ITALIAN LEAGUE CHAMPS!!!!!

We won!!!!! We finally played like the champions we've been all season long. We crushed them in the first half and were leading by 16 points. It was one of the best halves of team basketball that we've played this year. Our offense was great, but our defense was smothering! Their best player made the huge mistake of guaranteeing a victory on our floor. Very dumb... She finished the night with 3 points and 4 fouls :)

I had one of my best shooting nights in a long time, and one of my best defensive performances as well. Our goal was to just leave all that we had out on the court, and we did that amongst foul trouble for both teams. I'm just really proud of us. And the crowd was amazing! The rowdiest 3000 people I've ever seen. You've never heard a crowd cheer louder for a free throw in the first quarter than they did! You can imagine the eruption after one of my three three-pointers. (What an amazing feeling...) With the help of legalized artificial noise-makers (mostly in the form of blow horns) we couldn't hear almost anything during the game. My ears were ringing when we went in for half-time. I translate for our team before the game and during half-time and I felt like I was shouting the english version of coach's speech. It was probably OK because everyone else was most likely in the same position.

The following celebration was WILD! So many people stormed the court to jump around and sing and hug us that we couldn't hardly move around to find each other. We got treated like rock stars. People just wanting to touch our hands or jerseys. I couldn't hardly smile anymore after all the pictures I took. People were about lined up and were grabbing me and turning me around for a good 10-15 minutes. And about half of those people asked me for my jersey, my headband, my shorts, a shoelace, a ponytail holder, anything! It was nuts. Can't believe we almost missed out on an experience like that. Absolutely priceless.

Jodi in Regionals

In other news, Jodi and the LC Wildcats are the number one seed in their regional that they are hosting in Pineville. So far, they have won their first round game, and they play again today. This is the tourney they need to win in order to make it to the World Series, or the final eight teams, which would be the only way I could see her play since we are in this stinking Game 5 tomorrow. The Montagnino sisters are still both in the hunt for national championships this year. Let's finish strong!

.....................................................................

After two days, they Wildcats are in the championship game today that will be played right after ours. Jodi hit two home runs yesterday!!!!

Not how I planned this in my head...

When you get out-played, out-hustled, and out-rebounded, you're not really supposed to have a chance to win at the end of the game. We did, however. It was a tied game after a 3-ball by our Italian-American guard with about a minute left, and then their best player that had been almost non-existent since the first quarter returned with a HUGE three with someone in her face. We had a missed shot or a turnover on the other end of the floor, and then had to foul. They made some free throws, and I got thrown back in to hit a three, did so, but we just couldn't find a way to win this time. We have lost 2 games in a row for possibly the first time this season, and the 5-game series is now tied at 2 a-piece. We play a "winner-take-all" Game 5 Sunday. Last game of the season either way. We're going home either way. How bad do we want to win? How well can we bounce back after some adversity? I'm curious to find out. And I will always believe in this team.

big time bummer...

We just let a crowd of over 3000 fans down... Not a good feeling. We were losing most of the time and then still had a chance to cut the lead late in the game, but could not make our free throws... We also didn't hit our outside shots like we normally do, and their ace did. We were confident that they couldn't beat us on our home floor, and they came ready to play today, with absolutely nothing to lose... We leave tomorrow to play away thursday, and we CANNOT leave it up to one last game at home. Anything can happen in one game, and we have worked WAY too hard to lose a championship now. No, that can't happen. Gotta bounce back and pull together!

2 down, 1 to go!!!

It wasn't as pretty of a game, but we got the "W"! The other team played a lot of a "box and 1" defense, which is 4 people in a zone defense, mostly guarding an area, and then one player man-to-man following one particular player around. It was more strategic because it's difficult to attack at times, especially if a team is confused on whether to run a "man" play or a "zone" play or the ONE designated play we have for a "box and 1". I was always the one followed around when I was on the court, and another American guard was when she was on the court, so needless to say, we didn't get many touches. It was frustrating at times, but all that goes away when others step up to make plays and make them pay for playing that kind of defense. So, I'm really proud of us, and we are going for the complete play-off sweep on Tuesday!!!

