The beginning
Pre-season Workouts and training have officially come to an end for Galatasaray! We will be departing for Kitakyushu, Japan this week, and our first game is in our crosshairs. It’s Safe to say I’m excited! This tournament in Kitakyushu will kick off what I hope to be an incredible season. Preperation has been not only successful, but also intensely challenging, fun, and productive. The team this season has a great amount of talent, which if you are familiar with the names on the roster it goes without saying; however our collective talent isn’t what impresses me. I’ve seen and been on talented teams that have prospered, but also talented groups of players that crashed and burned. My excitement about this team stems from the qualities each individual possesses. We have great balance of hard work, intelligence and leadership to compliment our power, speed, and ability to shoot the ball. The coaching staff demands excellence from each and every one of our personnel so we are constantly pushing each other to improve everyday. It has been an unbelievable training environment so far, and this is only the beginning. I’m really looking forward to hopping on that plane, rolling out on the court and showing what we can do. I’ve been searching for a website that will allow you to accurately follow the tournaments stats and results, but I failed! The best I could do was find a website that briefly summarized what the tournament is all about. http://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/english/e20100019.html. I will keep you all posted on how the competition unfolds. Keep us in your thoughts and best wishes as we compete to be the World’s Best Club Team!
Starting over
For the past couple weeks I have been readjusting to my new apartment in Istanbul. 3 years in the same apartment I had grown very comfortable there, so moving was a difficult process. Moving from the apartment itself was the easy part. I love my new place! It’s got a VERY HIGH city view from the 24th floor, Fitness center, Indoor/outdoor pool, Sauna, Hamam, Basketball/Tennis court. Deffinately a nice place! I feel a little uprooted for the time being though. With it being in a different area of Istanbul than I’m used to I’ve been consumed in finding grocery stores, A new barber, Banks, Different entertainment outlets, Things of that nature. I’m slowly getting used to being here and the qualities of the property have kept a smile on my face. Living so close to my teammates is also new for me, and has been a lot of fun and very convenient. Any time I want to see one of their ugly faces they are just a building or two away! I have a feeling once I get used to the area I will like it better than where I was before, but I’m missing my repair man, my neighbors, the crazy gypsy that sells flowers on the corner and heckles me about playing for Galatasaray, the random pack of stray dogs, It all meant a lot to me! Starting over isn’t so bad though and experiencing something new is always refreshing. On that note I’m wrapping this one up. Much love to my friends, family and supporters. I wish I could experience this with all of you. but I hope in reading my blogs you can get a feel of what a day on my wheels is like.
