Getting the opportunity to play a sport that I love again is within its self an honor and blessing mixed together, but teaching that same sport is a whole different type of challenge. But my experience has been full of laughter and fun thanks to one of the groups I get to coach while here in Northern Ireland. My under 18 junior elks meet for practicing/coaching session every Friday from seven to nine at Ulster University sports hall. Coaching these ladies has taught me a lot about the sport that playing it couldn’t have. Sometimes, it is just about the love you have for the game and not just how you can benefit from it, even though there are countless number of ways sports can affect your life, one of the most important to me is the way you can connect with individuals. You realize that you may have had some of the same encounters and outlooks on life and playing sports has been an outlet for you all. So anyway my junior elks are quite young but very gifted basketball players and just human beings period, they all have different personalities and are ranging in all ages but they manage to bring the best thing in my opinion out that playing sports can do for a person and that’s the learning lessons that you can catch on too. For instance, togetherness or unity, teamwork, communication, how to work out disagreements and for me personally how to teach different levels of abilities while still trying to maintain and get the best out of all of your players. So I commend my junior elks on helping me with my coaching skills and creating an atmosphere that I love coming to and coaching at. Good luck to them as they continue on with there games throughout the season.

Kristen and I are a few weeks into Golftastic now and it has been a great experience so far. Each day of the week we go to a different primary school to teach young children about the basics of golf. This program covers everything from knowledge about the sport to fundamental movements. Each week builds upon each other as the kids have to progress in their skills and knowledge to work towards their bands which work in a similar system to the karate belts. This is a great motivational tool for them, as they each want to try and out do each other to get that next band. It has been great getting to build a relationship with the kids and watch them progress as the weeks go on. Many of them were beginners at the start of Golftastic and have already made it up to their blue bands.

We are also working them towards getting up to a level that they can join Holywood and get into the junior program there. This would allow them to make a bunch of new friends and spend a lot of time with other juniors who also enjoy practicing and playing golf. They would also be able to get more in depth training and skill development to work towards playing in junior golf tournaments. This plan would create a great outline and program for junior golf in the Ulster area and hopefully give kids a fun experience as well. I am excited to see how the kids progress in the coming weeks and to be apart of a great program that is getting juniors excited about playing golf.

In about 20days Belfast will be hosting the first ever NCAA Men’s College Basketball tournament, the Basketball Hall Of Fame Belfast Classic and us Scholars are having the privilege of being apart of it. We get to help with the marketing aspect. We have hosted Halloween Basketball camps, hosted different shooting competitions in front of shopping centers, and handed out flyers. This past weekend me and one of my roommates we’re brought to a cute neighborhood where we passed out flyers to different homes. When we first arrived we didn’t know what to expect but it was a nice time taking a stroll through the neighborhood. We made a good time out of it even saw some pretty awesome views of the city because the neighborhood was so hilly.

As Victory Scholars of Ulster University we have been able to be behind the scenes of this major event that is coming to Belfast. We have been able to see what it takes to put a major event on and even give some of our ideas that could possibly help with the event. This experience so far has truly been so amazing; I am learning so much about myself, a new culture, and a little about the business world. We are gaining hands on experience that we will be able to use once we enter the working world and I am extremely grateful for that. Come December 1st and 2nd the days of the tournament, it is going to be awesome to see the whole event come together especially because us Scholars can say we contributed to its success.

“Get Ready Belfast” the tournament is right around the corner!

Not even 24 hours after my parents left, I had another visitor! My girlfriend, Halle, was able to come visit for 5 days. Both of these trips were short, but it was amazing to see some familiar faces. Halle’s visit lined up with our school’s midterm break and my first weekend off from playing for the year. After being so busy with school, playing, and coaching it was a much needed weekend off to get away and enjoy Ireland. The trip started with me catching a 5:15 a.m. bus to the Dublin Airport to pick her up. There aren’t many people I’d wake up at 4:30 for, but she is definitely one of them. Then we spent the rest of Wednesday exploring Limerick and even dragged her to watch one of my practices. Then Thursday we had planned to visit the Cliffs of Moher, but we missed our connecting bus in Ennis. So, we ended up just taking a nice 3 hour bus trip. Then Thursday night we checked out some local Irish music at one of my favorite places in Limerick. Friday morning, we left Limerick to go to Dublin for the weekend. We didn’t have any set plans, so we just spent most of the weekend wandering around Dublin. However, on Frida we went to the Guinness Factory and Saturday we explored Trinity College. Other than that, we just enjoyed the food and environment of Dublin. As I said, it was so nice to get away for a couple of days to relax and recharge for the stretch run to Christmas. A hotel bed has never felt so nice. It was obviously so nice to see Halle because it had been over two months since I’d last seen her.  I am so thankful that she’s put up for me this long and that she was able to make the trip over. I am looking forward to seeing everyone in such a short time for Christmas, but now it’s back to the grind! There are some exciting couple of weeks coming up, including the Belfast Classic December 1^st and 2^nd!

As a kid, I’ve always loved Halloween because of all the candy! As I’ve gotten older, I can say Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because I love scary/horror/thriller movies and events (I guess you can say there’s some type of correlation haha). This year was my first Irish Halloween experience, and I don’t know what I love more Ireland or the actual holiday.

Halloween in Ireland is insane! First things first, we had a week off from school. Even though I probably slept my life away, having a week off was needed. Anyways, as mentioned before I love scary, horror and thriller movies and events; so I most definitely had to go a haunted house! I went to a haunted house called “Devil’s Realms” with my roommates Mak & Faith and my landlord’s son, Luke. Personally, not a lot of things scare me, and haunted houses most definitely don’t haha. I remember walking into this haunted house with a medium sweater on…. at the end of it; my sweatshirt was an extra large due to everybody pulling it. My other three amigos were terrified. Even though I didn’t get scared, it was exhilarating and had my adrenaline pumping.

Fast Forward a couple of days ahead, it’s now Halloween day. I spent all of Halloween with my lovely roommates; Faith, Mak, Mak’s Dad, Larry The Legend, & Uncle Gordon! Supposedly out here in the Letterkenny/Derry area, Halloween is a BIGGGG DEAL! In Derry, which is a city 30 mins away from Letterkenny, has an annual parade and fireworks show. Derry’s Halloween festivities attracted over 30,000 people this year. The parade was composed of live Irish music, marching units, phenomenal floats, and costumes. Speaking of costumes, I was a zombie doctor; Mak was a “fortune teller gypsy, or maybe just a fortune teller or just a gypsy, I’m not too sure lol but it was a cool costume,” and Faith dressed in a Shark costume… Faith the shark aka “Sharkeisha!”