Game 1 of the Finals, W!

We really showed some character tonight as a team. We played on the road in front of a packed house, and it was so loud we could hardly hear each other--artificial noise-makers aren't banned from arenas here, so people just bring horns and other instruments to blow all game long if they want. My ears were ringing when we went in for half-time.

We ended up winning by 8 points, and our back-up point-guard who doesn't normally play much had several big plays for us in the second half. And that's just what the play-offs are all about--people stepping up and playing big for their team during the clutch. Gotta love it!

ASC Champs!

Well, Jodi's team has done it again! This is her 2nd conference tournament title, and Louisiana College's 3rd in 6 years. They won the first game, lost the second, and then had to battle all the way back from the losers' bracket to the championship game. Then they had to beat the current #1 team in the nation twice in order to win it all. Not only did they do that, but Jodi broke the school single-season Home Run record in the sixth inning with a 3-run shot over the centerfield wall en route to a 10-0 victory. So proud of her and their team, and now they wait on the picks for the Regionals that again, I will only make if we win in 3 games in the finals! Unlikely, but let's hope, pray, and play for the best! :)

Pictured above is the "Record Breaker" and below that are the 5 seniors receiving the trophy from the ASC commissioner.

We're goin to the 'ship!

We won game 3!!! Quite handily if I do say so (13 pts.) I finally had one of those nights where I couldn't miss (except for a left-handed lay-up!). I went 4-4 from the three-point line, and TWO of those bounced around before going in. You know it's gonna be a good day when that happens! I'll take a lil bit of chance every now and then, especially in the semi-finals in front of 2500 people :)

I'm very proud of our team, and the way we are playing well and working hard. It's such an experience to be a part of something like this. We now await our next opponents that have their game 4 tomorrow evening. We have today and tomorrow off, so hopefully we can recharge the batteries a bit before playing game 1 next wednesday. Let's do it!!!!

Game 2, barely a W

We squeaked out another win! Only by three points, but a win is a win, and we will have a chance to close out the series tuesday (while the other semifinal series is going to at least 4 games now). Wish I could have been more productive, but it feels great to be a part of something so special. Let's do it girls!

Game 1, W!

It wasn't a pretty game in Venice, but we pulled out the win. Let's just say this, when I came out with 3 minutes left in the game, I was the leading scorer with NINE points. That's correct, we almost not only finished, but won a road game without anyone in double digit scoring. They fouled one of our guards three times in the last minute, however, and she hit 6 FT to end up with 11.

There was a moment before the game, that it actually hit me what was happening. It was kind of a surreal feeling. It hit me that I was playing in the Italian championship semi-finals on the road! Me! And at that point, I was just so thankful for where I had arrived and was able to find my "calm center" or whatever you want to call it, and was able to just have fun and enjoy the pressure.

We play game 2 tomorrow, and then game 3 Tuesday, both at home. Hopefully that will be it for the series and then off to the finals!

Quarters... Check!

Alright, one series down, two to go for a championship!

We are moving on to the Semifinals, and our next opponent still has to be determined by a third game. One is a very skilled team that has been in the top 4 the entire season, and another has crept up near the end and is much more of a physical team than anything else. Not much basketball gets played against them; it's really a "gut check". So I don't have a preference for who we play, but in a 5-game series like the next two rounds I don't think any team can beat us right now. We need to keep our confidence and handle being the best and getting everyone's best game like we have lately. Thankfully, it's all in our hands :)

Play-off Time!

Yes!!! Play-off time is finally here! It's what we've been working for since September. It's why we've been pushing ourselves to the limits this whole year, and it's why we've put so much emphasis on winning games to be in first place (we finished the regular season with a record of 21-1 with the second place team scoring a 17-5 record). Tomorrow is my first professional play-off game, and we are excited to start getting closer to the championship we feel we deserve.

