One-way-round-trip!

Let's see, last time you heard from me I just got back from a great trip to Barcelona. A lot of things have happened since then and that's why it took so long before I decided to write this... Pio XII has done a lot better since the short losing streak in the first half of the season and is now getting back on track. I think I have mentioned/complained about my injury before so I'll try not to say too much about it this time... 

After two weeks of rest and rehab in November, my foot felt better and I was able to slowly start practicing with the team again. Everything was great and I was excited to dress up for our next home game against Ferrol. Personally I was disappointed with the game, but we won!! The day after I started feeling a little pain in my foot and I realized it might have been a mistake to start back up so soon. In my defense I had been cleared to play and the pressure to help the team and to put up some good numbers made it hard to protest and sit out even longer. I was not sure what to do next with Christmas break only being one week away, but then the team trainer made the decision for me and gave me some stronger NSAIDs... 

Of course I was stupid and continued practicing since the pain wasn't bad at all, but after being benched for 31 mins in the last game in Ourense I understood it was not worth fightingThe pain was already killing me again... That was the last game for our other foreign player Andrea who moved home that next day. It was a sad goodbye, but I think like the rest of us she was happy she would get to see her family and friends again in a couple of days. I have no doubt that she will find another team for the rest of the season! 

That last week I found out that the club decided to extend my contract one month to give me a chance to get healthy and back into the shape I was earlier in the season. I had explained to him that I was going to need more time to recover completely since the 2 weeks wasn't enough and he seemed to agree. I appreciated that  they believed I could still be an important player to the team. Even though my playing time and numbers didn't show it, they seemed to still want me to stay and that was good I guess. Something was stopping me from celebrating too much though, because I never got the impression that Jacinto trusted me in the games... 

Making gingerbread cookies!

The last Sunday before Christmas I finally I got on the plane to go home for a 6-day break. It took me a whole day just to get to Oslo and when I arrived, of course my bag didn't. I shouldn't complain because I know many people had flights that got cancelled and I did get my bag already the next day :) The week at home went by tooo fast. I did stuff everyday and had a lot of fun with my friends and family. It wasn't nearly enough time to do everything or see all the people I wanted, but a very successful and much-needed break indeed. 

Lydia and I (and Therese)... 

Coming back to Santiago I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was surprised when coach thought I was instantly ready to practice like nothing was wrong. No miracle had happened in Norway and I still needed more rest for my foot. The next few days were really awkward because I could tell that the coaches were nervous after finding out I needed at least 3 more weeks before I could start running again. With only 7 healthy players they would have a problem against the no.2 and no.3 team in the next two games. When they extended my contract they didn't expect it to take so long for me to recover. I knew what was coming and when the coach asked me if I had thought about going home I had already made up my mind. It would be better to cancel the contract now instead of waiting till the end of January before being sent home because I wasn't ready to play. 

So here I am sitting in my apartment in Santiago getting ready to go back home again in two days. It will be sad saying goodbye to the friends I made here, but I hope this isn't the last time I will play in Spain and that I will see them in the future. The time I spent here was a valuable experience and even if it was cut short my career is far from over. The number one priority now is getting healthy and then hopefully be able to finish the season somewhere else. Now I have to continue packing up all my stuff. I wonder how it is that I came with one bag and now I'm leaving with 3... 

Hasta la vista! 

Barcelona

Room with a view... Plaza de Cataluna  

I had finally made it to the city I have heard so much about and always wanted to see! My mom had picked the perfect hotel in the middle of the city right across from Plaza de Cataluña. After settling in and relaxing for a little bit we decided that since all the malls and shops are closed on Sundays, we should do that now. We didn't have to walk far to find a leather factory and went inside to look for a jacket for my mom. We hadn't been there long until the owner (??) was throwing special offers at us. He told us about the time he was in Norway in the 50's and was extremely "helpful" finding us both coats that he thought were perfect. We didn't agree until we were almost about to make an escape until we saw something we liked. So after some bargaining and refreshments (bottled water) we did end up with a bargain! Good thing we went into the store with the intention of buying because they were not letting us leave empty-handed... We looked in a few stores and a mall in the area before we figured it was time to eat and were happy to see that Hard Rock Cafe was literally our hotel's next door neighbor. I have nothing against the Spanish cuisine, but I think I had my fair share of weird seafood for a while :) My mom didn't mind and I know she enjoyed her ribs and chicken too. 

