My mom and brother were able to visit for a week during the Thanksgiving holiday. It was my mom's second and bro's first trip to my home for the next three years. They did a little more touring together since I had to practice but I was able to spend a little time with them. We also spent a little time with an old family friend, Katie Dunn. Her husband is playing basketball for a team in Konya, Turkey and our schedules worked out where we could hang for a while. The mom and bro saw 2 pretty exciting games while they were here, both which ended in our favor. I will be seeing them and the rest of the Berger clan for the Christmas holiday which is always guaranteed to be a fun time.
On the basketball side, we have been rolling along nicely. We lost to Spartak (the oober good Russian team we lost to earlier) but not by as many points this time. :) We've won the rest of our Euroleague and Turkish league games. Most of the games have been pretty tough but we've managed to pull out victories. After next week's Euroleague game against Italy we'll head into playoffs.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Game of the Year....so far!
A lot of basketball and a lot of winning since my last post. But no game has been easy, quite exciting actually. Our Euroleague game against a team from France looked scary towards the end. We were down 2 with just a few seconds left when one of our guards made a steal and laid it in. We won that game by 7 in overtime. Our next Euroleague game in Italy was just as close. We started the 4th quarter down 8 points, but intensified our defense and went up by 2 points with a few seconds left. Our last defensive set we got a steal and an "and one" and won that game by 5. Our Euroleague pool is the toughest of all Euroleague pools so to get a win on the road is really huge for us.
And finally we played our biggest rival, Galatasaray yesterday. I'm still coming into grasps with what this rivalry really entails. Stanford and Cal really have nothing on this! You might remember we lost to them in our first game of the year for the President's Cup and we ran into some fan confrontations. It was very mild compared to yesterday. First of all, no Fenerbahce fans are allowed to come into the gym because too many fights would break out. Hundreds of policemen and women still come to the game for security. These fans hate Fenerbahce beyond anything I can tell you. Ironically, I thought the atmosphere was really fun except for a few scary moments. A glass bottle was actually thrown at us and shattered at our bench. Coins and water bottles were thrown. A game usually lasts and hour and a half but because of constant crowd control and cleaning the wet floor from broken water bottles it lasted well over 2 hours. And if you really want to make them mad then beat their team!! We played really well and really inspired and won by 8 points. So of course as soon the final buzzer sounded we were hurried off the court into our locker room where we could celebrate.
We are off to Lithuania on Tuesday to start the second of the the Euroleague pool play. And then I will return to Istanbul and to my mom who will be visiting me! My brother will come 2 days after so I'm definitely looking forward to to having almost the whole family here with me for about a week.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Happy election day!
As much as this election has been hyped it feels like a holiday today! It is quite a historical election however, so very deserving. People here in Istanbul are aware of the election too. From the teammates, coaches, and friends I have talked to they seem to want Obama.
So we've had a few games since the last post. In Slovakia, we lost the game by 8 just in the last couple minutes. We came back to tie in the 4th quarter and then let them bust a couple of threes. That was a hard one as we definitely should have won. Euro league is tough on the road though, especially in Russia where we played the winner of the league for the past two seasons. To say this team is good would be such an understatement. They have an all-world team and it's not a good idea to get off to a bad start against a team like that. I'm too embarrassed to say how much we lost by so if you want the score you can look it up online:) We came back to win 2 Turkish league games, however. Our first one was against my former team, Botas. They have 4 or 5 of the same players so it was good to see them, but we handled our business and beat them by 20. Our last game was in Mersin against my former coach who switched teams from last year. He is also my national team coach and having played for him for a year I knew that his team would be scrappy and would play hard and smart. It was a close game and came down to the wire but thanks to a key defensive rebound and a couple of free throws we pulled it out and won by 5 points.
It's back to Euroleague play tomorrow. We will play a team from France here in Istanbul. They have yet to win in our pool, but every team is good so we will still have to play tough.
