4 Games In

So we're 4 games into the season now, and we've won 3 and lost 1. There are 12 teams in our conference and we play each team twice. We beat Leipzig, Zehlendorf, and Mainz, but we lost to Saarlouis by 5 points. It was a crazy game. It was so loud in the gym that would could barely hear the ref blow the whistle, which made communicating with our teammates pretty hard...These girls were all over us and were very aggressive on offense and defense, and unfortunately had us back on our heals. They were playing well, and the inconsitency in the reffing didn't help. Our coach got so frustrated with the refs. that in the 2nd quarter she kicked the air, and her shoe flew off and landed about 40 feet away on the court. So, technical foul and all, we were down by 18 at half time. Somehow we dug ourselves out of that hole, but it took the entire 2nd half. With about 30 sec. to go we were down by only 2 points. Lori drove to the basket, made the shot, and the ref. blew the whistle.... We were already celebrating because we thought this was our chance to take the lead, but then we looked at the ref, and realized he was calling an offensive foul on her. So, we ended up losing that game... but it was a good learning experience. I like playing with my team a lot. You can really tell that everyone is playing because they love the game, and that they really want to be here. One great advantage I think that we have is more depth than most teams in our league, so they get tired quicker.

It has been hard adjusting to the style of play and the way the game is reffed. There are also some rules that are different, and some of them I've learned the hard way. Like one time I threw the ball in bounds from the left side of the half court line, to my teammate, who was on the opposite side of the half court line, and the ref. called a backcourt violation. Another thing that I learned in a game without anyone telling me is that each team gets 5 fouls per quarter before the other team is in bonus. Then it starts over in the next quarter, instead of 7 per half. Oh, and traveling... that has been a tough one... but only when you take off.. if you pick up the ball after you were already dribbling it seems like you can take about 5 steps before they call it. And I feel like I'm in the NBA the way they allow continuation of scoring after they blow their whistle for a foul.

Although it gets frustrating at times, I'll never take for granted this great oppurtunity that I have... and I try to take as much from it as I can. You know that term, "You learn something new everyday?" Well, it has more meaning to me now. :)

Luxembourg

While you were sleeping at 5 am Eastern Time (11 am our time), Sunday morning, our team was 3 km away from France, in the country Luxembourg, playing against Belgium's best team. It was such a cool experience... and probably the best we've played as a team since I've been here... we ended up winning by about 15 points. Our two players who have been away with the German National team are back and played with us this weekend, and I like them a lot, as people and as teammates. On Saturday night we played against one of Luxembourg's best teams and won that game in over time. I'm really excited for the season to start next Saturday, especially after seeing how well we can play together with these 2 girls back.

It was fun to experience another country, especially such a small one... it is only about the size of Rhode Island. Its about 1,000 sq. miles and the population is around 470,000. It is a very wealthy country with very low unemployment and crime rates. Everyone there speaks 4 languages: Luxembourgish, German, French, and English. That's pretty amazing to me since there are so many people in America that don't even speak 1 language that well.... haha....Something that I saw there that I've never seen were tons of vinyards on hillsides... They're on such steep slopes that everything has to be done by hand. Maybe that's common, I'm not really sure, just thought it was cool because its something that I've never seen.