Plus, Jodi has won some awards recently. For two weeks in a row she has won her conference hitter of the week, and also a state-wide softball hitter of the week for all universities! So proud still. No jinxing going on here, but she has tied the school record for homers at 9, so we hope she can keep doing what she's doing. Here's the article: http://www.lcwildcats.net/news/2010/4/8/SB_0408101821.aspx

Grand Slam!

Ok, updates! Jodi's team is still ranked first in the nation. They've still only lost 1 game, and as the title suggests, Jodi has hit her first career Grand Slam! My dad was there to see it, and when he told my mom, she thought it was an April Fool's joke at first :)

We won with a buzzer beater at home against a team that was fighting for a higher play-off spot, and like I mentioned before, didn't matter to us. We have one more of those in Venice on Monday (yep, which means we have to travel on Easter... garbage.). However, this time the game doesn't affect how Venice ends up either, so we are playing strictly for pride! And possibly the best regular season record, but I'm not actually sure on that.

Secured

With our win Sunday we have clinched the first place seed for the play-offs! This only means that we will have home court advantage through-out the play-offs, which is a big advantage, but winning on the road will play a big part in finishing the 3- or 5-game series early and having more rest than the other teams. We aren't at a place where we are playing great right now, so hopefully these next two weeks against two top four teams (that don't matter at all for seeding for us, but tons for them) we can get back to just playing ball freely. We need to be rolling by the time the play-offs start in a couple of weeks!

Plus, Jodi's got a game Wed. against a big rival. I believe LC is ranked number 1 still, and the other team is currently number 2 in the nation. Should be a great game!

Two current national #1's

From Jodi's team website: (http://www.lcwildcats.net/index.aspx?path=softball)

LC softball moves to No. 1 in nation

3.17.2010 | Softball

PINEVILLE - It wasn't exactly worst to first, but the Louisiana College softball team did manage to move from unranked in the initial National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll three weeks ago to No. 1 in a matter of one month.

And we have a chance this weekend to seal up our number one spot for the play-offs we 3 regular season games left (http://www.eurobasket.com/Italy/basketball.asp?Women=1)

A1 Standings

1. Taranto 18-1 2. Familia Schio 15-4 3. Faenza 15-4 4. Umana Reyer 13-6 5. Priolo 11-8 6. Comense 9-10 7. Bracco Geas 8-11 8. Umbertide 7-12 9. Livorno 6-13 10. GMA Napoli 5-14 11. Basket Parma 5-14 12. Vomero NA 2-17

Hope we can keep it rollin'!

Back on the Winning Streak

Alright. We've had a couple of games against one middle team and a bottom team, and not only did we get the wins, but we played much harder and much more like a team. I've been doing some extra shooting (and visualizing shooting), so I'm kind of getting my shot back as well. Now we have another week of practice, then we play against a decent team, another week of practice and play against one of the top teams at home, another week of practice, then we play at Venice again (another top team) and then the play-offs begin! The weather is getting nicer, but just not quite warm enough to hang out at the beach. None of us can wait until then....

Update on the Jode-ster! Louisiana College is still undefeated, and they are now ranked third in the nation! She is still on fire and hit three home-runs this past weekend (to bring her total to 5 on the year) at their tournament in Panama City Beach, and the parentals were there to see it all. Her personality is apparently contagious on the team, so as a leader she is spreading a great work ethic as well as having a blast while out on the field. I think they have a great chance at making a run at a national title this year (granted, I haven't seen a game yet!), and that makes me happy because that's probably the only way I'll get to see them play due to the long play-off schedule we have and the fact that we should be playing all the way through the finals ourselves. Go Wildcats and Forza Cras!

