Check Germany off my list of countries I have never been to. After another hard fought battle with DCU Mercy Saturday night, I boarded the plane headed for Frankfurt Sunday afternoon. After a long 3 week wait, I finally met my precious nephew, Owen Daniel Smith.

When we weren’t ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the babe, the family and I were out exploring the Mosel Valley of Germany. We took a day trip to Cologne and visited the historic Dom along with the local Christmas market. The cathedral was absolutely stunning and the gluhweign kept us warm as we walked through the markets.

We took a nice family walk along the Mosel River on Christmas day, which included checking out the local grape vineyards and seeing one of the largest Advent calendars in the world.  All in all, it has been a nice few days away with family.

I am currently packing all of my things back into my suitcase and getting in my final Owen snuggles in as I get ready to return to Dublin tonight. This time I won’t be alone: Mom and Dad are making their first trip to Ireland. I am so excited to show them around and introduce them to some of the amazing people who have made their way into my life over this first half of the year. I am sure there will be some stories to tell!

I just got back home from an intense practice with the Galway Titans, my National League team. I’m getting incredibly excited because we have our first game this coming Saturday.  After all our hard work in practice we finally get to put it all together as a team!  We have been training about 3 days a week for the past month, and I’m getting more and more eager to strap up my “boots” and hear the buzzer go off for the start of my season as a Titan. Ahhh… I can’t wait!!!  I’m excited to see what playing basketball overseas is like because it will provide me with a very unique and diverse understanding of how the game of basketball is played in another country. Speaking of diverse, my team is made of players from literally all over the world! There are players from Lithuania, Croatia, and Spain, just to name a few. There are many different languages, cultures, and ethnicities within the team itself, which has made my experience even more unique. Although there are some language barriers, as soon as we start playing, those barriers seem to just disappear. The best part about it all, is that we all come together to do one thing…play the game of basketball that we all love. The Titans team might be one big melting pot full of different cultures and ethnicities, but basketball is the one thing that binds us together. It’s what keeps us as one. Our shared love for the sport is what bonds us; it allows us to overcome what would otherwise be seemingly impassable barriers. I know it will help us in achieving one goal this year…winning the National Cup!  I was fortunate enough to win a championship in college; hopefully we can accomplish this goal this year!

I write this blog as I’m on my way home to Philadelphia from New York.  Why am I coming from New York and didn’t land in Philly like I was supposed to? Well funny story…I was originally supposed to take the 615am bus from Galway to the Dublin airport to get an 11am direct flight home.  It was my teammate’s 21st birthday party that night so my original plan was to stay up all night. Easier said than done.  I came home from the birthday celebrations that night I was all packed and ready, but just couldn’t stay up for four more hours, so I decided to lay down, not worried considering I had 5 different alarms set. Well the interesting thing about all of my alarms, they actually weren’t set to “ON.” I realized this when I randomly woke up and checked my phone and it was 8:30am.  In a panic, I grabbed my luggage and ran as fast as I could to the bus station. I hopped on the next bus to airport and told the bus driver I had an 11am flight, he laughed and said were not even going to make it into Dublin until noon. 

The entire ride to the airport I just kept praying that there would be another flight and that this process would go smoothly. I kept thinking of my family and how they had planned to have a big party when I arrived later that afternoon. Having never had to change a flight or miss a flight before I didn’t know how this was going to go.  I arrived at the airport and my first thought was, “Yes, no lines!” and then I realized there were no lines, because there were NO people working at any of the airline desks. I found a random worker and I asked where I can talk to someone from US Airways.  They informed me that their ticket offices close at noon and only operate from 8am to 12pm. I was baffled that they are only open for four hours a day. I told them that I desperately need to find a flight to Philadelphia. The woman said I can call the airline’s customer service number. Well, I had ironically just dropped my Irish cell phone and the battery came out which causes the phone to reset and a special pin number is needed to unlock and use the phone again. The pin number is written on the box that the phone came in, which conveniently is on my desk in my room in Galway. So now I have no means to call the airline. I frantically went up to the woman that told me about the number again and asked how I can call them, and she said your going to have to use the pay phone. 