 

Anyways after the parade, there was a food market and if you know me, you know I love food. Before I go on a rant about the many food options that were there, I merely got a pulled pork hamburger with extra bbq sauce! I must say, the bbq pulled pork sandwich gave me a little taste of home, which is always reassuring. Following the devouring of my sandwich, there was a barrage of fireworks. The fireworks lasted about 10 minutes, short and sweet. My Halloween was pretty cool, and I highly recommend if you come to Ireland for Halloween, YOU MUST GO TO DERRY!  You may also be lucky and cool enough to get interviewed by BBC during the parade, just like Mak, Faith and myself haha!

-Chazito Out (drops mic*)

Hello hello everyone! Since it’s now been just about a week since my parents have been here, I thought I would share some of our stories from their super fun and inevitably hilarious quality time over here. Connie and Al visited both my sisters when they were living in Dublin so have toured around Dublin City, Howth, Kerry, and the Dingle Peninsula, but had never been down to Cork (ahem, the best part of the country). With their trip lasting just five days, I knew I wanted to pack in a bunch of tourist-y destinations along with some great restaurants (in true Ganser fashion). We went to the Blarney Castle where Con and I kissed the Blarney Stone (*gift of gab pending*), walked down the Wishing Steps, traveled to the beautiful seaside town of Cobh to do the “Titanic Experience” and take some amazing photos, and of course went to some great restaurants.

Our best day was the excursion that was going to Mizen Head in West Cork. The most “southwesterly” point of Ireland, this coastal signal station seemed absolutely beautiful so I knew we should check it off the bucket list. Once we looked at the map we realized that our route to Mizen Head crossed right through the village of Dunmanway, where my mom knew her great-great grandparents once lived. With our entire Sunday available to explore, we figured we could stop for a bit in Dunmanway and potentially find the church with old baptism/marriage records that Connie’s relatives had emailed her about. After naturally leaving Cork two hours after we had planned plus navigating on the other side of the road on maybe the narrowest road in Ireland, we arrived outside of a church in Dunmanway. Mass was just about to start so there was a bit of a crowd around the parking lot that connected to a cemetery outside of the church. We meandered around the graves, with almost every other headstone having my mom’s maiden name of Crowley on it. Realizing we must have looked like American fish out of water especially with my Holy Cross baseball hat on, an older man named John approached us and said, “let me guess, you’re looking for your Irish ancestors” (lol). We chatted with him for awhile about how after mass he could see if the church records could be unlocked, his time as a professor in the States, and how he knew of where the Crowleys used to live in a “castle” and go to school. Even though I was skeptical and really wanted to get to Mizen Head before the sunset, my parents were eating up the “craic” and agreed to wait until after mass to get this tour of Dunmanway.

John later introduced us to the priest who informed us that the much-awaited church records – which I think my parents and I were thinking would be a scene from National Treasure – could actually be accessed online, through a simple email to the church secretary. Still hoping for a historical adventure, naturally John offered to hop in our car with us to show us some 1800s-esque Crowley stomping grounds. The tour eventually turned into a ride through the countryside with stops at a farm, another church (shocker), a BnB (the castle), and a school with a sign “originated in 1939” (not quite the time period we were looking for). Long story short, John was not as sure as he originally thought he was about where the Crowleys lived all those years back.

Regardless, the first half of our day was full of beautiful rolling hills and obviously tons of (sometimes nervous) laughs. In the end we made it to Mizen Head with a half hour left of sunshine which made for an unbelievable sunset on the coast. Out of all of our adventures, this hilarious trip around West Cork was definitely my favorite. A huge thank you to my parents for coming over (especially for vacuuming my apartment Conbon) — miss you both so much already!

It made be hard to realize how quick the Christmas Holiday is approaching but indeed, it definitely is coming. I caught a glimpse of people trying to get there Christmas shopping on while doing some Belfast Classic promotion right outside Castle-Court, and it was crowed and intense, in a good way. It was funny to me because this is exactly how I is in the states leading up to Christmas. People are out trying to get the best deals, and savings yet alone just the perfect gift for there children and other loved ones. Castle Court was filled with all types of people getting there holiday shopping on which made it perfect for us to slip right in and advertise and tell the people a little bit more about the upcoming Basketball Hall of Fame event. The kids were easily attracted by the mini basketball hoops game they we had set up as well so that was a plus. Christmas season is approaching for Belfast but first and foremost the big event Belfast Classic will be here in a matter of a couple of weeks so that is extremely exciting. I hope you guys are getting your tickets and I look forward to seeing you all there, it’ll be an awesome event!

If you know my dad, Larry, at all then you would know he is pretty legendary. His mustache. His famous one liners. His dance moves. His love for Stella. The fact that he never missed one of my college basketball games. It is no surprise that my dad received the nickname, “Larry the legend.”

When I was about 19 years old, I caught the “travel bug” as people like to say, when I decided to get on a plane to Australia by myself and live there for two months. Since then, I have been to 12 countries, with a goal to get to 30. Each time I would travel, my dad would say, “well better you than me, as I don’t have much desire to leave the U.S. at this point in my life.” Well, when I was accepted into the Sport Changes Life program to play basketball, I knew my dad would definitely be leaving the U.S. to come visit me. After some much convincing and planning, my dad and his best friend Gordon- aka Gordo, made plans to come visit me for Halloween Break. I could easily spend a whole separate blog on how much I love Gordo and his unwavering support of me and my family. He is my second dad and I am so blessed to have him in my life. So once I knew my main men were coming, I spent several days perfecting our itinerary, trying to give them the trip of a lifetime.

When I met the boys in Dublin, we got the rental car, and from that moment forward it was a crazy adventure. My dad had to not only get used to driving on the other side of the road, but other side of the car as well. Surprisingly, we only ran into two things! My dad and Gordon were amazed by how narrow the roads in Ireland were. We started our adventure in Dublin, where we did a tour of the Jameson Factory and the Leprechaun Museum. From there we road tripped to the world famous Cliffs of Moher, where the view was absolutely breath taking. We spent the day walking along the literal edge of the cliffs! We then made our way towards Galway, but stopped in a small surf town (which I was crying because I wanted to be out there surfing) Shortly after arriving in Galway, my dad, Gordon, and I immediately knew this was our favorite place. Galway has a charm like no other city I have ever been to with quaint streets, shops, pubs, and colors. When you think of Galway- you think of Ireland. We found the bar Ed Sheeran filmed his “Galway Girl” music video at and walked along the Salthill Promenade. We all had a real hard time saying goodbye to Galway. After Galway, we began the long journey back to my home, Letterkenny! My dad and Gordon stayed with our amazing landlord Ed, and the three of them instantly had a bromance. We went to Derry for the Halloween Parade, which is an absolute must see. We went to Malin Head, the most northernly point in Ireland. We went to the highest sea cliffs in Europe, Slieve League. We went to Grianan of Aileach, an ancient fort on a hillside. We went to the stunning blue flag beaches around Donegal. Larry and Gordon were blown away by how beautiful Letterkenny and the County of Donegal is. It was the best feeling in the world to watch them admire this beautiful place that I get to call my home.