So we've had a few games since the last post. In Slovakia, we lost the game by 8 just in the last couple minutes. We came back to tie in the 4th quarter and then let them bust a couple of threes. That was a hard one as we definitely should have won. Euro league is tough on the road though, especially in Russia where we played the winner of the league for the past two seasons. To say this team is good would be such an understatement. They have an all-world team and it's not a good idea to get off to a bad start against a team like that. I'm too embarrassed to say how much we lost by so if you want the score you can look it up online:) We came back to win 2 Turkish league games, however. Our first one was against my former team, Botas. They have 4 or 5 of the same players so it was good to see them, but we handled our business and beat them by 20. Our last game was in Mersin against my former coach who switched teams from last year. He is also my national team coach and having played for him for a year I knew that his team would be scrappy and would play hard and smart. It was a close game and came down to the wire but thanks to a key defensive rebound and a couple of free throws we pulled it out and won by 5 points.
It's back to Euroleague play tomorrow. We will play a team from France here in Istanbul. They have yet to win in our pool, but every team is good so we will still have to play tough.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Good Euroleague and Turkish League Starts
Last Wednesday we kicked off the Euroleague season with a win over Teo Vilinius from Lithuania. It wasn't exactly a pretty win but we pulled it out in the 4th quarter and won by eight points. Our complete team (minus our injured point guard) had only been together for a few days at that point. My old teammate from Stanford, Nicole Powell who is also on my team, was still fairly jet lagged but played well for us. It has been great seeing her and playing with her again. I can't believe that was 5 years ago that I last played with her! We have quickly caught up on old times though checking out all the local cuisine and hang out spots together.
We also won our first Turkish league game against Burhaniye pretty handily. They are one of the worst teams in the league so Nicole and one of our other "older" players sat out that game to rest up for our Euroleague game tomorrow against a team from Slovakia. I'm actually in the Vienna airport right now awaiting that flight. I'm still considered young in this profession but Nicole at only 25 is a seasoned veteran so my time will come!
We also won our first Turkish league game against Burhaniye pretty handily. They are one of the worst teams in the league so Nicole and one of our other "older" players sat out that game to rest up for our Euroleague game tomorrow against a team from Slovakia. I'm actually in the Vienna airport right now awaiting that flight. I'm still considered young in this profession but Nicole at only 25 is a seasoned veteran so my time will come!
Monday, October 13, 2008
President's Cup
This past Saturday we played in the President's Cup. It's one game between last year's first and second place teams. We were playing our biggest rival Galatasaray. I am just now understanding how important this rivalry really is. Both of our clubs are big soccer (futbol) teams as well so we get a majority of the these hooligan fans at the game. While we were driving up to the game we mistakenly drove through a mass of Galatasaray fans. We heard things hitting our bus and then I saw something huge headed to the window and the next thing I know two of our windows are shattered. Luckily they are familiar with this sort of thing and have double windows so no harm done.
Unfortunately the game wasn't much better. We never really were on the same page offensively and our defense could also use some work. We were without our best player who is still resting from the WNBA season and will be here soon and our point guard is out for a couple more weeks with a knee injury. We will have plenty more times this season to play them full strength and hopefully things will end in our favor.
We don't have much time however as we play our first Euroleague game on Wednesday against a team from Lithuania.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Back by Popular Demand!
I am wrapping up what was no doubt the most eventful summer of my life and I will try to give a very short version on my first blog after a long hiatus. But first I wanted to give a shoutout to my cousin Andy Newlin who is getting married today back in Wyoming. I wish I could be there but I've learned a while ago that I will constantly be missing important events like this because of my basketball career. Everything requires sacrifices so I suppose this is mine. I am still however thinking of the family back in Cheyenne and will have excitedly be awaiting the pictures to be sent to me!