Ready to dig in :)

Sagrada Familia under constuction since 1882

The next day we spend sightseeing in Barcelona. I was happy they had tour buses all around the city since my foot wouldn't let me walk too much... From the rooftop of the bus we could enjoy the view and the sun and the wind :) The main attraction was of course La Sagrada Familia, a big Roman Catholic church known as the symbol of Barcelona. Antoni Gaudi is the designer of the church that still isn't finished 128 years after they started building it! Another place we went to was Parc Güell created by the same architect. The bus also stopped by Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona's stadium. My mom and I spent some time in the fan shop there... 

Parc Geüll

Aren't we cute? 

Later in the afternoon we decided to find a way to get to Tarragona (about 1 hour south) for some basketball action... The plan was to take the train in plenty of time to locate the gym. but that was before we arrived at the train station and realized that the train we had seen on the table didn't run on Sundays... The next one would take us there way too late. Already having bought the tickets we were not ready to give up so the solution was to take the train to the station before Tarragona and then maybe grab a taxi. Miraculously we made it to the game alive (the taxi driver was going way too fast...) and just in time! for the second half.... But it was well worth it as CB Tarragona won an extremely close game (1 point) against the team from Palma. After the game I got to meet and talk to fellow Norwegian Terrence who plays for CB Tarragona. Turned out he was going to Barcelona with a few teammate that night, so I got to hang out with them as they celebrated the win. It's always fun to meet other pro players to share experiences with, and I had a fun last night in Barcelona. The next morning my mini-vacation was over and I got on the flight back to Santiago. It was back to work for my mom too who returned to Oslo not much later. 

W!!

At least the train is always on track...

Things were definitely not running smoothly for Pio in the game against Burgos last Friday... Or in the game this weekend against Arxil. I have nothing to say about the Arxil game except that we lost and that it was very cold on the bench...(If you want to know more go here)  So I'd rather tell you about the previous week.

We left early on a rainy Friday morning for the road trip to Burgos. For the first time I was able to sleep for most of the 6 hour on the bus as we drove east, and before I knew it we pulled up to the hotel. The first thing I noticed about the city was that it was excellent for riding a bike as it was flat and had more than 1 km of bike lanes :-P The game was not until late in the evening so after our pre-game meal we had time for a much needed nap (yes, another one ;) ). Sleeping is a great time-killer! The only bad thing about naps is that I always have these crazy dreams that feel so real it's scary. Usually they are so weird and twisted that there is no way they could be real though...

Anyways, time to get on the bus! I had my music, my painkillers and my mind set on the game. At least trying as hard as I can to just focus on what I have to do on the court and not on the pressure to perform or the pain. Those that know me would be able to tell that I haven't been completely myself lately. Telling yourself not to think about something usually doesn't work very well. I have to admit that I had I had one big thought in the back of my head; after this game I was going to have to stop for a while to heal my plantar fasciitis. The bad thing is that this was my biggest motivation to get this game started :-P  For those that don't know, the pain can be excruciating! An advice: if you start getting it: stop doing whatever is aggravating the inflamed arch tendon because it will get to a point where it hurts ALL THE TIME. Hiding the pain with anti-inflammatory drugs might be worth it in the start, but not when you can't walk or stand because it hurts too much... I know I'm not the only one that is having or has had the same problem and I want to thank all my friends that have given me tips on how to treat plantar fasciitis :)

Looks like I'm trying to fly away... 

Let's get back on track to where I was, the game in Burgos; we did not get off to a good start :( giving up 5 offensive rebounds in a row is not how you win games... But we did end up with 4 more boards than them in the end. I'm sad to say the game was never really close, but a 20 deficit is not much in basketball and we had every possibility to battle back in the second half. We did battle, for a little bit, but Burgos took advantage of our zone which left them with wide open shots from the 3pt line too many times. Their 41% against our 17% made a huge difference. Coming out of our zone we did better and won the 3rd quarter by 5. 10 mins should be plenty of time as long as we get stops on defense I thought, but I felt like when we didn't succeed we fell apart (or derailed I should say). Final score 76-57... Not many happy faces after the last buzzer went off, but I did see one smiling lady in the stands behind our bench. Yes, my mom was at the game and it was comforting to get a hug and some Freia melkesjokolade after a game like that. "At least you made all your free-throws" was the first thing she said to me haha :)

Instead of climbing back on the bus and head back to Santiago I stayed with my mom who was in Spain until Monday for "educational purposes" (one day at the science museum in Burgos!) I had the weekend off and only had to be back in Santiago before Monday afternoon so we quickly planned to take the train to Barcelona the next morning! It wasn't just any train either, but a super-fast one (or two since we had to change on the way). Traveling at over 200 km per hour is fun! My mom of course had her camera and spent most of the trip snapping pics of the landscape, while I watched a movie and played some games in addition to a mandatory nap :) A few hours later we arrived at our destination: BARCELONA

To be continued...

