I like the girls on the team.  There is one that knows english very well, Catarina, and we sit by her when the coach talks after practice so she can translate.  During practice he talks in portuguese and gives us a few words of a description of what he wants us to do, so it gets a little confusing at times.  He knows english, but not very well.  There are about 3 other girls who can speak english but it's not great.

We have to practice with the junior team because there is not enough gym time to do it separate.  This is interesting, going from one extreme to the other regarding skill level. 

We have thursdays off, but Tina and I are going to practice with the men's team on those days. 

I don't want to get redundant because I can't remember what I wrote on the general page of the "first week".  So I'll leave it at this :)

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Oct. 3

It is so hard to get used to the lack of discipline in practices.  There is really no punishment for not getting a certain drill right, or getting to our goals.  We were doing a drill that we used to do at ferris, only for double the time and double the points.  In order to get it at ferris, everyone had to sprint and not miss many shots; here, no one sprints, and missed layups are very common.  Anyway, when we didn't get it (we got 52 points and needed 60) the coach brought us together, talked a little bit in portuguese, and said our goal next time was 80.  No consequence for not getting it, and we didn't have to do it again to get it right!  I'm not used to that. 

Another thing I'm totally not used to is how none of the girls talk or cheer during practice.  We would be on the line running for not talking in college.  It would be a little hard for Tina and I to talk in practice, not knowing the language or what motivates these girls.  We'll clap but it doesn't seem to make anyone move any faster or play any better.  The coach yells/talks for most of practice but that's about it.

We had to do some running (2 suicides back to back) the other day, and following that, just 15 crunches, pushups, and backs *superman things...only 5 of us did this at a time while the other 10 girls scrimmaged.  I got done running, and right away, started doing my other things...Catarina told me to just wait and catch my breath before doing the other exercises.  They never have had to push themselves out of their comfort zone, I've realized.  Back home, we would have had to finish everything as fast as possible, and really get tired...Things are very different here!

Oct. 26

We had our first real game yesterday, the other games I spoke of (in another page maybe) were just for a tournament that wasn't a part of our season, apparently.  We won 67-51, I played pretty well, 25 pts and 16 rebounds--the stat sheet said 5 assists, but they must count them differently than we do in the states.  The way our zone offense works with me at the high post left lots of room for our guards to cut back door and get layups, so it seemed like I should have had about 10 assists, LOL...Oh well. 

We left for the game at 10am, it was only a 3 hour drive, and the game was at 6pm, so we had some time to spare.  Portugal is primarily Catholic, and being Catholic, it was very cool to visit the city of Fatima (pronounced Fahtima, NOT Fateema, as Tina and I were viciously corrected by the girls, lol)  I hadn't known about this city, or about the fact that they called the Virgin Mary, Fatima.  The girls were telling me about the story of the 3 pastors who were visited by Fatima in the city, and she told them of the 3 miracles.  I can't remember all three, but she told them of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II before it happened, and also predicted the end of WWII.  There is now a HUGE church in the city where people from all around the world come to pray.  There is a tree in front of the church where Fatima appeared to the pastors.  I have some pictures that I will upload soon.  The whole experience was pretty amazing, especially since I hadn't known about this, and being Catholic, i felt like i should have!

After the game we went to McDonald's to eat, if anyone was wondering, the food tastes pretty much the same, with the exception that it had been sitting a little longer, perhaps for faster service.  So here, it's quicker, but not as fresh...Not bad. 

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Nov. 3

We had another game last Saturday, and won 92-80.  We had about a 20 point lead at half-time and held it for most of the third quarter.  That's when some of the subs started going in, and I came out with 4 fouls and about 6 minutes left of the 3rd qtr.  The other team had a real amazon woman on it!  She was probably 6'4 or 5 and luckily for me, not that coordinated.  I played pretty well, had 15 pts and 11 reb., made 5-5 free throws and only missed 2 other shots.  It was a very balanced effort, as about 6 of us were in double figures.  This game was only about an hour away, and on Thursday we travel to Lisbon, which is around a 4 hour trip.  the game is at 9pm, so it will be an all day event of cramped riding in the little van.  I'll update again after that game!

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Nov. 9

So, our game last Thursday was against the National team.  This means the girls are all under 18, and they travel to some surrounding countries (so i think) to play games.  Three of our players play for this team, which means they live in Lisbon then travel here to practice on Fridays then play in our games on the weekends.  This also means that we played AGAINST two of those girls on Thursday.  It was kinda funny, actually--nothing i've ever heard of before.  Alright, on to the game...We gained a 28-8 lead after the first quarter.  i would get a defensive rebound and launch the outlet to Tina who was running the floor pretty well, and she'd get layups.  BUT, this was not the only thing she'd get.  A few times, she got called for traveling for not putting the ball down soon enough...but only a few times, lol.  The coach told her straight up that she has to shoot all her layups w/ her right hand b/c she missed too many w/ the left, hahaha...i thought this was funny.  Then he went on to say "it is easier, right?"