After my final game last year in Adana, I flew back to Riverton only to fly to Phoenix two days later to try out for the WNBA team, Phoenix Mercury. Unfortunately I was waived in training camp and was left pondering what I would do then with my summer. I didn't have to wait long for thing to get rolling again, however. After a visit to Stanford visiting friends and watching some of the seniors graduate I made a trip back to Turkey to start the process of getting my Turkish passport. This is a story in and of itself, but basically the national team coach (my coach from my Botas team in Adana last year) and the Turkish federation asked me to join their national team and this required me to get Turkish citizenship. Each country is allowed to naturalize one citizen and since I have no ties to Turkey through my family, I was their one citizen they wanted to "make Turkish." I decided to join the team after realizing the WNBA would not be an option for the summer. During this process, I signed a 3 year contract with Fenerbahce. This Istanbul team won the league last year so I was more than excited to join a successful program and the fact that I am Turkish made me more appealing to the team because I didn't take up one of the spots reserved for another American.
So after a week in Istanbul doing all the tedious things necessary to start the passport process I made it back home for a little bit. During this time I visited my brother in New Jersey where he was training for the Olympics. After just a 2 week visit the national team wanted me back in Turkey to train. So off to Turkey again I go to train for two weeks before making a trip back to Riverton to be a bridesmaid in my friend Laurelle's wedding. I was home only a 5 days before catching a plane back to Turkey to finalize my passport. Now I am just breezing through these trips back and forth but may I remind you that each trip from Denver to Istanbul is about 20 hours. I've never spent so much time in a plane as I did this summer, but I did rack up the frequent flyer miles!! So finishing up the passport process took just a couple days before I hop on yet another plane for Beijing to watch my brother compete in the Olympics.
I'm sure most of you have heard all the amazing stories about Beijing so I won't spend too much time talking about it. It definitely was an unforgettable trip to be immersed in the highest level of sports competition ever. Adding to that the cultural experiences we faced from the people, to the cuisine, to the cab rides.....We made some awesome memories and maybe in 4 years we will do it again in London!
While at the Olympics I missed the first game that the Turkish national team played in their elimination qualifiers for the 2009 European championships. So I flew directly from Beijing to Finland to meet them and play against the Finish team. We played in Finland, Bosnia, Italy, and Poland and finished the qualifying tournament 7-1 and first place in our pool. So we will play in Latvia in June 2009 for the European championships. After our final game in Turkey I came home for a week (notice the long trip again) and now I am back in Istanbul with my Turkish league team gearing up for the season to begin next week.
And that was my summer in a nutshell!! I'm glad to be settled down in one place for a little bit and actually able to unpack my suitcase in my new apartment. I will have pictures from the summer up at my knewlin.shutterfly.com account soon.
Until next time.....
After my final game last year in Adana, I flew back to Riverton only to fly to Phoenix two days later to try out for the WNBA team, Phoenix Mercury. Unfortunately I was waived in training camp and was left pondering what I would do then with my summer. I didn't have to wait long for thing to get rolling again, however. After a visit to Stanford visiting friends and watching some of the seniors graduate I made a trip back to Turkey to start the process of getting my Turkish passport. This is a story in and of itself, but basically the national team coach (my coach from my Botas team in Adana last year) and the Turkish federation asked me to join their national team and this required me to get Turkish citizenship. Each country is allowed to naturalize one citizen and since I have no ties to Turkey through my family, I was their one citizen they wanted to "make Turkish." I decided to join the team after realizing the WNBA would not be an option for the summer. During this process, I signed a 3 year contract with Fenerbahce. This Istanbul team won the league last year so I was more than excited to join a successful program and the fact that I am Turkish made me more appealing to the team because I didn't take up one of the spots reserved for another American.