The sun is always shining somewhere!!

If that is true, it has been far away from Santiago the past week...  I'm trying to start to appreciate the wet weather, but I found myself missing the snow at home in Norway instead. Pouring rain can be depressing and when it's combined with a long bus ride home from a 7 point loss against the league-leader, the best thing is to curl up under a blanket with some music and try to get some sleep. Buut, that's not always easy for a frustrated mind. The game went by so fast compared to what I usually feel. It was a close game until we all of a sudden were down by about 10 points with 5 minutes to go. Before that we had a few runs to take the lead ourselves and I really thought it was, like coach said "nuestro partido", but Zamora is a team that knows how to make important shots and wouldn't let us pull away. A lot of those shots were after grabbing offensive rebounds which was what hurt us the most throughout the whole game. This is frustrating enough if you're in the game, but even worse when you're on the sideline watching most of the time... I have to rewind one week to tell the whole story. 

Since August I've been having some problems with my feet that with physiotherapy have been a non-issue up until a couple of weeks back when the plantar fasciitis in my left foot got really bad. I know a ton of people experience or have experienced this extremely painful condition that makes getting up in the morning even harder to do. Last weekend we played at home against the bottom team and we won, but the pain was worse than ever. I talk to the physio and then coach and make a deal that I try to stick it out for the next two games since he tells me the team needs me. So last week I go through hell to get ready and prepared for the game in Zamora. Come Saturday I actually felt great and go through warm-ups almost pain-free :) I was prepared to not start and knew I would get my chance. I did and was focused to to my job, especially on defense and I did a good job. The best part was that my foot wasn't a problem at all, so it was a smack in the face when I only got to play 13 minutes (2pts, 3 rebs). I know I could've helped my team a lot more if given the chance. I'm usually not one to complain about a coach's decision because they know what's best most of the time, but shoot, they pay me to play so why not use me. I felt like the whole last week was a waste of time as I should have been resting to let my injury heal instead of fighting through it so I could sit on the bench and watch us lose... My goal this week is to communicate better with coach to understand what and why he does what he does. 

Over to something totally different and fun;

Not for me...

since we played on Sunday the previous week we had Saturday off! This was the same day "El Papa" came to visit Santiago so my teammate Lidia had the perfect plan for the day; take a trip and leave the chaos :) Andrea and I both agree she saved us from an otherwise very boring day. (I miss having a car...) Our destination was Pontevedra on the west coast, but on the way there we stopped in Caldas de Reis for lunch and some sightseeing. We ate a super nice little "Taberna" by the river. I think I mentioned before that the Spanish food is different and really an adventure in itself. I'm always ready to try new things, but this time I had to pass on the squid that had ink coming out of it... 

One of the locals came up to us while eating and introduced himself as "Papa Noel" and he really did look like Santa! He asked about us and told some stories from ancient Spain (From what I could understand. My Spanish still isn't great). Alejandra translated for me when he was telling us about a man that was being hunted by the church for saying that men and women are equal! I hope that was a really long time ago... One of the guys that worked there gave us a tip about "Cascada de Segade", a waterfall nearby, so we decided to go exploring to find it :) 

Cascada de Segade

We did find it and it was definitely worth it even though it was nothing like Niagara Falls ;) After a photo session by the water we moved on to the city of Pontevedra (only 40 mins away from Santiago.) We were going to see two of the teams in our league play in the evening, but before that we had some time to walk around and look in the shops. None of us ended up buying anything, but it was still a successful trip. After the game (Aviles beat Arxil) we drove home just tired enough to get a great nights sleep before gameday. 

Life is a Beautiful Struggle...