(P.S. I know that top picture looks like they made me eat the ball, but somehow falling to the ground, I leaned back a bit and not only got the shot off, but made the basket. No foul was called. This is the game we lost at Venice for the Italian Cup, so I was upset for the game, but this play is one of my career highlights. Wish I could do that more often!)

Sorry, Maybe Next Year....

We didn't even win the semi-final game of the Italian Cup... We knew the first game against Venice would be tough since we were playing at Venice, but we always knew we were a better team, especially without one of their top players that just went down with a knee injury. It was really a dramatic game, and I had a fantastic 2nd quarter, but I just don't feel like recounting what happened... It was really "nightmare-ish", and I'm upset that pretty much all of us missed out on the opportunity for our first Italian Cup Championship (and the bonuses we would have gotten with even one of those victories...........)

Ok, it's over, and the meeting with our coach today was about owning up to being the best. We need to know we are the best, accept that every team is going to bring us their best game every game and we need to be fine with that and bring our best right back at them. We aren't "playing" any more games, but we are "challenging" them every game. He wants to see more fire and more fight in us, and I think he's right. It was up to me to translate today, like almost always, to the foreigners, so I hope I conveyed his message strongly enough.

We are playing a make-up game Wednesday away and then we are finally back for a home game Sunday. Then, if we can believe it, just three more regular season games and then the play-offs! Time just flies by after the Christmas break. What we are focusing on now is staying in our first place position in the league to go into the play-offs with "home field advantage". Crucial.

Jodi ballin' out as a Senior already!

My lil' sis is just growing up so fast! She really worked hard this summer to put herself in a position to be a leader in her last year of college softball at Louisiana College, and she is already seeing the fruits of her labor. They have been a top contender in their conference for years now, and they have also regularly been nationally ranked in the NCAA Division III.

A little background history for those of you who may not know: she was all set to go to LSU and be just a student there and then she played in one more summer softball tournament and pitched one of the games of her life! The LC coach saw her and recruited her and her teammate (now her roommate of 4 years!) to play at the very nice private college for a partial academic scholarship (Div. III schools don't have athletic scholarships). As a freshman she was an all-conference pitcher, but then got moved to right field for her last two seasons. However, she was able to bat every game, which is something she was very eager to do. I'm not sure how many conference championships they've won, but I have made all three conference tournaments she's had (but will miss this year's due to our play-offs!) and they've won at least one of those. This year, due to injuries, she has been asked to "un-retire" from pitching after two seasons and make a come back. And when she's not pitching, she's the starting center-fielder and 3-hole hitter for now. They've only played four games so far, but she's already gotten a win as a pitcher (they're 4-0 overall) and she just hit a 2-run homer last game. You could pretty much say that I'm a proud sister :) I'll try and keep you guys up-to-date on Jodi as well every now and then.

Check out these great montages that our cousin's husband did of her game. Bravissimo Michael!

And the streak ends....

We lost tonight... Our record ends here, on the road at one of the other top team's place (Schio), at 16 games. It was a good run, but we just did not shoot the ball well tonight. We took all the shots we normally do, but they didn't fall and we didn't compensate with our defense. But we have the Italian Cup next weekend, so if we win our first game and Schio wins their game, we will have our chance of revenge... which is really something we want now because they shot a layup at the buzzer to go up by 13 and then continued to celebrate like they won some kind of championship. We had such a bad taste in our mouths, that the 4 Americans decided to skip out on the dinner we had agreed to go to with some of the other team's players. Again, I love how competitive we are :)

Practice, Practice, Practice...

Ok, we've won a couple of Italian league games, but not by much! We joke that we are an undefeated team and have set a record of consecutive victories, but we are not so overpowering that we are just blowing everyone out by 20 points. On the contrary, we basically aren't blowing ANYONE out--not even by 10 most of the time. We just know we are going to win, and seem to know how to finish a game in the end. But we can't continue to play like this because things are going to get tougher and tougher. The last games we have left are against the top teams in the league, almost all of them away. And we don't want to give any one of them any confidence that they can beat us in the play-offs, so we need to stay on top and be rolling when we enter into the long post-season.