So after a week in Istanbul doing all the tedious things necessary to start the passport process I made it back home for a little bit. During this time I visited my brother in New Jersey where he was training for the Olympics. After just a 2 week visit the national team wanted me back in Turkey to train. So off to Turkey again I go to train for two weeks before making a trip back to Riverton to be a bridesmaid in my friend Laurelle's wedding. I was home only a 5 days before catching a plane back to Turkey to finalize my passport. Now I am just breezing through these trips back and forth but may I remind you that each trip from Denver to Istanbul is about 20 hours. I've never spent so much time in a plane as I did this summer, but I did rack up the frequent flyer miles!! So finishing up the passport process took just a couple days before I hop on yet another plane for Beijing to watch my brother compete in the Olympics.
I'm sure most of you have heard all the amazing stories about Beijing so I won't spend too much time talking about it. It definitely was an unforgettable trip to be immersed in the highest level of sports competition ever. Adding to that the cultural experiences we faced from the people, to the cuisine, to the cab rides.....We made some awesome memories and maybe in 4 years we will do it again in London!
While at the Olympics I missed the first game that the Turkish national team played in their elimination qualifiers for the 2009 European championships. So I flew directly from Beijing to Finland to meet them and play against the Finish team. We played in Finland, Bosnia, Italy, and Poland and finished the qualifying tournament 7-1 and first place in our pool. So we will play in Latvia in June 2009 for the European championships. After our final game in Turkey I came home for a week (notice the long trip again) and now I am back in Istanbul with my Turkish league team gearing up for the season to begin next week.
And that was my summer in a nutshell!! I'm glad to be settled down in one place for a little bit and actually able to unpack my suitcase in my new apartment. I will have pictures from the summer up at my knewlin.shutterfly.com account soon.
Until next time.....
Friday, April 11, 2008
Congrats to STANFORD!!
My first season overseas is almost coming to a close here in Turkey. Last week my team advanced to the championship game of the Turkish Cup where we lost to Fenerbache. We then had our first playoff game against Kayseri yesterday and lost by 2 points. They scored with 7 seconds to go and we got a good shot off to tie it, but it didn't go down for us. However, one thing that is different as compared to the NCAA tournament is that it is not one and done. The team to win the best out of 3 games will move on to the semi finals. So we will play Kayseri here in Adana on Sunday and if we win we will play them again in Kayseri on Thursday. Depending on how things turn out we could possibly be done on Sunday or we could still be playing for a couple more weeks. So I still can't give a definite answer as to when I will be returning to the states.
I followed my Stanford team all the way to the championship game in the NCAA tournament. They played very well and I was so proud to watch them. When Seb came down for the Turkish cup we even watched the final four game against Connecticut together on my slingbox at 2 in the morning. It was pretty late by the time it was over but neither one of us could have gone to sleep right away because we were both so excited!! I was able to talk to most of the team during this time and I could tell just how much confidence they had. I have no doubt they will be back next year to compete again!
I followed my Stanford team all the way to the championship game in the NCAA tournament. They played very well and I was so proud to watch them. When Seb came down for the Turkish cup we even watched the final four game against Connecticut together on my slingbox at 2 in the morning. It was pretty late by the time it was over but neither one of us could have gone to sleep right away because we were both so excited!! I was able to talk to most of the team during this time and I could tell just how much confidence they had. I have no doubt they will be back next year to compete again!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Post Season Play
Sorry to have been slacking a bit on my blogs. A lot of basketball has been happening both here and in the states with the NCAA tournament starting. We just finished at great game against Galatasaray here in Adana winning by 2 points. This is the 2nd ranked team and the same team that beat us by 30 a couple of months ago in Istanbul. it was Seb's team, but she has been injured for a few weeks and unable to play. However, we had to play without Carmen. She hurt her knee a couple of games ago and it has been a rollercoaster journey for her. They first told her she tore her ACL but the diagnosis was changed to a bone bruise. We are all hoping she will be healthy enough to play next week. Regardless, our team played really well without her. This is a huge confident booster heading into post season play next week with the "Turkish Cup."