The other team had many talented players, but they just had a lack of experience that we had to take advantage of.  They had two tall, really skinny black girls, probably about 6'4 that were very athletic.  They were part the reason that the team caught up a little bit later in the game.  We ended up winning by 12, this was, of course, ending the game w/ most of the subs. 

I only scored about 12 points, b/c the coach literally told me to stand at the high post and demanded that the ball go to me so i can find open cutters, etc.  lol, i just wish you all could hear him in the huddle sometimes...rambling in portuguese what he wants, and drawing w/ much bodily animation on his marker board for almost the whole timeout, then with a few  english words will say, "you get ball at high, and pass" haha...This also happened b/c sometimes there would be about 3 girls around me and clearly someone would be open.  We just had trouble finishing many layups.....

That day we spent the late evening at McDonald's, around midnight we were finishing up and they all sang happy bday to me, in their native tongue, obviously.  Then we ate the cakes that i bought and everyone was happy.  The girls bought me a pair of gloves and a hat, so that was nice of them. (we stopped at a huge outdoor mall on the way to the game to break up the trip a little...in a store, i tried on this same pair of gloves and i was like, "ohhhh, i should've brought some money, these would be perfect" so that's what they got me.  I should've picked up an expensive purse they had there =], which i would've really considered buying had i brought money.  We got home around 5am, longggggg day/night...

Our game today was the first home game so far.  It was nice to play in front of some familiar faces, finally.  And the men's team played after us, so we shared part of their large crowd, too.   The game was against the team we played as soon as i got here, the one that finished first last year.  I was playing really well in the first quarter, i think i had the first 8 points, and the game was very close after the period was over, 12-14 maybe?? Then a couple minutes into the second, i got knee-ed hard on my shin, and it popped open and was gushing blood, but the worst part was a huge lump that immediately formed on my shin.  Caused lots of pain, and i bandaged it up and played starting in the second half.  At this time we were down by 10, and that's the way it stayed the rest of the game.  We brought it within 7, but ended up losing by 11.  The second half was just very difficult, it was hard to jump and shoot normal, and cut, etc.  Just the pounding from running and jumping caused more pain than i like to have.  Anyway, we play them again at their place so we just have to win that one.  More importantly, our next game, which is at home next weekend must be a W. 

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Nov. 11

Certain things have been on my mind lately.  First of all, Catarina (english speaking girl, my closest friend on the team) is a very talented player.  I think she's the best local girl we have.  She sees the floor very well and will get the ball where it needs to be and when.  She also can score and has quick feet, hands, whatever.  She plays strong defense, and brings a ton of court energy.  For some reason unknown to all of us, she only played about half our last game, the one that could've been won if we had her in the game to give us some experience and offensive movement, in my opinion.  I was meaning to email the coach about why she played so little, and thought twice about that after practice yesterday.

For a little background, our practices are not that difficult, nor do we do drills that are ESSENTIAL to having a productive team.  Defense is RARELY worked on, and this means we do our 1-2-2 press into zone, and the main focus is really on the offense.  So in games,  there are many teams that run a screen on the ball offense, or play.  Instead of practicing the rotations of a screen on the ball defense, in which he wants us to TRAP and ROTATE, he'll simply tell us to do that minutes before the game in the locker room, and expect that all 5 people on the court will do it perfectly. 

In my opinion, and in Tina's as well, we did not execute this defense well at all, we would get traps, but of course, our rotations were too slow and somehow they would get an easy bucket.  We mentioned this in the pre-practice meeting after he asked if we had anything to say.  He went on to say in portuguese (of course) that he disagreed with us, that he thought we did a nice job of trapping, b/c really, he only told us minutes before what he wanted to do, and we did well considering we hadn't practiced it.  AND he said that we are professionals and should KNOW how to trap the ball and rotate!  Tina and I are the only professionals here, so he was sort of taking a very defensive approach at answering our questions of why we don't practice a trapping-the-screen-on-the-ball defense.  I couldn't believe when i heard this, because i may be mistaken, but does he KNOW that there are 5 people on the court at once, and it takes ALL 5 to rotate when a trap on the ball happens? 