I wish I could say that I've been playing at my best, but I haven't. In the last 3 out of 4 games, I've only played about 10 minutes, and I'm not sure whether the chicken (less playing time) or the egg (sub-par performances) came first... Therefore, I'm battling accepting my role as a team player, being frustrated about not getting what I may think I deserve, and fighting to improve on the things that I may be sitting down for. The best advice I've been getting recently is to just control what I can control, and that does not include the other team, the refs, our coach, or anyone else... just ME! Me, my attitude and my work ethic.

We have a game at one of the top teams this Sunday, and then we have the Italian Cup in Venice the following weekend.

End of Euroleague Chapter...

We lost.... They may have had better individual players, but I felt like we had a better team and could have won. It's a shame, but we are really concerned about how much time we will have now in between games. We will still be practicing twice a day almost every day, but without all the traveling in the middle of every other week, I feel like I'm going to have to take up a hobby or something! We'll see. This week and next week has been devoted to getting ourselves back in shape and back to the basics. We haven't even had time or enough days in between games to lift weights enough, so we are doing that a few times a week and our coaches ran the heck out of us today! I'm a bit sore again, but it's a good sore. I feel like I'm being productive :)

Our goal now is to win the Italian Cup, which is in a month. No surprises on who made it: the top four teams in the league. But, as the top-seed, we should have had "dibs" on hosting. Instead, the 4-seed, Venice is hosting, so we will have to beat the home team for the Semi-finals. I've compared us to the Yankees of the Women's Italian league before just because we really do have a "stacked" team, and a teammate has also compared us to the Lakers just because everybody seems to love to hate us. They don't want to see us continue to do well, and they think we get special treatment because of the name on our jerseys (which is actually hard to find amongst our sponsors...) That's fine, we'll just have to overcome. It almost makes us feel like we're the underdogs even though we still haven't lost a game in league play. Plus, Taranto lost the Italian Cup last year, but went on the win the championship. It would be nice to have a chance to win both!

Euroleague, round of 16!

I'm proud of our team for the way we are handling our first ever Euroleague experience, but we just came up a bit short playing in Istanbul two nights ago. We left at 5:15 in the morning a few days ago, arrived at around 3, practiced at about 8 p.m., then went to bed. Shoot-around practice was at 12, then we played at 7:30 in a gym that more resembled a high school gym instead of housing the strong Turkish team that it was. It was a shooters' gym however (meaning that on at least two of the sides of each basket was a wall, making vision of the rim much clearer on where to aim). We had the game in our hands. We could smell victory even though we were the underdogs. But then, they made a run, and we ended up losing by 6. The next morning we left at 3:45 in the morning, and I'd be surprised if half of us actually got any sleep... I certainly didn't...

Some of us blamed our coach for not changing how we played pick and rolls, some of us blamed the refs (which seemed valid since two of their players shot 23 free throws together and our whole team shot 9 FT for the night), and I was just frustrated mostly because I felt like I couldn't help out being on the bench most of the night. For whatever reason, I only played 10 minutes--my lowest of the season. I went 3/3 from the three point line, so it wasn't as if I couldn't score, but I hate just sitting there watching us lose. Maybe our coach thought that I would have trouble with my height because their two guards were both about 6' 1", but Penny Taylor had 28 points anyways, so I couldn't have done much worse, I hope. I don't blame anyone, but we still have a chance to take this series because we play here again tomorrow to try and force a game 3 back in Istanbul. I'll keep you guys updated :)

Wikipedia

I'm not sure what the exact standards of "big timing" are, but having your own Wikipedia article is pretty cool (No matter what language it's in...). http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jami_Gaynell_Montagnino