The Turkish Cup involves the top 8 teams after the first half of the season. The teams that play each other are literally drawn out of a hat at a banquet this Thursday. Then tournament style play with those teams start on Friday. It should be quite interesting. The playoffs start the following week. We are the 5th seed and will be playing the 4th seed, Kayseri. We split with them in the regular season and will play a best of 3 series. It's crazy to think I will be heading home in at least 2 and a half weeks!
My Dad and brother celebrated their birthdays this past week on the 23rd and 24th respectively. Of course my Dad isn't getting any older but my brother is turning into an old man at 26! He is still working hard at rowing and will find out the official roster for the Olympic Crew team in June. My good friend Lauren, however, found out yesterday that she was selected to the USA softball team headed for Beijing. It's very exciting and I am super happy for her. Hopefully I will be able to watch her play when we are over there for my brother.
Unfortunately the Stanford Men's basketball team was outed in the sweet 16 last night by Texas, but my Stanford women's team is on a mission for the national championship. They take on Pittsburgh in the sweet 16 tonight. Go Card!
The Turkish Cup involves the top 8 teams after the first half of the season. The teams that play each other are literally drawn out of a hat at a banquet this Thursday. Then tournament style play with those teams start on Friday. It should be quite interesting. The playoffs start the following week. We are the 5th seed and will be playing the 4th seed, Kayseri. We split with them in the regular season and will play a best of 3 series. It's crazy to think I will be heading home in at least 2 and a half weeks!
My Dad and brother celebrated their birthdays this past week on the 23rd and 24th respectively. Of course my Dad isn't getting any older but my brother is turning into an old man at 26! He is still working hard at rowing and will find out the official roster for the Olympic Crew team in June. My good friend Lauren, however, found out yesterday that she was selected to the USA softball team headed for Beijing. It's very exciting and I am super happy for her. Hopefully I will be able to watch her play when we are over there for my brother.
Unfortunately the Stanford Men's basketball team was outed in the sweet 16 last night by Texas, but my Stanford women's team is on a mission for the national championship. They take on Pittsburgh in the sweet 16 tonight. Go Card!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Mom and Dad's visit
My parents have already come and gone. The time really flew while they were here but we packed in a lot of touring, basketball, and back scratches while they were here! They arrived late last Saturday night before our Fenerbache game. They were real troopers when it came to jet lag and stayed up for the late practice we had. We gave the top ranked team a run for their money but couldn't pull off the upset in the last couple of minutes. Mother nature wasn't very kind to us in Istanbul when we wanted to tour around as a blizzard hit the weekend we were there. Seb and her roommate Gulsah took us around anyways and saw a lot of the sights around the city. The Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazzar highlighted our tour. The Blue Mosque is similar to the Mosque here in Adana but much older. We were prime targets in the Bazzar for shop owners to hassle with. Seb then took us out to a beautiful dinner overlooking the Bosphorus.
When we got back to Adana our team sports marketing guy was able to take my parents out while I was at practice so they've now seen things that I have yet to see. They saw their second game of ours and we won. They then spent one final day in Istanbul to see some of the sights that were closed the week earlier. i think all in all the trip was memorable for all of us.
In other news, I've signed a training camp contract with the Phoenix Mercury. Getting invited to a camp is the first step so I now I still have to make the final cut. I'm excited for it this year and much more prepared than last year. I think I know more of what to expect and now have a year's experience of playing overseas. More on that at the end of April!
Happy Leap Year!
When we got back to Adana our team sports marketing guy was able to take my parents out while I was at practice so they've now seen things that I have yet to see. They saw their second game of ours and we won. They then spent one final day in Istanbul to see some of the sights that were closed the week earlier. i think all in all the trip was memorable for all of us.
In other news, I've signed a training camp contract with the Phoenix Mercury. Getting invited to a camp is the first step so I now I still have to make the final cut. I'm excited for it this year and much more prepared than last year. I think I know more of what to expect and now have a year's experience of playing overseas. More on that at the end of April!