Easy enough to say that we had the best 10 days ever. Each day was filled with something new and exciting. My American family got to meet my Irish family, and it was surreal to watch the two come together. While the trip was amazing, my favorite part is the fact that my dad got to see me play basketball one more time. Something I for sure thought would never happen again. My dad would drive four plus hours twice a week to see me play college basketball, and he never missed a game. I think my dad has missed maybe two games since I started playing basketball at age 5. My dad and I have always bonded over basketball, and all throughout my life we would spend so many hours in the gym together. My dad would play defense on me, time me for sprints, and I can fully credit him for teaching me the jump shot I still have to this day. So you can imagine how happy my heart was to be playing Irish basketball, and look out in the stands and see my dad. It was so soothing to my ears to hear him yelling out encouragement and constructive criticism. You see, when my dad is in the stands, I tune everyone out and solely listen to him. He is the most important voice in the gym, and the voice I respect the most. We lost our game, but all that matters is that my dad got to see me play one more time. A year ago when basketball ended, I was heartbroken not only because I would miss basketball, but because I knew a huge part of my dad and I’s relationship would be different without basketball. However, seeing him in the stands, giving him the biggest hug after the game, and him whispering in my ear, “I’m so proud of you,” reaffirmed that with or without basketball my dad will always be my number one fan. And if that isn’t legendary, then I don’t know what is.

Needless to say it was a trip of lifetime with two of the most important men in my life.

With the winter break quickly approaching, the past couple of weeks have been nothing but pure chaos. Each week has seemed to fly by and in the blink of an eye, we are already in the month of November with Thanksgiving in a week and Christmas around the corner. Somehow, I have managed a tight schedule of basketball practice, coaching, and classes. However, in the hubbub of school and basketball, cooking has been my mental oasis. Aside from sleeping or watching threads of cooking videos on Facebook (a lot of Gordon Ramsey snippets) in my free time, I love spending time slicing and dicing in the kitchen. I literally feel the stress melt away as I buzz around the kitchen. My time vegging out to Gordon Ramsey videos has even taught me a few new recipes and techniques. I made a stuffed mushroom appetizer I saw online that was every bit as good as it looked in the video! Along with cooking, I find it fun to just be in the kitchen since all of my hallmates cook at the same time as me. Some people may find a full kitchen to be crowded and stressful but to me, it’s a fun social hour. What I love most about cooking with everyone are the different styles and dishes I discover by seeing what everyone makes. My hall has two students from India and so everything they cook is intensely spiced and always looks and smells delicious! Over the time I have spent with them, I found out that a pressure cooker is THE essential kitchen tool to have when making Indian food. Along with a pressure cooker, you must have garda masala and turmeric in your spice cabinet. Then I have a vegetarian hallmate that cooks with healthy alternatives to meat and dairy that I’ve never seen before. My most favorite dish of hers is a breakfast meal she makes after spin class in the morning. There are four simple ingredients: sweet potato slices topped with mashed avocado, chopped up cherry tomatoes, and a sprinkle of vegetarian cheese powder called Engevita. I know… vegetarian cheese powder? All I have to say is don’t be so quick to judge until you try one of these delectable delights. She is so innovative in her cooking and has taught me that you can eat a lot without consuming a ton of calories. Experiences like these have really grown my recipe book as I get to sample all the new foods they make. I like to think that I’ve expanded their palettes with a few of my recipes as well! Hopefully, before I leave, I’ll be able to add a few traditional Irish recipes to my personal menu. While I have been enjoying my time here in sunny Dublin, cooking has certainly been what has kept me sane these last few months.

If anyone has any fun (affordable) recipes that I could try, please feel free to share them with me! Thanks a million!!

 

 

Just sitting here reflecting over the past month of October, it absolutely flew by! I’ve made so many amazing memories but 5 days at the end of the month would have to be my favorite of them all.

My parents came to visit for my birthday and it meant the world to me. As soon as I picked them up from the airport I didn’t think my dad would ever let go of me! The first night we stayed at a beautiful hotel in Port Arlington. We relaxed by the pool and hot tub for most of the day playing our favorite game ever…BACKGAMMON! After a few (hundred) games we made our way into town to celebrate my teammates Holli’s birthday. I got to introduce my parents to some of the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. From teammates and their families, and of course Kojack. The next few days I got to show them my new home, Carlow. It was awesome getting to show them around where I live. Carlow being pretty small we were able to see all the things it has to offer in just a day. The next day I took them to one of my top favorite places to visit here, Kilkenny. We went to the Kilkenny Castle, climbed to see the view of Kilkenny, and went to listen to traditional Irish music. My parents were fascinated by the train ride with all the cows, sheeps, and beautiful views. Their final night here was my birthday. My parents took myself and a few of my teammates to my absolute favorite place to eat in Carlow to celebrate the big 22 called “Teach Dolmain” (I found out that “Teach” is pronounced “Chalk” in Irish). We all ordered fish and chips that were fantastic! Those 5 days made me really happy and I am so thankful to have their love and support all the time back in the states.

It was so hard to say bye to them but the countdown is on until I see them again for Christmas!

(P.S. Remember mom and dad, “WHATS UP”!!!)

I’ve never been one to get homesick, then again, I’ve never been this far from home. I was born and raised in the small fishing town of Scituate Massachusetts, just forty five minutes south of Boston. My house is less than a thirty second walk from one of five beaches in our town, so I grew up watching the sunset behind the Light House, falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves, and referring to the Harbor as ‘downtown’. I’ve had the same group of best friends since primary school and live within a five minute drive from the majority of them. On top of that, all sixteen of my first cousins, as well as my aunties and uncles, live in Scituate. We’ve grown up spending holidays together, going to the same schools, and celebrating important milestones as a family. The Brady Bunch, all fifty or more of us, have become a fixture in our sleepy little seaside town, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I went off to College in another state that was only a three hour drive away. Playing basketball meant that my parents were at my games almost every weekend for six months out of the year, and I was able to shoot home for holidays and long weekends. Sure, being outside of Massachusetts where most of my friends were attending University could be difficult at times, but we always kept in touch and picked up right where we left off. So, long story short, while I’ve never considered myself someone who gets homesick, I’ve never really known true distance from the people and places that define who I am.

