Another year

And I'm back. Back to Fenerbahce with a new look to the team this year. Penny Taylor is our only returning foreigner as the club revamped and brought in some big guns in order to make the final four in euroleague play. Of course our goal of winning all the Turkish cups remain the same, but we haven't quite been able to make it to the much eluded final four. Diana Taurasi, our newly signed player will definitely help make that a possibility.

As for me, my goal for this season is to be healthy. I am just starting to come back to the court from my plantar fascia rupture in March. It has been a long, frustrating rehab but I'm hoping that the worst is behind me and I can come back to play for good. Although I was thrilled to win another Turkish title in May, it's just not quite the same having to watch it in street clothes on the sidelines. My status was questionable to play with the Turkish national team as well this summer, and unfortunately I wasn't comfortable playing by then so I opted to rehab instead. They played well in my absence, though, and we secured our spot for the 2011 European Championships in Poland.

Here's to another great year! Go Fener!

Injuries are no fun, but visitors are!

Well, it's been a while since my last post and unfortunately I am not back up and playing like I had anticipated since my plantar fascia injury to my left foot. The pain in that foot took a while to subside and after 2 injections I started practicing 6 weeks later. I played a couple minutes in a 2 games before I was ready to play full speed in our next game. Not 8 minutes in I felt the same pop in my foot. This time the diagnosis was worse. I suffered a tear to the tendon. I have been seeing the doctor regularly for more PRP injections and keeping off of it the best I could. Basically these injections help regenerate the tendon. It isn't really clear when I will be playing again. It will depend on how I'm feeling and what the doctor sees in an MRI I will get after the injections are completed.

Some friends came all the way to visit me in Istanbul and it definitely took my mind off being unhealthy. Alex Andersen and Heidi Thorson, two good friends from Wyoming came to visit, followed by Christy Titchenal and Red Daly from Stanford. Their visits actually overlapped by a couple nights so it was quite the crowd here in my apartment. But we had a fantastic time with many many memories we will share forever. Living overseas has been a wonderful experience but the downside is being so far from family and friends, so when they come to see me it really is an extra special treat. My parents came to visit a month before as well. Although I wasn't able to play and had a harder time hobbling around it was great to have them here as always.

My team has been trucking right along without me. We lost our first game in Turkish league unfortunately in the Turkish cup final, but we are more focused now and ready to claim the more important Turkish league championship. We have 3 more regular season games before we start the playoffs. It's much different to watch your team than to be playing but I'm hopeful that I will make a full recovery from this injury.

Ballin in the new decade

I was lucky enough to get a full 10 days for my Christmas break back at home. And by home I mean, wherever my family is! Mom, Dad, Brett, and I spent the holiday in Brett's house in New Jersey. His housemates were with their respective families for the holidays so we had the house to ourselves and plenty of beds to sleep in. We spruced up the house with Christmas decorations and even chopped down a Christmas tree for the very first time! Brett chopped it down, but I took it upon myself to yell "Timberrrr!" Ashleigh's family hosted Christmas dinner and it was absolutely delicious. In fact, most meals were as we made it a point to eat all the food that I normally don't get here in Turkey. I had no reservations about eating to the brim from all that delicousness because I knew I would be back to Istanbul in no time to work it all off. My last night in the states was New Years Eve and Brett and I along with Ashleigh and some of her friends went into NYC to celebrate. We were able to see "the ball" and party well into the morning before I headed back to Turkey the next evening. Lots of memories in my first East Coast Christmas but like we all know...All good things must come to an end.

Our team picked up right where we left off before the break with 3 wins so far. We've completed our Euroleague group play with a second place finish and will begin the playoffs against an Italian team in a little less than 2 weeks. Unfortunately for me, however, in the beginning of my second game back I was injured. I was running down the court and felt a pop in my heal and severely strained my plantar fascia. I haven't been playing and have been rehabbing for 9 days now and anticipate at least a week or two more before I will play again. Injuries are part of the game and I've been pretty lucky with that since leaving Stanford, but I am in good hands and have experience with listening to my body and will be back on the court as healthy as I can be.

My parents will be making a 10 day visit to see me starting this Thursday and I'm looking forward to getting some TLC parent style! Nothin like it:)

On the road

Since my last post we've played and won five straight away games including trips to Hungary, France, and Poland. Great teams win on the road so we've been happy with how we've been playing and are looking to get even better. Although we've been road weary Nicole and I still try to make the best of our time in the countries we visit. In Hungary, our hotel was located next to the city's most recognized church. It was beautiful and reminded me a bit of Memorial Church at Stanford. It just so happened that the night we arrived a band was scheduled to play so Nicole and I were treated to a neat concert. In France, we met a Gospel Choir group (all one family) called The Singletons from Michigan who were on their European tour. They were kind enough to let us listen to them warm up before a performance and they were very talented. We definitely felt spiritual after listening. Look them up on Itunes! Poland was on the cold side (although not as cold as I'm hearing it is back home in Wyoming.) Our view from our hotel room was of a large body of water. Nicole said it was the ocean and I was smart enough to know that Poland's coast couldn't border and ocean so I said it was a lake. We were later educated that it was the Baltic Sea. :)

Those three games don't hail in comparison to our game against our biggest rival, Galatasaray. It's always a huge game when these teams play so we made our management and president very happy people. Instead of driving our president rented us water taxis to drive us to the game. Partly because of the importance of the game and partly because traffic was crazy during that time because of Bayram. It's a four day Muslim holiday where sheep are sacrificed to honor Allah. But it also means family are with each other which equals even more crowded roads.

Looking forward to a whole week in Istanbul. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed for a few nights at least. And I'm also excited for my short time back in the states for the holidays!