Happy Leap Year!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hope everyone will have a happy Valentine's Day. I wasn't for sure if they celebrated it here in Turkey but I found out that they do. You wouldn't know it though like you would in the states with hearts, chocolate, roses, and candy being seen everywhere you look. I guess they don't market it like they do in American. I did see a blanket being sold on the streets saying "Seni Seviyorum" (I love you), but that's the only reminder of Valentine's Day so far.
Well, we couldn't pull of another upset win in Euro Cup play against the Croatian team so we are now playing only in Turkey for the last two months. The European travels have been one of the highlights of my experience overseas. I didn't know what to expect out of Croatia but the small town, Gospic, we played in was very beautiful. Mountains surrounded the town and the sky was strangely bright blue. The mountains seemed very close to the city and not some distant spectacle and they were everywhere and not just on one side. I took some pictures and will be putting those up soon. After coming back from Croatia we played Ceyhan, the other team in Adana. We won in overtime. We were down 4 with less than a minute to play and we go two steals and force the overtime. Quite a game for the fans! We play the undefeated number one team in the league on Sunday. My parents are flying in on Saturday to see that game and another game in Adana. They will be here 8 days. My manager and coach was nice enough to let me stay in Istanbul for a day after the game so my parents and I can wander around the city. Seb will be there too to help us out. So I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Happy Heart day to everyone!
Well, we couldn't pull of another upset win in Euro Cup play against the Croatian team so we are now playing only in Turkey for the last two months. The European travels have been one of the highlights of my experience overseas. I didn't know what to expect out of Croatia but the small town, Gospic, we played in was very beautiful. Mountains surrounded the town and the sky was strangely bright blue. The mountains seemed very close to the city and not some distant spectacle and they were everywhere and not just on one side. I took some pictures and will be putting those up soon. After coming back from Croatia we played Ceyhan, the other team in Adana. We won in overtime. We were down 4 with less than a minute to play and we go two steals and force the overtime. Quite a game for the fans! We play the undefeated number one team in the league on Sunday. My parents are flying in on Saturday to see that game and another game in Adana. They will be here 8 days. My manager and coach was nice enough to let me stay in Istanbul for a day after the game so my parents and I can wander around the city. Seb will be there too to help us out. So I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Happy Heart day to everyone!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Happy February
I can't believe that we are already one month into the new year and I have a little more than 2 months here in Turkey until I head back to the states where perhaps more basketball might be awaiting me. I've had so many great experiences and plan to have many more but I'm anxious to get home too. But before I do that my parents are planning a visit in a couple of weeks. They will fly over and watch a game in Istanbul and then fly back down to Adana and watch another game. I'm very excited to see them and have them see Turkey. Although I'm able to see and talk to them through my computer, the actual thing will be much better I'm sure.
I think I left off on the last blog about my ankle. It's slowly getting much better. I'm able to practice the entire time without much pain. The tendonitis and the swelling is what is taking the longest. I'm going to therapy pretty much everyday. In therapy they do some stem treatment, some laser treatment, compression, and ice. All I have to do for this is lie down and let them work on my ankle for about an hour. I'm getting some good reading in though so I don't get too bored. In the past couple of weeks I've finished some very good reads, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "A Long Way Gone." The latter is a memoir about the author who grew up in Sierre Leone during a civil war and was forced to become a soldier at 12 years of age. It's horrific the things he had to do because of the brainwashing that occurs. It makes me realize how lucky I am.
We just had our first of two games against the Croatian team for the Euro Cup round of 16. We lost by 3 points which means if we want to move on then we must win by at least 4 point in Croatia. That will be a tough assignment but we believe that we can do it if we play to our potential. We've already made history by playing in the round of 16 but we want to advance further. We had a lot of support for this game as the gym was packed with Turkish flags. The newspapers were calling our team "Europe's Queens." Pretty exciting stuff! Anyways, we leave Wednesday for the game on Thursday and then must return and head right back into Turkish league play.