And he said that we have to work on our offense now, and we might work on defense in the future.  It might just be me, but most the drills we do in practice are pointless and a waste of time that could be better spent learning some fundamentals of team defense.  I know it's all about scoring here, but COME ON!  It's a little more about winning, at least that's what they've DRILLED into Tina's and my head.  If you can't play defense, you can't win, unless you can just be BETTER than the other team and put one more point on the board than they do, but believe me when i say that is NOT our case.

With frustration still circling my mind at that moment, i realized anything i said would be turned into some sort of defense for his means of coaching.  The only type of "defense" he thinks about... So i said nothing more and realized that there would be a line between him, and Tina and i that would be tough to cross if he didn't realize that defense wins games, too.  Now I'm a little sketchy about this email of why Catarina didn't play much, not sure how he'll take it...time will tell.

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Nov. 19

Well, we are officially on a losing streak.  Second loss came on Sunday, although I played well, and Tina did alright too...I don't ever remember having a game where I hit so many jumpers and one dribble pull-ups! I was surprising myself, seriously.  Anyway, i ended up w/ 27 pts and 13 reb. and had a really good % from the floor.  Tina had 28 pts, and took a lot of shots.  We only had 5 players score in the game, two girls had 6 pts, one had 10, then tina and i had the rest.  The team we played against had at least 4 girls at 6'2'' and they were good players, tough match ups for many of our girls.  They led for most of the game, by as much as 12 or something, but we pulled it within 4 points w/ 3 minutes to go.  Then they hit about three 3's in a row, and we came within 5 points with about 58 seconds left, and the rest of the game was them shooting freethrows and scoring other buckets.  (I really should be a sportswriter with my nice recaps of the games huh? lol, joking...)

Now we play Barcelos on Sunday, at their place.  Emi, a friend of a friend from the Soo plays for them, and I know her, sorta.  So it will be nice to see a fellow Michigander, or American for that matter; someone that i have seen and spoken to in the past.  I swear it will be like music to my ears when i get back to the states and can UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING that people around me are saying!  Just think about having only 4 people that you can hold a conversation with and be in complete understanding, and those are the only people you see and talk to, when you feel like it of course.  And two of them are only seen at practice, where you can't really even have conversations anyway, and the others are in your house, but you might not feel like talking b/c you are tired, or would rather do your own thing, watch a movie, etc. So then it's like you have NO ONE to talk to...just imagine that.  Now i think i'm rambling, my apologies.  That's a whole different story and doesn't belong in the "hoops" category =]

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This is unrelated, but we went to the pool one day to play with the kids for a couple hours, and here's a link for that on our website, it should already be translated!  (Even though it doesn't make complete sense)  see if you can find me in the picture =]

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcdpovoabasket.net%2Fwebsite&lp=pt_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

**If it doesn't show up, you may have to go to ACTIVIDADES, or something like that on top of the page, then find along the right hand side a title that says "Minis go to the BaTH" then the pictures should show up.

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Nov. 24

AHHH, yet another loss!  We played against Barcelos yesterday, and lost 72-66, or 73-66, i can't remember.  I feel like i played well, with the exception of some missed shots that normally go in.  I had 19 points and 19 rebounds... I had to tell the coach at half time that we cannot be playing zone defense on a team that is hitting every 3 that they take!  So then in the second half we played all man, and didn't give up as many 3's, but let people drive into the lane like CRAZY and get easy buckets.  Oh yeah, we were winning by 2 at halftime, before they counted the 3/4 court buzzer beater that the other team made.  At first they said it was too late, but she definitely released the ball well before the buzzer sounded.  Anyway, i was too pissed to hang around on the court to see what they decided.  The coach was also making HORRIBLE subbing decisions and putting girls on the court that like to turn their back and whip the ball behind them when they are in trouble.  ANYWAY, I could tell then it was going to be a long game. 

It was sooooo nice to finally talk to another American (Emi from Sault ste. marie) who is in a similar position as i am! She had a lot of the same feelings i did, with the other girls and no work ethic, etc...same things i've been writing about all along.  She only had 2 days to get her life together and fly out here, because they didn't call her back til Oct. 20, and they told her if she accepted the contract she had to fly out on the 22nd.  So i'm fortunate i had more time to prepare!  They have her living in a hotel with the Mexican girl who is their point guard.  She said she gets along with her, but Breezy, as they call her, is strictly ALL ABOUT BASKETBALL and goes to bed every day at 10 to get up at 7 and work out...apparently she lectured Emi about not being "serious" enough about this, and she didn't even do anything wrong! I guess we both have these interesting roommate issues =]

We don't have a game this weekend, so we are taking this opportunity to have all the girls over on friday night and have a little gathering to hopefully get our sh*t together and do some bonding before we hit the court the following weekend.  Everyone's minds are elsewhere, it seems, and there is no team unity whatsoever.  Hopefully this helps...Then Tina, myself, and hopefully Catarina are going to Porto to do some shopping.  I am VERY excited for this, it's been a while since i've done shopping at a mall.  I have to take whatever simple pleasures i can get.  And anything that reminds me of home will be graciously welcomed...