Having spent all of my euros on the bus to the airport, I had to then exchange my US dollars for Euros so that I could use the pay phone.  I put my money in the pay phone and when finally getting through the automated messages I was then disconnected. I tried again using up the rest of the credit and was able to speak to a live person but they apparently couldn’t hear me and just kept repeating “hello.”  At that point I hung up the phone and nearly had a break down. I felt stranded and helpless.

It was at that moment that a middle aged Irish man saw me and my look of defeat and he asked me if I needed to use a phone. I said, “Yes that would be so great, thank you!”  After having issues dialing the customer service number which he was nice enough to help me out with the area codes, I got connected then was put on hold.  While on hold I thanked him again and explained my situation about my missed flight.  I kept getting put back and forth on hold because the airline claimed that I had checked in and was on the flight.  I asked if I was holding the man up from his flight and he actually was just in the airport because he had left is iPad on a plane from his flight yesterday, so he said he was in no rush.

The man who’s phone I was using said the only air line selling tickets now is Aer Lingus, and that after looking at the departure schedules, there is only one flight to America for the rest of the day and it goes to JFK airport in New York. Seeing as I was on hold for what felt like an eternity, I mentioned to the man that I might just go to New York, because I could easily take a train or bus to Philly and it would only take about 2 hours.  Still on hold the man says let me go check to see if there are any seats available on that New York flight then.  He comes back and says, there are still seats available! I hang up the phone and I am relieved but I said, “But how much would a ticket cost?”  And the man says, “Don’t worry about it, I’m a gold card member and I have so many points on my card because I travel all the time.”  I told him that he has already helped me out so much that I couldn’t accept that, but I thanked him for the offer. 

He insisted that we go to the Aer Lingus ticket office to see the status of the flight to New York anyway.  The woman behind the desk said that there was a seat available for me on the flight to New York at 3:30pm, and I said great and how much would that flight cost?  She said that will be 650 euro….my jaw dropped.  I knew there was no way that I could afford that, and that as much as I wanted to go home, this just wasn’t going to work.  As my mind raced with the different possible solutions I had left, before I could blink the man puts his credit card on the counter and says “I got it.”  I told him I really can’t accept that and that is so generous to even offer. He says, “please don’t worry I’m a gold card member I have so many points, it’s fine.” I stood there speechless as the woman prints out my boarding pass and receipt. How could this stranger be so kind?  I asked him how I could ever repay him for this and told him how much this really means to me. He said, “When you make it big and become rich and famous, just remember this and return the favor.” I told him I absolutely will never forget this.  I then asked if I could at least give him a hug, which he accepted and as he walked away he wished me a ‘Happy Christmas.’ 

To be honest I’m still in shock to have encountered such a good samaritan today. I feel bad I never even got his name, but all I know is his surname is Halpin. I just want to thank Mr. Halpin, for saving the day and making me the luckiest girl in the world.  I will  do as I’m told and will one day return the favor and maybe I’ll help a desperate kid trying to get home for the holidays. I can’t express how grateful I am to be on the way home right now and to more importantly be the recipient of such a wonderful random act of kindness. I want to wish everyone very Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year, especially to my AIRPORT ANGEL! #Blessed # PayItForward

This week of orientation has kept me super busy between learning as much as I can about the campus and and practicing with UL. Orientation was welcoming with Irish bands and dancing, a Viking bus tour of Limerick City, food tastings, and the introduction of over 70 clubs and societies. I was in a video shoot for “Great Accommodation” with one of my classmates from Australia too, so stay tuned!

The president’s address to all of the international students encouraged us to have a life outside of our studies, which I think will be manageable. We also learned about the famous people Ireland has produced which included Ralph Fiennes, who played the character of Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, and U2 to name a few. A man who did impressions of nearly every major county in Ireland also entertained us, but some went right over my head because I haven’t been to every major county.