Almost any time I think about Wikipedia though, I'm reminded of the words of Michael Scott (from the show The Office, one of my few faves) on the subject: "Wikipedia is the best thing ever... Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you KNOW you are getting the best possible information." Love it. I know I didn't do it justice, so here's my source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFBDn5PiL00

Life's so crazy. I'm humbled every time something like this comes up. I'm not sure how God took this small, shy kid from Christian Life Academy who loved to play sports and turned that kid into a decently successful professional athlete, but He did. I mean, I know it happens because where else do pro athletes come from, but why me? I have to wonder sometimes, but I know that I'm also here because I've worked very hard to have the chance to do this over the past decade-plus. It's a daily battle to find that balance between having some "swagger" on the court and staying humble. It's something that we will probably never cease to search for.

A battle??? or just rugby?

We just played against one of those teams that it doesn't really matter how good you are at basketball, it's more about how tough you are (physically and mentally). The game got a bit rough at times, but this team is known for how chaotic, and oftentimes dirty, they play. They will get a few cheap shots in to try and bait you into a retaliation, and they will fake and flop on some plays to get some fouls called, all aimed at throwing you off your game and trying to get an advantage by compensating for what they seem to lack in talent. It was the first time that I've experienced a coach getting two technical fouls called to be thrown out of a game at the professional level, and luckily I was at the free throw line when that happened. If I hadn't gone 6 for 6 from the free throw line (4 of those thanks to the coach's "T's") I, unfortunately, would not have scored. I would have joined my other two American guards in that situation though, and only one of them was out sick. It was just a difficult game for the "little people"--we didn't get many shots off, but that opened up things for our post players, who really stepped up for us. This game set a record for consecutive victories at 14, and the next two teams below us already have 3 losses, so clinching the top seed for the play-offs should be all ours if we keep rolling.

I'll take this time to explain a little bit about what's going on. Some might find this boring, but I know that some are curious to how the European leagues function. Here ya go either way:

We are now taking a break from the Italian League as we head into the next round of what is called the "Italian Cup". Pretty much every country has their own "Cup" championship that is secondary the the end-of-the-season-play-offs championship. I thought it was silly, but the winner has a good chance of being apart of the Euroleague the next season, so I guess understand it's real motive now. We will play away and then at home against Parma, and the point differential will decide who moves on to the final four.

On the other hand, the next week will be the next round for Euroleague. A whole different ball game. We are matched up with a very good Turkish team that will be extremely difficult for us to beat. It will be a best-of a 3-game series, and since they are the higher-seeded team, we will play in Istanbul first, then at home, and the if-necessary game would be back in Istanbul. Unlike the Italian league, we are NOT the favorites, so that means we get to play like we have nothing to lose. I got no problem being the underdog :)

(Uncle Tommy left for Rome today, but this is a picture taken after our win against the Lithuanian team. That's my buddy Salvatore, or as we call him, Totes, who is now a buddy of Uncle Tommy's too!)

Mountains and Valleys

Basketball, which in so many ways is a microcosm of life, has its ups and downs. The downs in sports are most commonly referred to as "slumps". They happen. I've had a couple of them this season. For me, they are mostly shooting slumps, but sometimes they can just be mental fatigue when you are in a place that just doesn't have the passion or desire to go to practice or play with your absolute best effort that day. To be honest, I don't feel like writing when I'm currently in a "slump". I don't feel like it AND I know that that's not fun and interesting to read about. But this blog is about my experiences over here, and without publicly throwing out names and specific frustrations that I'm having, I'll just keep it at that I was frustrated with myself for not doing what I needed to with (what I considered) a small amount opportunities. I can never get mad and frustrated with a coach for not playing me more or at teammates for not passing the ball or something (Thanks for Coach Dallimore for reminding me that!). I can only control my attitude and how hard I work, and when those two things are where they need to be, most of the time everything falls into place.

