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!