According to Google maps, I am currently 2,980 miles away from home. What appears as nothing more than a stone’s throw across the North Atlantic Ocean on my iPhone is actually the greatest distance I’ve ever known, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t felt those miles occasionally since being in Ireland. For the first time in my life, I’m not able bike or walk over to my best friend Haley’s house to see if she’s home (yes we still do this), or drive and pick up Megan and Tori to go get an ICED coffee from Marylou’s. I’m not able to head home on Sunday night for a home cooked meal made by my mom, or lounge on the couch watching the Big Bang Theory with my Dad and my dog Pedro while we catch up on life’s latest events. I won’t be there for my brother Christian’s 21st birthday, and I won’t be able to see my brother Dylan’s first collegiate football game. I missed my cousin’s wedding in September, and I will soon miss my very first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. When you lay it all out like this, it sounds pretty grim, and it feels like I’m missing a lot. But I’ve found that when I feel these pangs of FOMO (fear of missing out), I must simply adjust my mind set.

At this point in my existence, I’ve experienced twenty three Birthday celebrations, Christmas mornings, Thanksgiving dinners, and Easter masses, with my family and friends back home in the states. I’ve never been apart from this core group of people for more than a few months, if that, at a time. On the contrary, I have yet to experience a Thanksgiving in Belfast, a Christmas in Prague, or a New Years Eve in Budapest, all of which I will be experiencing this year. I recognize that my homesickness stems from a life of relative routine and comfort and there is nothing wrong with that. My family and friends bring me more happiness than anything else in this life. Nevertheless, I do not consider myself a creature of habit. I thrive in change, adventure, challenge, and the unknown. When I go for a swim in the ocean I am not the person who wades in inch by inch adjusting to how freezing the water is, I am the one who dives in head first. I knew when I accepted this amazing opportunity it would mean reaching outside of my comfort zone and facing some occasional low points, but that’s what excited me the most about it. I will be able to cherish beach days in Scituate, movie marathons with my family, and nights out in Boston with my friends for years to come, but I will never re-live this year in Ireland. I’m old enough to understand how invaluable and brief this experience truly is. In the blink of an eye I’ll be boarding a plane back to Logan Airport and wondering where the time went. So, I must cherish every ‘first’ that I’m able to check off my bucket list while I’m here.

Yes, I feel homesick, but no, I don’t want to go home. Not yet at least. Ireland has been my greatest adventure thus far in life and I’ve only been here two months. I’m committed to making the most of this journey for the next seven months so that when I arrive home I feel fulfillment rather than regret. In the meantime, when I do feel homesick, I’ve found ways of coping with it; Sunday night football and wings at The Woolshed with Kenz, Saturday drives listening to music and grabbing coffee with my classmates, game days and nights out with my new Meteors family, and laughing and catching up with the other Victory Scholars who are in the exact same boat as I am. I can’t wait for the day when I’m sitting on my couch back in Scituate and find myself homesick for Trinity, and Dublin, and Ireland, and all of the people I’ve met here. In that respect, homesicknesses is really the best kind of sickness, or in the words of Miriam Adeney, “the price you pay for the richness of knowing and loving people in more than one place.” I’d pay that price any day.

With Love,

Shannon

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1994, NBC introduced you to six friends living in close proximity to one another in Manhattan, NY. Each Friends character had their own unique personality that meshed well with the group. In 2017, Sport Changes Life introduces six strangers living under one roof in Jordanstown, UK. Each of us also have our own quirky attributes that help make this experience so fun and different. The six of us, also known as the Ulster University Scholars, have different stories than Chandler, Joey, Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Rachel, but still just as fun. While four basketball players and two golfers aren’t as famous or recognizable as the characters of Friends, we all have our individual personality strengths that we bring to the rest of the group. Actually, we all seem to resemble a few qualities of the characters on the show.

The Friends of Ulster University

Victory Scholar: Matt     

Friends Character: Chandler

Matt is quirky and sarcastic, just like Chandler. He loves sporting his beloved Aer Lingus hat and he always has a witty comment to back up his creative sarcasm. If he disapproves of your comeback he’ll mock you (or maybe it’s just me because my comebacks are redundant and lame). Matt constantly brings entertainment to the group, especially when he comes home with random food items he has never cooked before.

Victory Scholar: Luke

Friends Character: Joey

Much like Joey, Luke is full of boisterous energy, especially in eHOOPs where he loves getting involved and often times leads the group with his easy going, energetic personality. Luke has the same humor that Joey does, constantly cracking jokes with the rest of the friends. When Luke and Matt are together, it’s a two-man comedy show and they feed off of each other’s energy. There’s never a dull moment when those two are around, just like when Chandler and Joey are together.

Victory Scholar: Dom

Friends Character: Ross

Dom is the sensible and practical one, similar to Ross. He acts on facts and he enjoys sharing interesting bits of information with the group and in turn he’s equally interested in knowing how everyone else is doing. Dom’s sense of humor is more forward and laid back and he enjoys being present and having fun with the rest of the friends.

Victory Scholar: Nia

Friends Character: Phoebe

Nia can relate and talk to anyone about anything, it’s actually very admiring. While Nia may first come across as shy, she quickly reveals her comical and energetic self. She makes others laugh in a subtle way, similarly to Phoebe. She integrates well with the friends, but also has no problem doing her own thing. Nia’s extremely gifted in front of the camera (even though she won’t admit it) just like Phoebe is gifted with a guitar and she brings out energy in other people.

Victory Scholar: Nat

Friends Character: Monica

Nat is the mom who likes things in a particular order, especially when it comes to cleanliness. Like Monica, Nat has a liking for when things go her way and she is not afraid to kindly say if she doesn’t like an action of one of the other friends. She can be stern in a loving way and does so for the good of the group, but nonetheless, like the others, she brings her own flare.

Victory Scholar: Kristen

Friends Character: Rachel

Like Rachel, I enjoy being around the others and feed off their energy. I always want to try new adventures and want the rest of the friends to join me, and I’ve even suggested brunch once or twice, an activity Rachel is a fan of (no one seemed excited when I suggested it though). Rachel is a forgetful fanatic, as am I, and I embarrassingly already lost my room key, a stunt Rachel would pull off.