I finished the week off by coaching my first practice for the 12U Husky girls basketball team with my teammate Cathy. The first practice was all about the fundamentals. We worked on ball handling, layups, and defense. Cathy informed me of the rule that each player can only guard one person during the games. Basically it’s a foul to double team people because at that age they are trying to keep the game fair and give everyone a chance to play without being trapped all over the place. I can’t say that I would ever thought to implement a rule like that, but I learned basketball is different everywhere and all the girls deserve a chance to improve their game and become better players. A rule like that not only tests the players defensively, but also gauges how effectively the coaches are teaching defense. I love defense so we will see how that works at our fist game in a couple of weeks. The developmental strategy is different, yet it seems to be efficient as I watch older girls practice and compete.

My class schedule is fully loaded. My classmate Meredith is from Ohio and we are the first two Americans in this Master’s program. Our course director, Gina, was super excited to finally meet us for that reason as she told us about our Monday through Friday class schedule. I already knew I picked a challenging major, but it’s filled with networking opportunities and a trip to Cape Town, South Africa. We also got our cell phones, gym memberships, and bank accounts this week so I guess you can say I’m fully settled in. I couldn’t see myself in any other place than Ireland right now and I love every bit of it. 

Today was an incredible day. I am currently in Oman, visiting my Grandma who has been living here for the past seven years. Upon my arrival, my Grandma asked me to give a 20-minute talk at Oman Medical College (as she is the Dean of the school) about the importance of sports and exercise to some of the students.

The last thing I thought I would be doing voluntarily is giving a presentation because I wholeheartedly despise public speaking. The closer it came to the day I would present, the more I was dreading it. My stomach was doing some sort of gymnastics routine the morning of the presentation but to my surprise, as the excited Omani students filed in to the room, my nerves slowly slipped away.

My grandma gave me an introduction and all the students enthusiastically clapped and cheered before I even started the lecture. Normally I have to remind myself to breath, focus on controlling my voice so it doesn’t shake, but not this time. In a room full of over 70 students, I talked about sports, my role as a Victory Scholar, the fulfilling effect that exercise has on our body and the need to exercise for health reasons.

It was an amazing feeling to realize that I actually enjoyed speaking to the young students. Dozens of girls after the presentation shyly asked to take a photo with me, saying that I was their ‘role model’. But those weren’t the most rewarding things about the presentation: it was when I heard students go to my Grandma asking when they would finish building the athletic complex on campus because they want to exercise. To realize that what we are doing as a Victory Scholar is truly helping to inspire young people around the world to change their lives, that was the most rewarding part.

Before classes began, we had a residential induction retreat which brought my 19 fellow classmates and I, soon to be friends, to Strangford. The next two and a half days were spent at Clearsky Adventure Centre (also known for being the filming sight of Winterfell from Games of Thrones), doing everything from challenges to test our communication in various ways before reflecting on our strengths and weaknesses to archery and rock climbing.

Following our afternoon of ice breakerss at Castle Ward, we packed up and headed to our accommodation. We were all under the impression that we would be staying at a hotel, because according to the itinerary, the restaurant where we ate our meals was Cuan Hotel. Hence, we were all a bit befuddled as we pulled into a farm before the road was blocked by a herd of cows crossing street.

The host showed us our quarters, as the 13 males were in one building and the 7 girls across the way in another. The place resembled a small hostel, as it had two bedrooms, each with 4 bunk beds, and two bathrooms. All was well and good until I walked across to see the girls’ accommodation, which appeared a little nicer from outside. Little did I know it wasn’t a wee (what they say in place of little) bit nicer; rather it was on another level. They were staying in an amazing wee cottage that had lofts in two of the rooms….and WiFi! Naturally, the WiFi signal was not strong enough to reach our accommodation which was only a few yards away.

Nonetheless, it was an amazing time and an excellent way to get to know most of the people I would be spending countless hours with in and out of class this year. I loved that we were faced with challenges or competitions throughout our time there. And although I started off struggling with the bow and arrow during archery, I found my rhythm and my last shot was a bullseye!