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Dec. 7

It has been a little while since our last game, so I apologize for no updates till now!  We FINALLY broke our losing streak with a very intense, exciting win last night.  I am unsure of my stats at the moment, but maybe had around 25 pts, and couldn't even guess on the rebounds.  Anyway, I did hit a running 3 pointer at the buzzer of half time, so that added to the excitement early in the game--it boosted our lead 34-30...

In the second half, we somehow managed to go down by about 10 points, and it was around an 8 point margin with 1:25 left.  We made some quick buckets, and then i hit a couple of free throws to put us within 3 points.  They had another possession and by this time, there was about 11 seconds on the clock, score was 66-63 (we're losing)... In my mind, I really thought our only shot at winning was to attempt a 3, and hope to get the rebound if we missed.  Our dribble-happy-princess-daughter-of the men's coach had the ball and was dribbling up the court, and i set about 4 screens for her, back and forth at the top of the key to hopefully get her open for the 3 (she was 2-3 for three pters in the game so far) or i would open up and get the pass from her for the 3, if it was there.  This is all what is going on in my mind as the clock was winding down.  Being so young, she probably didn't understand what to do in the situation, but being on the selfish side, she did something that ended up working.  She drove in and was LUCKILY fouled by the girl, AND her layup managed to roll in slowly, with much suspense.  So here we are, a dumb defender of theirs, fouling our youngest but cockiest player with 3.4 seconds remaining in the game, and I am standing there, knowing that it was by the grace of God that things are falling in our favor at this moment.  She hit her free throw, to tie the game at 66.  Then a time out was called, and all i really understood that was said in the huddle was, "don't try to steal the ball".  I know that what they meant to say was "don't foul them, in trying to steal the ball"...It's a good thing we don't take things LITERALLY on this team.  At this point, I'm ready to begin overtime.  We just needed to get a solid stop on D.  They took the ball out at half court.  In the corner of my eye i see Tina on the ball, jumping up and down w/ her legs kicking and everything (she had her upper eyelid all bandaged b/c she caught an elbow and was bleeding all over, needed stitches after the game.)  And before I know it, Catarina has caught the inbounds pass and is dribbling in for a layup with more than enough time as 3.4 seconds is ticking down.  (This is why I say it's a good thing we didn't do a literal translation of "don't steal the ball").  haha....So their defender pretty much tackles her on the layup.  When she finally gets up, something that only the younger players on our team would do, THEY tackled her too, in excitement, AS she is about to approach the free throw line to win the game, or send it into overtime.  At that second i had to tell them, (and Catarina was definitely agreeing) we haven't won the game yet, and Catarina is about to go to the line to shoot, so they needed to keep their excitement down until she actually MADE the free throws.  She shot them all alone at the line, b/c time had run out AND they called it an intentional foul...so i'm sure the pressure was absolutely devouring her nerves.  She made the first, and then we showed some excitement.  Then she made the second to make it a 2 point victory.  This puts us at 3-3 in the league, around 4th or 5th place out of 12. 

Now my body is nice and sore from the 40 minutes played, and luckily we have had today off, and another holiday tomorrow, the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)  We fly to the islands on Friday to play Saturday and Sunday, and we may even spend an extra day there.  It is said to be very warm at this time, and I don't think anyone would mind a little free time in warm sunny weather!

*Alright, saw the stats for the game, i had 23 pts, 9 reb. and 5 asst.

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Dec. 16

For the past week and a half, I've been sick with something mysterious.  I just say this b/c I went to the hospital here and saw a doctor, then visited a doctor at his home (a friend of Catarina's) and there weren't any tests done of any sort, so that could be the reason why we didn't know what the cause was.  Regardless, I had diarrhea for about a week, and was dehydrated, among other things, so I didn't practice at all last week.  Then we flew to the island of Madeira (off the coast of Africa, but still part of Portugal).  I didn't want to make the trip, A. b/c we could only bring 10 players and I didn't want to waste a spot, knowing that i wouldn't be of much use in my condition, and B. the traveling caused me to be more tired and wasn't good for my illness.  Nonetheless, I went on the trip, and got to watch the team get beaten by about 45 points the first day, and then about 25 points the second day.  The coach REALLY blew up during our second game at half time, and we were losing by about 10 at that point.  I was wondering where that whole thing was during the game before when we got KILLLLLED...?  I really didn't think we were playing that bad, for him to blow up like he did.  I was also very annoyed by him while I was sitting on the bench watching the game.  He would pace back and forth and make spitting noises and yell other things, haha...maybe it's just different b/c i can't understand him.  But the things that caused him to do all this weren't even that bad.  It's hard to explain, and i've seen many crazy coaches in my life, but he's on a different level...