It’s safe to say that we aren’t mirror images of our identified Friends characters, rather we each have slight traits that mimic them. We are our own group of friends that come from different schools, backgrounds and we all have different perspectives. Even though we started off as strangers, we have quickly become a close knit group complementing each other. Collectively, we all find a way to collaborate both in the house and in mentoring and coaching sessions. We all bring our important and best qualities to the table and if there was a lack of presence from one of the friends, things would be vastly different. Let’s just hope that our “Friends Thanksgiving” in a few weeks doesn’t involve any turkeys on the head or any friends shoved in a box.

Cheers from the six Ulster University friends!

This week I got the opportunity to coach with two new, local basketball clubs. Over the Halloween holiday, Maeve and I conducted a camp for the Tullamore Basketball Club and, on Friday, for the Castlecomer Basketball Club. Both were an opportunity to meet a variety of new kids and share with them our passion for the game. In order to get kids engaged in camp and the drills involved, you have to come with energy and a willingness to enjoy the task at hand alongside the campers. They respond to these quality characteristics and it makes for a magnificent day.

We had met over hundreds of kids and coached for hours, and while I had given instruction for most of the day, I learned a lot through teaching. I taught the fundamentals of basketball to kids from all ages and different experience. I’d be happy if even a few could take away something from the camp, but I think I am even more content with the things I had come to learn. It is hard to coach with little conviction. As a player, I asked myself if I was consistent with what I was trying to coach and how I, in turn, played the game of basketball. It is always imperative to go back to the basics and the fundamentals. Doing this has allowed me to reevaluate what it means to be a great player and coach, by playing the game the right way. Successfully doing things the way they are intended is enjoyable. This week’s valuable lesson has brought me to never underestimate the fundamentals.

Through 9 eHoop sessions it is safe to say that I have a personal favorite. All of them have truly been good craic as they like to say here, however recently we all went airsofting. Pretty sure that is not a word and in the States that is not an activity, but I could not have had more fun. The best way to describe it is going paintballing but getting shot hurts a lot less. So for a large target like myself that could not be more ideal.

Honestly it was intense as the guns look real and you wear black overalls plus a mask that covers the whole body. After changing and grabbing a gun, you then go into a large stadium with many different rooms and vantage points for shooting. Two teams and multiple different games made the hour fly by and afterwards I could not be more exhausted. Overall, I wish I had a GoPro attached so you all could see my “elusiveness” out there with my somersaults and dodging capabilities, but they did not allow any camera to be brought it. In reality, I pretended I was James Bond which is where the article name comes from and unlike James Bond I got shot a lot.

After a great 9 weeks, I am blessed to be able to mentor such an awesome group. An endless amount of laughter and more importantly getting a lot of work done, in fact a couple eHoopers have recently been employed. Even though airsofting is not on the agenda for eHoops anymore, I will always be excited on Wednesdays to be with the guys from 6-8!

Cheers,

Matthew

When you visit Belfast it is a guarantee that you will hear the words “Game of Thrones” at least one time. That’s the way it should be however, as even though I am heavily biased towards the best series of all time, the show does much more than entertain. Thanks to Irish Tours, I was able to learn about how the show has been so influential on the Northern Ireland economy. If you want to be an extra and earn the £75 daily payroll, then you need to be from Belfast. If you want to watch the show be filmed in person, then come to NI because 80% is filmed here. As much as possible, HBO films GoT in Northern Ireland, which costs more both money/time wise then I could have ever imagined. Below our my top 3 parts of the trip:

1) Dunluce Castle (House Greyjoy): Completely against this House as a viewer, but it was impossible to not enjoy this stop. Although we could only take a photo from the outskirts, the castle itself is a spectacle. Perched right alongside the water in Antrim and dating back to the 17^th century, the castle was a highlight and also one of the most filmed locations of the trip.

2) Dark Hedges (Kingsroad): The Hedges itself are a must visit as the trees are unlike anything I have ever seen. Dating back to the 18^th century, these hedges intertwined and created a tunnel like entrance for the lucky family who lived there in Ballymoney. In the GoT world, the Hedges are known as the Kingsroad where Arya escapes from King’s Landing earlier in the series. By far the most interesting part was that HBO blocked off this road for 8 days of filming and this resulted in a mere 10 seconds of screen time.

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3) Giant’s Causeway: With no affiliation to GoT, the Causeway was an additional piece to the tour. Funny enough it was the longest stop of the tour and I could not be happier it was set up that way. As much as I love the show, the Causeway could not be topped which is why some call it an 8^th Wonder of the World. The myths, history, and geology will make any visitor be amazed which is why for whoever visits this is guaranteed to be part of your trip.

All in all the 7 hour tour was unbelievable and I am happy that I could do it with 3 other scholars.

For most, Waterford is most famous for its crystal.  The crystal that is used for the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop in NYC!  That being said, I’ve been here for a few months now and I keep stumbling upon this baked good that everyone here seems to love. It looks like a powdered bun and it is literally everywhere!  Naturally, I had to try it and find out what the fuss was all about.

It is actually really good and perfect for a sandwich or even just by itself.  It is a novelty here in Waterford and rightfully so!  A few weeks ago I was riding my bike through the center of town and they were having a Blaa fight.  Yes, you heard me correctly…a Blaa fight!  I guess it is about the history of the Blaa, and people were all dressed up throwing the Blaa’s at each other.  I’m not 100% sure what the even was but it looked like a lot of fun when I passed by.  If you were walking through the throwing area you would have been caught in a flower storm.  I was literally choking on flower walking through town!  To say the people of Waterford love their Blaa is an understatement!  It looked like good fun even though everyone was covered in flower!

If you ever stumble upon some Blaa, I definitely suggest you try it!

Stay tuned for more blogs and videos soon!