Thankfully, my "slump" only lasted a couple of games, and the two games that my Uncle Tommy has been here to see have been good wins and good games for me! We have one more home game to play while he's here, and all has gone really well so far. I've showed him all around the city, and he's loved every bit of it. He's a great tourist buddy as well as a fine guest (he naps when I nap and even eats when I eat--pregame meals and all!). Tomorrow we are going on a little road trip to somewhere north of here because our coach actually gave us the day off tomorrow for playing well! Awesome. We'll see if we can extend the list of things Uncle Tommy has never eaten before in his life before this trip. It's pretty long already--including octopus, gnocchi, pasta with lobster, prosciutto and mozarella, red pesto pasta, tripe, and several other things that maybe share the same name, but are NOT the same as the American version (i.e. Tiramisu, italian sausage, risotto, eggplant lasagna, etc.)

Back down to Earth...

We won our first game back from the break without one of our starting guards, on the road, against the number 6 team in our league by 15 points. Not bad. It set a club record for consecutive victories at 12 to send us on the road to play against one of the top 4 teams in all of Euroleague. We upset them when they came here, but they were still supposed to blow us out by 30 points. And what did they do??? They blew us out by about 30 points. It may have been 28 because we had a lay-up at the buzzer. We tied it up at 31-31 late in the first half, but we never had control of the game. As a team, we were upset directly after the game obviously because that's just plain embarrassing with the "junior high" performance we put out there (in fact, at dinner when the hotel restaurant served some of our team and staff wine, we had to ask each other, "should 8th graders really be drinking wine???"). Our team is very competitive, but I am glad that we don't take things too seriously. We are able to laugh at ourselves for dumb things that happened in the game, and we do our best to fix them for next time. Playing with people like that just help the overall morale, and keeps people from getting "burned out" too quickly.

If games like these keep us grounded for our Italian league games, then some positive can come from the blow-out. Getting spanked by the Russian champs several weeks ago and now the Spanish league champs definitely keeps us from getting the big head! On another note, my uncle Tommy arrives Saturday to catch 3 straight home games and to visit Italy for the first time, so we are excited about that!

back to work!

Nothing much to report. We feel as though we are back to doing pre-season exercises at times, which consist of more running and agilities with little thought of how heavy our legs feel or how tired we are. With reason, however, because this will be our only chance to get back into shape before we start playing every three or four days, but two-a-days will just wear you out!

On another note, I've underestimated the mental transition that takes place every time we go from one "home" to the other. I almost felt like an actress, where I wasn't sure which one was the reality (as if one of them isn't...). It just takes a completely different mindset for each place. Ignoring how much jet lag is getting to us, and how sleep deprived the Americans were today at both practices, for one thing, on one side of the ocean we are all staying at our parents homes. I for one take full advantage of how spoiled I get when I'm home (love you mom!) and I love getting to see both sides of the family for Christmas, and then words can't describe how great it is having Morgan and Jodi around everyday to do stuff with (even though Jodi sleeps too late in the day and Morgan wakes up too early...). Then on the other side of the ocean, we are all living in apartments by ourselves, foreign country with a language barrier to deal with everywhere, we are in the same locker room and on the same court almost every day, twice a day with the same people. When you go hang out, it's with people you are in forced contact with. Not that we don't like each other or anything, but when you see each other so much, we don't always choose to go do other things with those same people. There are local friends you meet, which I have been very fortunate to find a few good ones (that speak great english too!), but we don't have the background that friends back home have. However, it is a fantastic cultural experience to go through, and I do cherish it.

But you know what? For most of us, even if you look at all these differences and see only negatives, which I thankfully DO NOT, and that same person is making a decent living, if they are just PLAYING well, it pretty much erases all of those supposed down points. It's just amazing how heavily our morale self-esteems are affected by that. On the other hand, even though life is great, and you are just in a slump, you have blinders on and the only thing you see in front of you instead is that life stinks. I think this pushes us to be our best on a daily basis, so I appreciate this characteristic in my teammates.