Week 12 ended a lot of things. It was my last week of classes for the semester. I passed my marketing research paper on “chick-fil-a”. I had successful business sales in “Just Dye it” socks, and now I am preparing to study for my finance test in January. The end has also come for Monkstown, an outreach program that gives students a choice of sport sessions from handball, football, hockey, to basketball with the scholars. Each session ends with discussion questions such as: What job would like to have in the future? Seeing where you are at now what job do you think you will be in?

A quote from Ralph Bellamy states,  “Everything ends. But there are always new beginnings.”

I couldn’t agree more with Ralph. Although things are ending, new beginnings are starting and I have a lot of things to look forward to such as starting my second semester of graduate school, expanding EHoops programs which means more outreaching in the communities, and finally looking forward to what more I can achieve within my year of being a Victory Scholar recipient. The sky is the limit.

This past Saturday was the last Basketball Academy session before the new year. I coach the age groups from under 7, under 9, and under 11 year old boys and girls in three different sessions throughout the day. The last day was really meaningful to me because I was able to see progress and growth in comparison from the first session of the year. 

When I began coaching these kids at first I was a little intimidated not only because I felt we had a lot of work to do, but also because trying to control energetic six year olds at 9:30 on a Saturday morning is not exactly the easiest task. However to my surprise this last saturday I had the undivided attention of all of my kids for the whole day, which was a #victory in itself. I can relate to the hyperactive and short attention spans of the kids I coach, as I myself struggled with the same problems at that age. So when I can have all twenty kids listening and paying attention to instruction, I feel pretty accomplished.

The first session I saw huge progress when I was going over form shooting with the six and seven year olds.  Without even giving description about the shooting technique yet, a young girl Ellen had remembered what we taught at last week’s session and showed where her hand placement should be with her fingers lined up with the air valve of the basketball. It was awesome to not only see her retain what I had taught her from last week but then for her to vocalize it to the group was great because she showed confidence.  When I congratulated her on using the correct form, it caused a chain reaction as five other kids in line raised their hands to show me they too had remembered to put their hands in correct spot as well. “Look Coach I had my hands here too!!” – I heard about ten times after Ellen’s comment. It was a great thing to see and to the kid’s relief they were actually making the majority of their shots in the drill which is huge progress from the first day I met with them.

Although this may seem like not a big deal for most people, these children knew nothing about the sport of basketball and for six and seven year olds to recognize and learn a specific detail of a crucial technique is very important.  Even though shooting is only a fraction of the sport, the fact that they are showing progress means we are creating a foundation for them to learn more.  Luckily since were teaching them so young they have plenty of time to develop and perfect more fundamental skills. I’m very pleased with the progress made in just four months and hope to continue the great work with my kids at the Academy after the holidays!

#Inspire #Progress

The Elks had an exciting night yesterday as we played our first exhibition match against Belfast Star in preparation for this years season. We started out hot and held the lead throughout as we took the victory and got our season off on the right foot.

It was a very interesting (and kind of strange) experience for me to be a head coach for the first time. Making substitutions and calling timeouts are things I have to get used to and get better at… but for a first outting I think it went pretty well. Twelve guys played for us and every single one of them contributed. I was really pleased with the effort and proud of all the guys for stepping up and beating a quality team from the Irish Superleague.

Winning as a coach brings a different kind of satisfaction from that of winning as a player, but I can see how it becomes addicting. It was a great feeling and hopefully I’ll be experiencing it a lot this season. We head to Carlow tomorrow for a two day tournament this weekend. Two games tomorrow and one on Sunday will test us, and I think the whole team is looking forward to the challenge. Should be a fun weekend

Tomorrow Brittney, Bryan, and I leave for the States for the holidays! I am beyond excited to get home and see my family and friends. I will be going back and forth between New York and Boston seeing friends and teammates throughout my time home. The first thing I am going to do when I get home is get a Five Guys. For any of you that have never heard of Five Guys or never had it, you are missing out! Five Guys alone is worth the trip to the states, it’s the best burger you will have! I also can’t wait to see my dogs, Gibbs and McGee. I’m excited to see their reactions once I walk in the door! That being said, these last four months in Belfast have been a great experience for all of us and we have all become a part of the culture and the Sport Changes Life family. I look forward to my next semester in Belfast and seeing everyone when I return! I’ll keep everyone posted on my adventures over break!