-Meg

 

My parents were able to make their first transatlantic trip this past weekend from Friday (10/27) to Tuesday (10/31). I was able to show them my life in Limerick, some of Ireland’s beauty, and introduce them to my Limerick family. The weekend started on Friday with showing them around the city and trying out some of the local restaurants. Then Friday evening they got to watch me coach my U16 team as they beat crosstown rival Limerick Lakers. We started Saturday morning by visiting the weekly market in town. The market is huge! Products ranged from fresh meat and vegetables to clothing and power tools. It contained everything you could possibly imagine. After the market, we walked to LIT to show them my school and apartment. We bought some groceries to stock up for the next week or two and bought some house-warming items. One of the main reasons why my parents chose to come this weekend was because they would have the chance to watch me play in two games. On Saturday, we played against league-leading Killorglin at home. We struggled during this game and lost to a very strong team. Even though we lost, it was a great opportunity for my parents to meet a bunch of people. They also got to see me receive my player of the month golden ball from the Limerick Mayor, which was a really cool moment. Then next day we had an afternoon game in Portlaoise. This was a quick turnaround and was especially difficult because I’ve been dealing with a broken hand the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, we played great and got a huge bounce back win! It was a really important win because we have the next weekend off, so it would’ve been tough to lose back to back games going into the break. We had a bunch of guys step up and play well against a good team on the road. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going after the break!

Since Monday was a bank holiday, we took the opportunity to see one of the most famous tourist destinations in Ireland. We went to see the Cliffs of Moher. Thanks to Esther for taking us there and Liz for joining us on the adventure. The pictures don’t do it justice, it was so unbelievable! On the way back, we stopped at the Bunratty Castle and Durty Nelly’s. These are both popular tourist destinations. Durty Nelly’s is a pub covered in badges from various American cities, but we unfortunately didn’t find one from Vermont. We ended the trip with a dinner at one of the family’s houses. They welcomed in Liz and me, along with my parents, for an amazing dinner. It was so great to show my parents my life here and I can’t wait to see them again! Check out my video on Facebook for some more images of our travels.

To me, you can place friends in 2 different categories, Quality and Quantity. Friends that fall in the quantity category are those that you see every now and then in passing. Some examples, you’re asked to go out by one of your really good friends and they say something along the lines of, “come out tonight! We’re going to go to blah blah and such and such is going to be there.” “Such and Such” would be considered a quantity friend. People you went to high school with that if you were to run into them on the street, you’d take the time to ask them how are things going. But you’re really only doing this because you’re being nosy. You’re throwing a party and sending out invitations, quantity friends are the ones you send invitations to but wont be disappointed if they don’t show up. I feel like I had a lot of those back home.

Now quality friends on the other hand, those are the people who bring additional quality into your life. Those are the people you haven’t seen in ages yet you run into them one day and its as if no time passed. Those are the people you know you can call upon if you need support, whether it be emotionally, financially, etc. People in your life who uplift you and don’t suck up all your good energy. They’ll have your back in the moment even if your wrong, then call you out on how wrong you were after the fact. I can count on maybe one hand how many of those friends I have back home.

Since I’ve been here in Galway, I’ve been making so many friends! The best part is, 90% of them are quality friends. The first week I moved here, there was a big hurling game between Galway and I think Waterford. I went down to the Spanish Arch with Keegan and his teammates. I met my first new quality friend. His name is Bongani. He’s from South Africa but moved to Ireland when he was 5. He’s an undergrad studying biomedical sciences. We talked for maybe an hour and managed to cover every topic under the sun. From where we are from, to politics, to religion, to music, you name it. I knew I made a new quality friend just from our first encounter. Since then, he’s introduced me to the Afro-Caribbean society, and a bunch of other outlets where I’ve made even more friends.

My second new quality friend I made around week 3 of me being here. I had finally found an SGI Buddhist community (I’m a Buddhist, i’ll blog about it at some point) in Galway and a lovely member named Chris was having a get together at her house. Since there was so many new members to the area she wanted us all to meet each other. That’s when I met Fernanda! She’s from Brazil studying International Law. Sparks didn’t fly between us during our first encounter like it did when I met Bonjani. I think our friendship really developed after she gave me money and helped me catch a bus that she wasn’t even taking. She met me near my house, walked me to the bus, gave me money and put me on the bus, then went back home lol. But long story short, her and I have lunch every Friday after I get out of class where we eat a bunch of food, complain about boys, talk about life, order more food, refuse the desert menu 2 times, only for an hour later to ask for it, end up not order anything, then eventually decide to leave the restaurant because we realize they’re starting to set up for dinner….because it 5pm.. and we’ve been there since 2:30pm. I wish I was exaggerating. 🙂

Last group of people I’ll talk about are my classmates in my MSc program. They are really some of the greatest people I’ve met. There’s a lot of us, but for the most part we all get along very well. My mains are Aisling, Ciara, Annie, and Ivy. I already have some stories of adventures with these girls that I will NEVER forget… Its hard to forget the first time someone throws up all over your nice outfit…30 minutes after getting into the club… Any who, once a week we all agreed we’re going to have a pizza and wine night at someones house because were all starting to freak out about all of these wonderful assignments who’s deadlines are approaching. So we’re going to designate a night where we don’t stress, we just eat and drink.

I could keep going but i’m really happy about the friendships I’m making. Even after I leave i’m pretty sure i’m going to continue to text Steph Poland, victory scholar at Maynooth, everyday freaking out about something i’m probably blowing way out of proportion so she can tell me that everything’s okay and how great of a person I am…. She is the definition of a quality friend. I’m definitely going to have a hard time with some of my “good-byes” at the end of this journey. But, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, i’m going to just keep having fun and creating great memories with these great people.

Sooo… I decided to be a coach this Halloween. It just kinda worked out since this week was the Wildcats Halloween Camp. I liked it because I didn’t have to put too much effort in my costume, which was class😎. Unfortunately, I did not go trick-or-treating 😔, however, I still ended up eating so much candy, mainly chocolate. But yes, for three days I was a coach for five hours each day with Meghan and Allyson aka “Dude” (according to the campers). Three hours with our basketball campers and two hours with our skills group for the older girls. I was a bit nervous at first because I wasn’t sure if we had enough coaching material for those hours and if the kids would even enjoy what we had planned. Turns out I was definitely nervous for nothing lol. The kids were great and had so much energy, which I think increased each day that they came to camp. We did a lot of ball handling drills and games with the kids. I think what I liked most was how so many of the kids wanted to demonstrate the drills after we explained them. To me it just showed how much more confident they had become in their skills and in themselves. Some of their favorite games were Red Light Green Light with a slight dancing twist, Tennis Ball Pick Up, Dribble Relays, Sharks and Fishies, Meghan Says, and of course Stuck in the Mud. Now, I actually made a song and dance for this game and I had the kids singing it throughout the entire camp lol (I want to take this time now to apologize to the parents if their kids came home singing “stuck in the mud” because it was pretty catchy). We also had them play matches and while two teams were playing, the other team would have “story time” with Allyson, which was basically either Allyson telling them a funny story (because she’s hilarious) or the kids sharing something funny with Allyson. Not going to lie, it seemed like they may have liked “story time” more than playing the matches😅. For the skills group, we wanted to focus on fundamentals for offense and defense, such as learning how to V-cut and getting open and at the same time learning how to defend the first pass and putting pressure on the offensive player. We had them do a lot of small matches so that they could incorporate what they just learned in the session into game-like scenarios. Overall, it was a good turn out and I just appreciated how all the kids were excited about being there and dedicated themselves to work on their skills during their break from school. Check out Facebook for some videos and pictures of the camp and skill sessions!

