing this will make me work even harder on the court, in practice, and in games. It was such an eye opener as to how different the game of basketball is played here, more so than the first game! The sport here is much rougher than what I am accustomed to in America. Might sound like I am complaining, but that’s not quite the case. To put it in simple words…It’s just, different. As a competitor all my life, I see this as a challenge…. a challenge that I am ready to embrace. The only way that I could successfully achieve this challenge is by accepting that sport is different here, and adjusting so that I can set my teammates and myself up for success.
I will never forget the quote my middle school basketball coach always used to preach to us at halftime when things weren’t going well. He’d say “Adjusting is a key to success and a key to life: just being able to roll with the punches.” Almost 10 years later, I never thought I would be sitting here in another country quoting him and writing about it…boy was I wrong! That being said… I have to roll with the punches and keep it moving. The way the game is played here might be a little out of my comfort zone, but I will not let that stop me from being the best basketball player I can be. Not just in basketball, this can be applied to life. There will always be times where things are not quite like what you are accustomed to, and most of the time you have no control over it so your best bet is to adjust and roll with the punches!