#VICTORY #INSPIRE

On Saturday, Ashley and I were asked to play some basketball against the Irish National Team while they had two hard days of training at the University of Ulster. We geared up with the Anderstonstown Tigers, a local club team, and gave the National Team a good scrimmage against new players they haven’t seen. This gave them time to work on their plays and philosophies against people other than their own players. It was interesting to compare the style of play to that in America. Basketball is basketball, but it is played slightly different here. In college I played a 4/5, so am well versed in the post. I find here that most of the players are not traditional centers and don’t rely heavily on post moves, as many girls in the states would. They rather are more exterior players that are extremely in shape and always push the ball. This was just a one-hour impression of one team, but I look forward to getting into shape so the Elk’s can fast break constantly and get easy transition points.

For us it was just awesome to get on the court and to play against some good competition. For me it was nice to run and play. Considering we have our first preseason tournament for the Ulster Elks in Carlow next weekend, I was happy to get some game time. One practice on Monday and then we are thrown into three games on Saturday against some fellow scholars. Nicole from Galway, Jen from Dublin, and Jess from Carlow are all entered in the tournament. I’m excited to see the Elk’s potential for the season and of course catch up and see what the other scholar’s team are shaping up to be. 

Well, exams are officially over and I survived. While I won’t get my results back for a few weeks, it is a relief to have all 6 of them done and out of the way. With the exception of a couple of projects, completing exams means a little bit of a much needed academic break.

Saturday, Katie and I started off the day with an exciting coaching win. Our KUBS under 17 girls won their quarterfinal cup game against Meteors. I was so very proud of them. They played very hard and never stopped fighting. It was great to get the win, especially after losing to the same team at the last second early on in the season. On to the semis!

That night, my Liffey Celtics team faced the UL Huskies and fellow scholar, Marian. It had been deemed a “David and Goliath” match up, with UL being the defending league champions and us still in search of our first win. With nothing to lose, we went into the game loose and ready to play, almost pulling off the upset. Even though we have yet to get that elusive first win, I can feel it coming soon! So proud of the team and never giving up, even when our backs were against the wall. It was great to see us fight back.

Now it’s time for me to finish up my remaining projects and get my Christmas shopping done. Only a little over a week before Christmas!

Our U17 Kubs girls beat Meteors today to advance to the next round of the cup!!

We have been working towards this game for weeks—basically the cup is a separate tournament to the conference finals that occurs throughout the season. To draw a crowd and to celebrate the holidays, Hugh brought Santa hats for everyone in the crowd! Our girls wear French plaits (braids) to all the games, and he managed to find hats that had braids on them…only in Dublin hahaha. The beauty of the cup is that everyone goes in with a 0-0 record; despite the Meteors scoring the first basket of the game, our girls ran them out of the gym. The entire game they were applying ball pressure and pushing it up the floor!

I am so proud of the effort and heart that they put into this match, and I am really looking forward to preparing for the next round after Christmas!

On that note, our team captain Katie got Shelby and I Christmas gifts. The gesture meant so much to us—thanks Katie! And speaking of Christmas, I leave tomorrow morning to go back to Boston to celebrate with my family and friends!!! Hard to say goodbye to everyone here, but no worries I’ll be back in a few weeks. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

 I am happy to report that after my mishap Wednesday, one of my teammates Sue picked me up from Trinity today and held my hand on the bus to our gym so I couldn’t get lost. I even took the bus home on my own after training, and despite almost spraining my ankle and falling down the bus stairs, I got home without a problem!