A big reason why I was so drawn to the Victory Scholar program was because of the community involvement aspect. When I came to Ireland, it was very important for me to not just be a visitor, but an actual member of the community. Coaching at Maynooth has provided me with the ability to not only work with hundreds of kids int the area, but it has also allowed me to get to know them at a personal level. I coach several different classes at different schools, as well as help at the Maynooth Basketball Academy, and I have really enjoyed spreading the love of the game of basketball. The kids are such great listeners, and although some have never played basketball before, they are willing to learn and try something new.

This past week we hosted a two day Halloween Basketball Camp, and I was so impressed with the turnout. There were almost 40 kids in both the morning session for primary school kids, and the afternoon session for secondary school kids involved in a club. Many of the kids at the camp came from the Academy and the schools I coach at, so I was able to see first hand how much the kids are enjoying the sports and how they want to get better. Jim Walsh and I were fortunate enough to be joined by Stephanie Schmid and Tim Stewart from the Portlaoise Panthers and Nabil Murad, who is a very experienced coach in Ireland.

Although I am spreading the game of basketball, I feel as if my impact off the court is equally as large on the court. I have gotten to know so many kids in the area, especially from the Academy, and I have seen them grow not only as players, but as people. They are listening and following instructions better; this is one of the many reasons not just just basketball, but sports are so important. Kids use what the learn on the court and can apply it off the court. Sports help with confidence, teamwork, work ethic, and overall attitude. Of course I want to be a great coach while I am in Ireland, but it is equally, if not more important that I am a role model to these great kids. I have had some great coaches during my career, and if I can be half the coach and role models that they are, I will be a success. Basketball is truly larger than a sport, which is why I want to be more than just a coach.

The Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys football coach, Tom Landry, once said “A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, and has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you can be.” I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to be coached by someone like Landry describes — passionate about helping me and every single one of my teammates reach our maximum potential both on the court and off. My head college basketball coach has had an incredible impact on my life over the last two year and is one of the greatest influences in my life. So, Coach Jones (“CJ”), I dedicate my blog to you this week.

At the end of my sophomore year in college, my team and I were informed by our athletic department that our head coach would not be returning. Up until that moment, I had never dealt with a coaching change and I didn’t know what to expect for the last two years of my collegiate basketball career. The coach who recruited me to Brockport and who I’d grown close to was gone and I was scared that I wouldn’t develop the same relationship with the new head coach.  It turned out, I was absolutely right. The relationship I was able to form with this new coach is one that I am will always be grateful for. Without her, I would not be the person I am today. Coach Jones pushed me mentally and physically (though she’d tell you, “It’s all mental!”)  beyond what I thought my limits were. She challenged me in a way I’d never been challenged before. No team in our conference trained harder than we did and I know this because I asked many of my opponents.  It took me a while to adjust to a new coaching staff, but I eventually learned and bought in to my coach’s new system. From my final two seasons, there are two important phrases that I will carry with me always.

The first is, “Trust The Process”.  This is my Coach’s mantra. Simply put: If you have the correct process, the results will follow. For example, if my team’s shots weren’t falling, we learned to remain confident and to trust that the hours and hours of hard work dedicated to achieving our overarching goals for the season would prevail. Within two years, Coach Jones changed the Brockport women’s basketball culture. We made the playoffs my final two seasons and we made it the semi-final game of our conference tournament. All the hours, sweat and occasional tears over those two years were part of a process. Because of Coach Jones, I was able to experience what it felt like to win a playoff game. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning when the last buzzer sounded.  If you were to ask my teammates, they’d tell you I was just standing there smiling by myself at half court.  The process worked. Great things come out of hard work, trust and patience.

The second phrase that I will always remember is, “Burn Your Ships”. Before our playoff game my senior season, my coach told us the story about Hernán Cortés during our pre-game meeting. In 1519, Cortés sailed to the New World with 600 men to conquer the Aztec empire. When they arrived, he commanded them to “burn the ships”, sending his men the message that there would no turning back. Cortés was not going to let anything or anyone stop his commitment to succeeding.  That semi-final game, I knew we weren’t leaving without a win. We burned our ships that night and came out with the program’s first playoff win in almost a decade. What a moment that was.

Coach Jones believed in me in every possible way, and she will always be a role model to me.  While I’m in Ireland, I hope I can have the same positive impact on the kids I’m fortunate enough to coach and mentor. For those of you who have the opportunity to be coached by someone like Coach Jones, trust everything they have to say and realize how lucky you are. Take advantage of their knowledge and ask questions.  One of the first things Coach Jones ever asked me was, “Why do you play basketball?” I remember smiling and saying, “Because I love it”. If she were to ask me that today, I’d say, “Because it allowed me to fall in love with being challenged.”

 

 

Commit to your goals — it’s always too early to quit.

Trust the process.  Burn your ships.

 

About a month ago, I started to hear about a big event that was coming to Galway in early November. I wasn’t sure whether to take it too serious or if I would even have the chance to see it, but Friday night I got a chance to witness Masters Basketball in Galway and it did not disappoint.

Men, above age 40, and women, above age 35, travel from all over the world. There were teams from Scotland, New York, France, and of course Ireland. I got to see some 60 and older action where the local Galway team, led by Joe Coughlan, lost to a very good Scottish team. One team even brought in former NBA player Charles Smith as a ringer so I had the opportunity to meet him. (Interesting guy, definitely worth a google search)

At the root of it, Masters Basketball is done for all the right reasons. Teams have been together for decades and it was easy to see the friendship and family aspect among them. Guys take a break from their busy lives to travel and reunite with long lost friends. Although the games get very competitive, all the teams are friendly with each other and go out for drinks after games.

It was extremely refreshing to see Masters Basketball and everything that came with it. Joe says I have an open invite to play on the Galway team once I’m of age, so that’s something to look forward to. I’ll have to see how my body is feeling at 60 years old, but I hope I’m able to get out there and show the same competitiveness and love for the game that I saw on Friday.