I think I left off on the last blog about my ankle. It's slowly getting much better. I'm able to practice the entire time without much pain. The tendonitis and the swelling is what is taking the longest. I'm going to therapy pretty much everyday. In therapy they do some stem treatment, some laser treatment, compression, and ice. All I have to do for this is lie down and let them work on my ankle for about an hour. I'm getting some good reading in though so I don't get too bored. In the past couple of weeks I've finished some very good reads, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "A Long Way Gone." The latter is a memoir about the author who grew up in Sierre Leone during a civil war and was forced to become a soldier at 12 years of age. It's horrific the things he had to do because of the brainwashing that occurs. It makes me realize how lucky I am.
We just had our first of two games against the Croatian team for the Euro Cup round of 16. We lost by 3 points which means if we want to move on then we must win by at least 4 point in Croatia. That will be a tough assignment but we believe that we can do it if we play to our potential. We've already made history by playing in the round of 16 but we want to advance further. We had a lot of support for this game as the gym was packed with Turkish flags. The newspapers were calling our team "Europe's Queens." Pretty exciting stuff! Anyways, we leave Wednesday for the game on Thursday and then must return and head right back into Turkish league play.
Monday, January 21, 2008
All Star Game and Euro Cup game
A lot has happened in the last week and half. First the all-star game. We had a cocktail with all the selected Turkish and American/foreign players the night before the game. It was just a gathering and they introduced each player and gave her a small trophy. It didn't last long but that night most of the players went out to a club. It was a lot of fun and I hung with Seb and my teammates most of the night. It's a popular place fore Americans to go to because they play American hip hop music. I got to know some of the players in a different setting than a basketball court so it was a lot of fun although very crowded. The game was every bit as fun. All-star games are mainly entertainment for the crowd so the introductions were a lot of fun. Each player stood on this platform that rose from the ground with music playing and colored fire going off all around us. We walked down some steps in spotlight and to music. Everyone got really into it which made it that much better. The game was really relaxed. Not much defense and a lot of offense. Our team knew we had to win though and we did by 21. It would have been great if it ended there but unfortunately I sprained my ankle as I landed on someone's foot coming down with a rebound. I've had trouble with this particular ankle in the past but this by far is the worst sprain I've had to endure. It's been a little over a week now and it's still pretty swollen and tender. I'm getting an MRI on it tomorrow to see if the damage to the ligaments is not too bad. Hopefully I will be ok enough to play on Saturday for our next game. Injuries are something I've always had to deal with since my ACL so this is nothing new. I know my body and what it can and can't handle and I will be on the court in no time at all. I just have to take a little step back before I do.
After my ankle sprain we went to Russia to play in the second game series of the second round of Euro Cup. This was a must win or don't lose by more than 13 game for us if we wanted to advance. I knew that, so with enough tape, adrenaline, and pain killers I was able to play as much as I could. It was worth it because we lost by 10. That was the first game that we celebrated after losing. We were the first 32nd seeded team to ever beat a #1 seed in the 40 years of Euro Cup. Needless to say we were pretty excited. We will be playing a team from Croatia next week in the round of 16. However, my ankle was pretty beat up after playing in that game so I didn't play in the following Sunday's Turkish league game so it could heal faster. The team lost without me but they still played very well. I'm focusing on therapy and just getting this ankle working again as soon as possible.
I'm also in the process of uploading more pictures to my shutterfly account. knewlin.shutterfly.com. Take a look!
After my ankle sprain we went to Russia to play in the second game series of the second round of Euro Cup. This was a must win or don't lose by more than 13 game for us if we wanted to advance. I knew that, so with enough tape, adrenaline, and pain killers I was able to play as much as I could. It was worth it because we lost by 10. That was the first game that we celebrated after losing. We were the first 32nd seeded team to ever beat a #1 seed in the 40 years of Euro Cup. Needless to say we were pretty excited. We will be playing a team from Croatia next week in the round of 16. However, my ankle was pretty beat up after playing in that game so I didn't play in the following Sunday's Turkish league game so it could heal faster. The team lost without me but they still played very well. I'm focusing on therapy and just getting this ankle working again as soon as possible.