These past three days Shelby and I have been working in schools trying to generate a general interest in the game of basketball and promote basic active lifestyles and the parallel between sporting values and every day life. I think its safe to say we have worked with over 400 primary school kids between the two of us in 16 hours. God bless those teachers, they have the patience of saints! We met some amazing young people and are excited to continue working with them. I had little Katie’s (from one of my previous blogs) class today, and they worked their butts off! I had her leading one of our defense drills. Coach J, every one of these kids gets the biggest kick out of Watt’s defense—although we don’t make them dive or take charges on the cement. I have to admit, it is a lot more fun being on the coaching side for that one!

I’m going to keep it light as it is Friday night and we have conditioning, aerobics, and pilates with the dad’s of Kubs again in the morning. Oh the adventures! I have some deep ideas that will come out in my next blog.

Happy weekend everyone!!!

Tomorrow marks the end of our first semester here at UUJ and it’s been a busy last couple of weeks. Assignments and projects have been due, along with class presentations. Some students like to get out ahead of their work and put in the hours long before the due dates are visible on the horizon. Others tend to leave things to the last minute. I happen to fall into the latter category. 

Though I like to do some preparation leading up to crunch time, I save most of the major work for the days leading up to a deadline. Something about seeing the finish line always motivates me. I guess you could say it is motivation by necessity, but it seems to work so what difference does it make. Just a crunch time performer I guess.

Though I admit the ‘crunch time’ approach probably isn’t the most wise, the end result is what matters. Good luck to everyone finishing up the semester, whatever your method.

#INSPIRE #EXAM #VICTORY

So maybe I am not cap-tied to Ireland considering I am not a player. Nor ever been part of a game. However, I did take part in the National Irish U16 girls training this past weekend. Irish Coach and SCL mentor Andy Gill asked me to help throughout the weekend of training and I was honoured he let me get involved. It consisted of two days and 6 hours of training each day. Let’s just say the girls impressed me by the end of the weekend.

It was fun to see what Ireland’s best had to offer at the U16 level considering my club team I coach is also U16. I wasn’t for sure how much I would be involved at the beginning of the weekend, but Andy let me get very hands on and instructive with the girls throughout the practice. I was able to see growth and development even by the end of the weekend. A sign of a good player is when corrected on a mistake they can take the criticism and apply it without making the same mistake over and over again. This weekend I saw a lot of the girls take the advice and apply it throughout the training.

As I spent more and more time with the girls I got a chance to get to know them a bit as it is important to know your players both on and off the court! It was fun learning about what the girls goals are, where they are from and how they hope to one day play college basketball in the states. Sometimes you don’t exactly choose when, where, or how you begin to make connections and relationships with people. This was one of those times.

As I coached away I could feel myself becoming developing relationships with the girls and really caring a lot about them. I hope that in the future I am able to further assist Andy and the National team so I can see their development and help them become better basketball players and people. I know their goals and it allows me to act a certain way with them knowing they want to reach the highest level. I challenged them not to be just good, but to be great. There are enough ordinary people in this world, we need more extraordinary people to make it a special place. They worked hard and gave every ounce of energy they had and it made me really proud. I challenged them to become better leaders at such a young age and to really push themselves to be better than the next person.

Want to stand out and want to be special. Those were some of the final words I left them with. Hopefully they cherish them and take them to heart and continue to work. Don’t be good be great is what my college coach always told me and I live by that every day! This weekend though the girls were the great ones, me…I was just part of the Ireland National team.

It is hard to believe that I just completed the first semester of my MSc. Everyone told us time would go by so quickly, but it seems like only yesterday I was arriving in Ireland with all 300 pounds of my luggage. The stress from finishing up class projects and finals has finally subsided, and as I am on my way to Dublin airport, I have caught myself reflecting a bit on these past few months and thought I’d share.

I remember the day I left for Ireland like it was yesterday: I was squeezing back tears all day because as much as I thought I wouldn’t be nervous to leave home, I was scared of going off to a completely new group of people, a different culture, and the more obvious reason, a foreign country. Within a few days of being in Ireland and not missing home at all (no offense, Mom and Dad), I realized I made one of the best decisions of my life to come to Ireland and leave the comfortable bubble I lived in behind.