Greetings – checking in from Cork! Things are going well as the second month I’m here is quickly winding down (crazy how fast time goes). I’m writing this on the way to our game against the Liffey Celtics, our third game of the season. We are currently 2-0 (woot woot), coming off of an insanely back and forth super close 1-point win against NUIG last weekend!

School is picking up in intensity with group project after group project. A week from today I had one of many, “how is this my life” moments as I found myself walking around the grounds of an agricultural engineering company a little bit outside of Cork. My class and I are consulting with them on how to innovate their business strategy and got a tour of their test farm (fully equipped with *2* automated cow back scratchers), manufacturing facility, and main office. If someone had told me a year ago today I would be eating homemade Irish scones and sipping tea while discussing potential new target market segments for O’Donovan Engineering to access with the executives of the company, I would have laughed. Alas, somehow, here I am.

On the coaching side of things, my U18 team got our first win! Training is “grand”, always with a lot of laughs due to the apparent language barrier between me and my players. Not sure if it’s just my bizarre word choice or an American thing, but the latest incident of confusion was when I introduced a drill we had done before with a new twist, and described the additional rule as the “wrinkle” of the drill. Let’s just say it took a bit of translation time to get started.

That same training session I experienced what I felt was a rewarding breakthrough “coaching moment” with one of my players who’s very quiet and has not played much basketball before. With a variety of different skill sets and basketball IQs across our team, it’s been somewhat challenging to balance working on skill development and teaching more of the basics of basketball. This day she was especially tired and asked to sit out of the second to last drill of the practice. After pleading and encouraging (begging) her to play, she agreed and, like usual, although she still has not gotten a handle over all of the rules of the game, she put in a ton of effort. To end the scrimmage she got an offensive rebound and scored a put back that probably made me a bit too excited. With just a make a certain percentage of team free throws drill left, she again wanted to grab water and sit down but with a bit of a metaphorical push she got right in line and, to her surprise, made her foul shot! Even though the team didn’t make enough free throws and I in turn had to make them run (*next time*), the smile on her face at the end was plenty for me as a coach.

Ultimately, whether it’s going to an Irish farm or helping girls learn and have fun through my favorite game, there are lots of things to be thankful over here 👍🏽

Now I am using this phrase in all the ways possible for this week. Physical pain because we had the pleasure of having one of our strength and conditioning coaches, Jimmy “Pain”, work us out at Tuesday night’s practice. Yes that is his name and my legs and arms were grateful for it🙃. And mentally and emotionally because it was a pretty tough week academically. I had a very important Data Modeling group project due and an important Econometrics assignment due as well. It just felt like a hectic week overall, maybe because we have reading week coming up so everything just felt piled up into one. But I managed to get everything done and I survived the week lol! Most importantly, the gains that I got this week definitely outweighed the pains. I got to play in my first college game with W.I.T. and we only fell slightly short to NUIG by six points, but it definitely showed our potential. Then I also coached my first game for the Ursuline Secondary School against my partner in crime, Coach Meg Donohue, at the Presentation Secondary School lol. On Friday, I actually got a call back from a company for their graduate program here in Ireland, so wish me luck! Lol and also there were some technical difficulties with our class computer, so we actually weren’t able to present our project and we got out of class early. Don’t be mistaken though, my group was prepared to present our project (our slides were on point lol). But, even our professor had a nice laugh about it and it was a great way to end the rest of the school week. And then finally, last night we had our first home game in the Mercy gym, and pulled out the win against NUIG (shoutout to Deja for balling out!), making us 3-0 so far!! So yes, despite a stressful and sore week lol, nothing beats overcoming it all and ending the week with a bang!

First home game at the Mercy gym last night! Prior to the game, my teammates told me that for home games, the “Eye of the Tiger” plays as we are called out for the game. They talked about how pumped everyone would get because let’s be honest, that is a great song and that beat can motivate anyone to do anything! And it suits us since we are the Wildcats (so do the High School Musical songs, maybe we will add those to our warmup too lol). When the song started, I did refrain myself from dancing because I had to focus lol, but man was I excited to play! Not only because it was our first home game in the Mercy gym and the crowd was fantastic, but also it was my first home game in a year and I missed that feeling of engaging with the crowd and playing hard for my team and now my new city. I was also eager to play with these girls (#SQUAD!!) again because we came off such an amazing win against Portlaoise two weeks before, so I knew we were going to turn it up again! (Not going to lie, I also wanted to get revenge on NUIG for beating us on Tuesday in our college match😅). The game tips off and we kept the lead throughout the game despite some mistakes and lapses. Even when Galway came within five points with two minutes left, we found it within ourselves to stay calm and get the stops we needed on defense and to execute offensively. In those last few minutes, it definitely tested our resilience as a team because I’ve been in so many situations where my team was unable to maintain such a small lead with a good amount of time left in the game and pull out the win. The game also helped us once again revaluate what we need to work on to get better and to continue to dominate this season. If it means more Jimmy “Pain” sessions, then bring it on!! Lol. Either way, I’m grateful to be a part of this team and to play for this city. The Wildcat fans are great, especially when you see the young kids that you coach during the week supporting you, screaming your name💜. It’s a huge motivator and the main reason why I need to improve my performance for the next time. As for our team, there is so much contribution from each of us and just the genuine care for all of us to do well on and off the court. I know this will continue and get better and I’m looking forward to it! Can’t remember the last time I started a season 3-0!! 😎

 

I love purple! Back at home, almost everything I had was purple or a shade of it or had a splash of purple in it. Everything except my bike. So when our coaches told us they were going to get us bikes for here in order to get around town, I had the slight hope that maybe I would be able to personally pick out my bike. Something even better happened… fate lol. When we got to the bike shop, the workers rolled in two bikes… and yes one of them was purple and it was mine! I was too excited, tried to hold it in, but Meg caught me lol. To this day, my bike and I have been inseparable😆. However, I think I may have forgotten how to ride a bike or was just too giddy about it because I was struggling a bit with switching my gears and pedaling 🙈. (I only fell one time, but were are not going to talk about that lol). I’ve had many adventures so far on this bike. And by adventures I mean my constant trips to Maxol, Aldi, Tesco, the Granville (clearly anywhere where’s there’s food…priorities). But, this month since I’ve been coaching at Ursuline, that has been my favorite ride so far. I got my music playing, wind blowing through my hair😂, I pick up on some speed on the downhills lol. It’s just a very chill ride. Anyway, I’m loving my new bike and can’t wait to test it out on the greenway!😎

 

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