You play how you practice, isn’t that what they say? I think that is very true and most teams don’t go through a whole week of perfection on the court. To get better you have to make mistakes and learn from them, so I wouldn’t want to practice perfect anyways. Last Saturday we were back in our home gym for a game against Pabellon Ourense. We won a scrimmage against this team in the pre-season and we knew what to expect. In addition to winning again we needed to focus on playing a good game to be ready for better competition. Pabellon is one of two teams from the city Ourense which is only about an hour away from Santiago. And guess what? Each of those teams has a Swedish girl on the roster. Julia Tornberg is from Lund and told me her old team just played against my old club Asker in a tournament (?) in Sweden!  It is so nice to be able to talk to somebody that understand everything you say and I can speak Norwegian with. I still miss home right now, but I've had this feeling plenty of times before and I know I'll get through it. And Christmas isn't that far away ;)

We came victorious out of the game against Pabellon, but we still didn’t play consistently well for 40 mins. The first half was great and we go off to a comfortable early lead and despite two halfway almost decent last quarters we beat them by 20 points. I had a much better shooting day than previously and in only 14 minutes I had 11 points and was 5/6 from the field. I celebrated with some delicious pizza together with Andrea and two of our English-speaking Spanish teammates.

Our local men’s team had a game at home the next day and it was good to have something fun to watch inside while the rain was pouring outside. The four of us from last night met up again and got some awesome seats, or they weren’t so great after the old guy behind us cheered for the opposing team by blowing into his “17. mai” horn every 30 seconds..  Andrea even him a better spot to sit, but he enjoyed annoying us way too much to move haha. At least Obradoiro won in the end so we could tell him his noise-making was a waste of time. Both pro basketball teams from Santiago were now undefeated!!!

The next week went by slooow… I think this is the first season in 5 years where my team only has one game every week. My body is probably thankful and I get to spend more time with the team’s physiotherapist and get treatment on my plantar faSHIiTis which is what I like to call it. The one half-day we had off I spent together with Mr. Icepack watching movies on my laptop until Andrea came over and I showed her Area Central (the mall I live in).

Megan, Andrea and I  

Finally the weekend rolled around and the wheels on the bus started rolling too when we left for Aviles to match up against ADBA. A better team than any of the ones we faced before and I don’t know if I want to say anymore about what turned out to be our first loss this season. It was a close one until the end and definitely a team we can beat, but at lot of things didn’t go our way… The ball loved to hit the back of the rim way too much and rebounding played a big role as well. Throughout my career I have realized that having a short memory is extremely helpful after games like that so don’t expect to hear anything more about it. The gym and baskets was terrible by the way, reminded me of the old Rykkinhallen that I played in over 10 years ago and I’m sure the ref left his glasses at home on purpose so he could pretend to see fouls that didn’t happen just so he would be able to make out with his whistle ten more times! Sorry, I had to get that anger out of my system, feel much better now… Anyways, I’m sitting on the bus on the way home to Santiago and I think it’s time to attempt to find a comfortable enough position to get some shuteye. 


Thanks for listening! <3 

On the road a... for the first time!

All suited up! To prep my new bike?!

 I forgot to mention last time that I finally have an easier way of getting around in Santiago. My parents were so kind to buy me a bike for my birthday before they went home.  It has been put to use several times already and hopefully I won’t get lost trying to find the quickest way to practice anymore.

We played the second game of the season this week and Friday morning we got on the road with Caceres as the destination. And on the road we stayed for another 8 or so hours… The longest trip we have to take all year on the bus and it went by faster than I thought it would. Probably because I got used to 10+ hours on the bus at IPFW going to the Dakotas, Oklahoma and New York etc  :-P Or getting stuck in traffic outside Chicago…  It also helps to have some good movies to watch (with Spanish subtitles thanks to Lidia, so I can learn some more Espanol).

We arrived in Caceres in the evening and had some time to take a walk downtown and stop at a few stores. Like always in Spain there were a lot of people everywhere, I’m not saying that as a bad thing at all but actually one of the reasons I like Spain, there is always something going on. One exception is IKEA last week where it was almost impossible to get around as people seemed to have moved into the display apartments and rooms waiting for the rest of the family to show up in time for dinner.


Caceres is the hometown of our head coach Jacinto so I’m sure he was excited to make a statement and win the game Saturday night. Another thing that’s different from what I’m used to is to not having to go straight from the bus to practice. We don’t have shootaround the day of the games either, which I wished we did (not to use that as an excuse for my bad shooting lately…) but because the day is too long anxiously waiting for game time.  We didn’t get off to a great start this game and were behind after the 1^st quarter after poor defending and not making easy shots (and a turnover that will haunt my dreams).

I don't think I was being paTient enough on this play... 

Realizing we had to step it up we took control before half-time and took advantage of the increasing fatigue of the players from Caceres. One of the things we have to work on is consistency because we almost let the other team back into the game again towards the end of the 3^rd. This will be an even bigger challenge when we match up against better teams that will put even more pressure on us.  This time we responded well and managed to make some important shots in the last period to win comfortably by 20 points.