Recently a few of the scholars and I were talking to a few kids we mentor who mentioned how they would love to go to college in America on scholarship, but didn’t think they’d ever be able to go that far or that they’re not good enough. The response we gave was don’t limit yourself because you think you can’t do it, you have to at least try. I personally never thought I could live so far from home, let alone in another country, but here I am. Heck, now I’m not even going home for winter break and decided to travel instead.

To sum it up: you miss a 100% of the shots you don’t take! As simple as it may sound, I have to constantly remind myself to forget about how uncomfortable situations may be at first and to just go for it… hopefully we are able to continue to pass this message on to all the kids we work with. Until next time, readers! 

I have finally settled in to the wonderful city of Galway. Practice has begun, classes have commenced, my coaching debut began in the most unusual way and the craic has been constant. The first day I arrived I was sent to Limerick with the under 15 Galway Titans team to “assist” the great Joe Coughlan. In the first minute, of the first quarter, in the first game…Joe gets two technical fouls called on him and so my coaching debut begins. I knew non of the names or their abilities yet we somehow managed to lose by only 7 points to an All Region team and pull out a win in the last game. Joe was enjoying his cup of tea from the balcony with a smirk on his face, I knew he did it on purpose because he “claims” he hasn’t been ejected from a game in 13 years. 

A few days later Michelle and I visited the Cliffs of Moher and toured the scenic Burren. The night before I was speaking with my mother and her last words were “DON’T GO BY THE EDGE”, so naturally as an adventurous and rebellious 22 year old in Europe I hopped the fence and got as close to the edge as I could to take a picture. When I was climbing back over I grabbed a wire, one meant to keep the cattle away, which sent a nice electric shock through my body. I knew mom was always watching, I’m Sorry mom. More to come soon.

This week, the four of us victory scholars based at UUJ studying Sports Management, went on retreat with our course mates to Castle Ward in Strangford. The estate was everything I’d imagined Ireland to be previous to arriving last month.

There were lush gardens, perfectly manicured and rich with a beautiful variety of flowers, bushes, and trees. The land stretched for miles, I think 600 acres to be exact.  The main house sits facing the serene Strangford Lough, a gorgeous waterfront that ended up being the backdrop of many of our group activities while there.

We were brought to one of the newly repurposed buildings on site, complete with a giant rock climbing wall and oversized tee-pee. There seemed to be tours going on at all hours of the day, as the site attracts many “Game of Thrones” fans from all over the world. It turns out many parts of the show have actually been filmed there, and most of the time I would see people dressed up as characters ready to give tours.

Once we arrived, we had fun getting to know each other through many classic icebreaker games, and it wasn’t long before we began to loosen up and have some fun. We spent an entire day being broken up into groups and working through activities that required leadership, strategy, and teamwork. It was frustrating at times, though eye-opening. Almost every activity we did had a strict time limit attached, and more often than not, we failed as a group.   At the end of each go at it, however, our group coach would hold a meeting, where we’d reflect on what went wrong, and how we could manage better the next time. Personally, the entire day left me with a great deal of insight that I didn’t have before when it comes to my behavior in a group setting, especially when under pressure. I know that some of the things I learned about myself from those activities will be of use to me not only during basketball matches or coaching, but also in the classroom and eventually the workplace.

Our accommodation was set on a beautiful farm not far from the estate, and the views were absolutely picturesque. I remember driving past a little house with beautiful hydrangea bushes and fields upon fields of green grass with cows grazing and thinking I could really just leave everything behind and enjoy the simple life for a while.

When all the activities of the day were done, we all enjoyed a quiz night at the local bar and continued our ‘celebration’ back at our accommodation. It was the perfect balance to all the more strenuous tasks we’d gone through to get to know each other (and ourselves) a little better that day. On the final morning of our trip, we were taken back to Castle Ward to enjoy some rock climbing, archery, and free time roaming about the land. Some people took out bikes and rode the trails, but I chose to adventure by foot and walked through the gardens.