I'm also in the process of uploading more pictures to my shutterfly account. knewlin.shutterfly.com. Take a look!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Updates!
I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year! I sure am here in Turkey. New Year's eve was fun for Carmen, Chrissy, and I. Our manager took us out to a restaurant for dinner. There was an American singer and band there to entertain us during dinner and somehow our manager got Chrissy to go up and sing a Turkish song. She knows one in particular from just listening to it so much. So although she doesn't know what she's saying she still knows the words. (That happens visa versa with the Turkish girls who sing American songs but don't know what they are singing about.) Anyways, the crowd loved her and she was fantastic. After dinner we counted down to midnight at Incirlik (Air Force Base).
We played Seb's team in Istanbul a few days later. It was very weird playing against Seb. She even said that she felt like giving me a high five after a free throw so I guess it was weird for her too. We lost by a good amount, but they sure have a great team. We had to shake that loss off because today we played our first Euro Cup game of the second round. They are the 1st seed and we are the 32nd. However, we won!! We all played really well and together and led the whole way. We couldn't get too excited just yet, because we have to play them again next Thursday in Russia and we know that is going to be a different story up there. It will be much tougher. We won by 14 points so if we win or don't lose by more than 14 then we will go on to the round of 16.
Chrissy and I will be leaving Saturday to go to Istanbul to play in an All-Star game. Coaches, media, and fans vote for 12 Americans/foreign players to play against 12 Turkish players in the annual game. Two of our Turkish players were selected for their team and our coach will be coaching the Americans/foreign players. Seb was also selected so I will see her again. This will be very exciting to play on the same team with not only the best in Turkey but some of the best players in the WNBA. It's quite the humbling experience to be named an all-star among some of these players, but we're looking forward to it and it should be a lot of fun. Of course we've got to prove where the best basketball players come from and win the game.
I talked to my old teammate Krista Rappahahn the other day and learned that she just arrived in Sweden to play basketball. She has some down time while she is applying to med schools so she thought she would play half a season before things get crazy. It made me wonder how many of my old Stanford teammates are actually over on this side of the pond to play, go to school, or work and I counted eight not including myself. It's great to hear all of their stories and adventures they are having like me. Can't wait to find out my next adventure!
We played Seb's team in Istanbul a few days later. It was very weird playing against Seb. She even said that she felt like giving me a high five after a free throw so I guess it was weird for her too. We lost by a good amount, but they sure have a great team. We had to shake that loss off because today we played our first Euro Cup game of the second round. They are the 1st seed and we are the 32nd. However, we won!! We all played really well and together and led the whole way. We couldn't get too excited just yet, because we have to play them again next Thursday in Russia and we know that is going to be a different story up there. It will be much tougher. We won by 14 points so if we win or don't lose by more than 14 then we will go on to the round of 16.
Chrissy and I will be leaving Saturday to go to Istanbul to play in an All-Star game. Coaches, media, and fans vote for 12 Americans/foreign players to play against 12 Turkish players in the annual game. Two of our Turkish players were selected for their team and our coach will be coaching the Americans/foreign players. Seb was also selected so I will see her again. This will be very exciting to play on the same team with not only the best in Turkey but some of the best players in the WNBA. It's quite the humbling experience to be named an all-star among some of these players, but we're looking forward to it and it should be a lot of fun. Of course we've got to prove where the best basketball players come from and win the game.
I talked to my old teammate Krista Rappahahn the other day and learned that she just arrived in Sweden to play basketball. She has some down time while she is applying to med schools so she thought she would play half a season before things get crazy. It made me wonder how many of my old Stanford teammates are actually over on this side of the pond to play, go to school, or work and I counted eight not including myself. It's great to hear all of their stories and adventures they are having like me. Can't wait to find out my next adventure!
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