So our record now is 3-5, 4-5 if you count our game that was during the season, but not a league game.  This weekend we play 2 games in Lisbon, so we'll stay in a hotel.  Then Tina goes home FOR GOOD, and all the other players from the states that play pro ball in Europe get to go home for Christmas break.  This girl got left outta that crowd, UNFORTUNATELY.

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Dec. 22

Hmm, where to begin?  We luckily got to take a bigger bus for our 5 hour trip to Lisbon.  It was definitely a nice change, from being cramped with no leg room on such a long ride, playing a game that night at 8:30pm.  Well, the game didn't turn out great for us, we lost 79-71.  I played really well, shot 11-15 from the floor, 5-5 free throws, 1-2 3's, had 28 pts and 12 reb.  I scored 21 of the points in the first half, bc the girls were actually TRYING to get me the ball any chance they could.  Can't say the same for the 3rd quarter, maybe got about 1 touch...Then I went to the bench w/ 4 fouls so sat about 4 minutes.  I went back in for what was left of the game (maybe 6 minutes) and had the final 7 pts.  It was frustrating, (this is been my most common emotion or feeling lately, as you can all probably guess) to say the least, b/c only a couple others were contributing.  It also didn't help that one of our best players, a 16 yr old, didn't make the trip b/c of a hurt knee. 

That evening, we didn't leave the gym til 11, drove for an hour before we got to where we ate dinner, and didn't get to the hotel til around 1:45am.  Needless to say, we didn't get a good nights' rest for our 5:30 game on Sunday.  That's what I'll blame it on.  It's tough for me to even type this b/c I really  have tried to erase it from my memory, but we lost that game 82-38.  Speaking for myself, it was a horrible game, couldn't hit shots, maybe had abouts 13 points, not sure of the boards...and really had more turnovers than usual.  We have a bogus zone offense that was keeping us from putting any points on the board, along with their GOOD zone defense.  I'm guessing they actually work on it in practice! Something we have yet to do.  Maybe after we lose 5 more games coach will realize we really need to practice defense instead of doing 2 on 2 full court for a third of our time in practice. 

Tina left for good, we dropped her off at the airport on the way home last night.  No one really had a rough time saying goodbye, but I suppose I'll miss a few things =]  Nothing related to basketball tho...

We have today off, and practice tomorrow, the 23rd.  We did a Christmas exchange of names and have to spend 5 euros, so we'll do that tomorrow after practice.  It's funny b/c I really feel gullible/like I've really been "had" by one of the girls.  We drew names on Friday night at practice, and there was about 23 of us in the drawing.  I drew Catia, the Portuguese pro that is 19, I really like her, even though she can work LOTS harder and I know it...anyway, after a little while through practice, she said "you have my name" and was smiling.  I said "how did you know?!" I assumed she had asked around figuring out who everyone else had, when really, she just said the same line to people, waiting for their reaction.  And stupid me, I gave it away...So the rest of our trip during the weekend she kept repeating "You are my Mother Christmas" hahaha, made me laugh. 

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Dec. 27

Marquetta "Q" Dickens arrived today.  Toni picked her up from the airport then brought her to the house, she seems very  nice and will hopefully help us to win some games!  She played at North Carolina State and then a year in Poland.  She's a 2-3, but played some point guard last year.  I am sure she will find out quickly how much we need all the help we can get!  On her team in Poland, she said there were 3 american professionals, and about half the girls on the team were professionals from other countries. 

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Dec. 31

Just a quick update to say that Q is a MUCH better fit for us.  I'm excited to play our first game w/ the new addition.  It feels weird to see myself type that, considering the games aren't really fun here, just sort of like torture.  LOL, hope that changes with the new year.  As for our New Year's Eve plans, we don't really have any.  Many people here do things with their families to pass the new year, then might get together with friends after that.  It's also hard because we don't know anyone else around here or in Porto that will be out and about before the clock strikes.  I'm actually feeling a bit lazy at the moment and don't feel like traveling anywhere, or spending money at places when i could stay at the house and watch something like the top moments of 2008 or anything similar on our 5 inch plasma tv =]

They may have kept our game that was originally scheduled for this sunday (jan 4) instead of rescheduling it.  We shall see...