Mmmmm!

We left to go home to Santiago right after the game and I was happy being 2-0 in the league even though I have yet to be satisfied with my own performance. At least I had a long bus ride to reflect and beat myself up ;) I can’t wait to get back in the gym and get better!! The bus ride back took a lot longer than what I remembered coming the other way. I couldn't sleep at all and for some reason they wouldn't turn on the heat, or it was broken?, I just heard the word "calefacción" being sad a lot :-P At least I had enough movies to watch! Right before midnight we stopped at a restaurant in Calzada de 'something' for some Bocadillos (sandwich/sub) and Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelet). I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera because every wall was decorated with pictures and articles about bullfighting. From what I heard I wouldn't be a fan of the "sport" of breading bulls just to make a show out of killing them, but it was obviously a big thing around there and in Spain in general maybe (?).  Anyways, it's fun to explore new cultures, especially the food! So far I have tried different types of Tapas, Pulpo, Calamare, Empanadas, Rape, Gambas, Profiteroles, Leche Frita, Natilla and stuff I don't know what to call... So far I'm liking what I taste and I'll leave it up to you to figure out what the dishes I mentioned are ;) 

Rain, rain, SUN!!

I wanted to sum up the last week that went by way too fast, but I don't know where to start... I guess it's easiest to start from the beginning which was actually the end of the pre-season. After losing the semi-final in Copa Galicia to a LF team, it was time to focus on the teams in our own league as the first game was only one week away. But first I had a big day ahead... of total relaxation and recovery :) 

Speaking of recovery, I got a tip from my strength coach at IPFW on a great article for all interested athletes out there: How Do You Recover? (BTW I seriously really miss coach Rudo's workouts!!) 

I'm jumping straight to Wednesday evening since that was when my parents and friend/sister Megan came to visit me here in Santiago! I was very excited and happy to see them and I think they brought the sun with them from Barcelona where they had spent almost 2 days before flying here. Hopefully I can go see that city myself soon! I was lucky to have Thursday morning off so we all decided to take a trip to A Coruna which is only about an hour north of Santiago. It was a beautiful day and we saw a bunch of tourists as we walked around the Tower of Hercules and watched the waves hit against the rocky shore... We also checked out the beach and saw some surfers. We drove around a little bit to try to find IKEA and after realizing the GPS isn't always right we found it! Only to see that it was closed because of a holiday... A Coruna is definitely a city I want to come back to! Back in Santiago after my practice we had a nice evening watching Barca beat the LA Lakers :) 


The next day I couldn't join my visitors when they took a trip to Noia on the west-coast. Saturday came around and I was ready for the game against Aros Leon. In the morning I took a quick shopping trip with the fam to pick up some stuff for my apartment since the first IKEA try was a fail. 

C.B. Pio XII 2010/2011

Gametime was at 7 pm in our arena Santa Isabel and I think everybody was excited to finally get the season started. We had a good start and took over the game leading by 22 points at halftime. We had problems keeping the same intensity after the break and lost the third quarter. The last quarter was close too, but we were never in real trouble. The final score was 71-51 and Pio XII is 1-0 so far this season :) I finished with 7 pts, 8 rebs and 3 assists. I'm working on my shooting before the next game for sure :/ 





Megan and I had dinner with my parents after the game and then went out with a few of my teammates. If you didn't know the nightlife in Spain is crazy compared to most places I've been! You'll be home just in time for breakfast Sunday morning ;) This night however ended early according to Spanish standards as we were all very tired and knew we couldn't sleep the next way away...


Already at noon on Sunday it was time for some more basketball as we met up with my teammates again to watch the local men's team Obradoiro play their first home-game. Luckily and thanks to Lidia's boyfriend we all got in for free :) There was tons of people there and the ticket line was loooong. The weather was awesome too, but we were more interested in getting inside in time for tip-off. The game was really good and the crowd was amazing! 4000 sure can make a lot of noise. That's the kind of atmosphere I hope to experience at one of my games one day! Back to the basketball; Obra really picked it up in the second half after being down the whole first part. They took the lead and managed to win it by two points (thanks to some excellent defense in the last minutes). I know I'll be back for more of their games during the season for some great inspiration and motivation. 


The rest of the day passed by quickly and unfortunately my visitors from Norway and Texas were almost at the end of their stay... 


Hasta luego!