All in all, it was a wonderfully eye-opening retreat in every sense. My eyes were certainly open to all of the amazing scenery that surrounded me, but also all of the new faces that will surround me for the rest of the year in my courses. I learned more than I thought I would about myself, which is always a good ting, and I definitely feel confident that the experience has left me prepared for a great year with all of my new course mates. 

I escaped my last semester of college with just one final, and now my masters is getting me back HARD. 5 exams, 4 days. I am happy to report that I just competed 2 exams today, and unfortunately have no feeling in my right hand. When we were little, we would hold a pen in our fist really tight and then take the pen away and not be able to move your hand—that’s how I feel.  Im not sure what exactly I do with my pinky when I’m writing, but that’s the worst of all—its still in a cramped position.

Exams here are not like they are in the states, however. No, no. You go–with 500 other students of all disciplines and ages–to an exam hall. Today my first exam was in the main hall, ie the basketball gym. You wait outside until about 10 minutes before, where everyone increases their anxiety by chatting about this that and the other thing relating to exams, find your seat number, and sit and wait before the exams begin. Oh and then halfway through there was a firealarm–making sure we can perform underpressure. It was definetly an experience! Talk about an interesting operations management strategy!

Thankfully, I have training tonight to provide some stress relief before getting after the next three! And of course Thursday, once im done with my exams, I’ll enjoy a long afternoon of coaching my Kubs ladies, followed by a charity 3-3 tournament with my Meteors coach!

As Shelby so nicely tweeted this morning, “May the odds be ever in our favor.” But, knowing us, we make our own luck so I’m sure we will be just fine 😉 

Hello, everyone! I have survived my first day of exams here at Trinity College. Waaahooo! One down, 5 to go by Friday then only one week, two games and one final project separate me from meeting my perfect and precious little nephew!

Owen Daniel Smith (my first nephew, call me Aunt Shelby) was born Tuesday, December 3 sometime in the afternoon, German-time. At a whopping 6 lbs 7 oz. and 21 inches, the little man has stolen my heart, even from hundreds of miles away. I cannot wait to meet and spoil him. I am thinking a trip to the Trinity bookstore is in order and you know he will be getting his first basketball from me!

For now, I need to focus on my remaining 5 exams. There will be plenty of time to spoil Owen after they are done!

#FAMILY #VICTORY

My first day in Galway was very eventful.  I thought it would be a great idea to go for a run to get more familiar with this city that will now be my home for the next ten months. My run lasted all of 5 minutes after realizing that it is nearly impossible to run in this city full of people. There were so many different people and things going on the main strip called “Shop Street” that quickly turned my run into a walk and I took off my headphones.  There were so many street performers every 50 feet or so and each were so uniquely talented.  I watched a band that I could have sworn were Mumford and Sons, was mezmorized by man juggling knives and also a chainsaw, an amazing tap dancer and bagpiper duo, and a man covered in silver that I had mistaken for a statue. I then walked through the Galway market where my mouth was watering for all of the freshly baked pastries, fresh fruits, cheeses, and meats.

I concluded that I now live in a fantasy land after 2 hours of exploring the streets of Galway and decided to walk home. As I was walking home I see a woman point at me and say “HEY MICHELE!!” and my first thoughts were…I have no idea who this woman is, have I met her before, how does she know me, and am I famous already..??  (My Sport Changes Life shirt could have been a give away) Thankfully she introduced herself after my blank stare and hesitation. It was the wife of the organizer of the Titans Basketball club Gillian.

Just an hour after meeting her I was coaching her daughter in my first game as head coach of the under 20 Titan girls team. All the girls played hard even though we lost to a very athletic team from County Kerry. I would also like to note that ‘one and one’ fouls do not exsist in Ireland…they automatically just shoot 2 foul shots once you reach the limit of team fouls. Could have been a game changer..JUST SAYING. After the game Chris and I were welcomed to a homecooked meal by Gillian and her family.  They have really taken us under their wings and made us feel right at home. It really helps being around a loving family because it reminds me of my mine own back home.  After dinner Chris and I went out to experience the crazy night life in Galway. Needless to say after my first full day I am completely in love with being a Galway girl.