Like most jobs there comes a time when individuals are recognized for their diligence, teamwork, etc. That time has come. As coach picked us up this morning to drive us to Frankfurt Airport, he had this smirk on his face. He leaned in to JR Moore to give his usual greeting. Only this time it wasn't the name JR Moore that came out. It was Hello Mr. DEFENSIVE PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR. Then he looked back to me and extended his arm with the greeting, Hello Mr. MVP. I was a bit taken back. Never have I been awarded such an honor nor has JR. I humbly smirked and JR remained calm. Then a loud scream and shaking comes from the drivers seat and it was coach screaming and rejoicing and celebrating. I mean, it was his decision to bring us here and it was beautiful for him I'm sure of this.
Receiving such an honor is only a compliment to the team, the coach, and the organization. We were never out there playing selfishly, although there are some who might beg to differ. Instead, we were only doing what was being asked of us and some of our roles encompassed more freedom while others didn't. Fact is, without the sacrifices made on behalf of some of my teammates I can't justify receiving such an award.
With that said, I hope my teammates are smiling while reading this entry because we are all PLAYERS-OF-THE-YEARS. I mean it. Without you guys we would not have had the success we had this year. My college used to always say, "we are only as strong as our weakest link." So I sincerely am blessed to have played a season with you all and I know that without God guiding me none of this would even exist. But let me say this. I would trade this award in for a Championship any day of the week. Funny thing, is I would hear NBA guys say that and think to myself. "YEAH RIGHT" but here I am saying the same thing and experiencing the same feelings they share in being recognized for your individual efforts. Last time I checked basketball was a team sport and if you don't win a championship then you have fallen short.
Anything less than a championship next year is UNACCEPTABLE.
COOLBRZ84
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
13 months
Dear readers,
Now that I have successfully completed a season in Europe the time has come for me to reflect and look back. After all, if I want to know where I am going I have to know where I’ve been. Most of you may not know but I have been playing basketball on a semi-professional level for the past 13 months consecutively. For most of you that might not register or you might not fully understand how long that really is. So let me highlight the journey I have been on these past 13 months to fill in a few gaps. Before I do so, let me say this: “Everything that has happened in these months is exactly what I wanted to happen.” I want to make that clear because I am realize how privileged I am.
February of 2008 I was standing in front of a class teaching 12-15 year old kids how to operate computers and helping building up their mathematical skills. Little did I know that within that one year later I would have played over 60 games. I then traveled to Australia for a second season because I enjoyed my time there so much the first year. Plus the club wanted me back. In my opinion we had everything in place to win a championship but all that changed when I fell and hurt my wrist three quarters through the season. It wasn’t just the immediate season I was concerned for, but also my future. Up to this point in my career I had never suffered an injury as severe. Seeing that I had signed to play in Konstanz by this time I was very much concerned about my future in Europe. I toughed it out and rehabilitated my wrist as often as I could. It was 7 months of intensity and focus down in Australia.
Once the playoffs came, critics were expecting us to be in the championship considering the team we had. Our dreams fell short as we lost in double overtime in the third game of a three game series by 2 points. It was the craziest game I ever played in.
I then had about 3 weeks to somewhat relax but I still had to stay in shape seeing I had another season I was about to play in. I felt more pressure seeing that I had never played in Europe and I know how With that said, that mentality didn’t allow me to really relax because I was in the gym trying to get back to 100%.
September comes and I’m on a flight to Germany, leaving behind my precious girlfriend and not to mention it has been 7 months since I have seen my family. I have a dream and I know they all support me so I kept pushing. I arrived in Germany with a few goals, to win a championship, play my best, and make a name for myself. By the end of the season two of those goals were accomplished, but it took a lot out of me. Coach Washington really pushed me to my limits. At the time, it was misery but it only brought out the best in me. I never kept my eyes off the prize though. Although, we fell short of a championship this year I think we did a great job this season considering the amount of new faces that were added and that’s tribute to Coach Washington.
Just for one second imagine this. Before you read on take a deep breath and close your eyes for a brief second before you read on………..
Okay! Think about your personal dream. Now contemplate committing yourself to follow your dreams despite knowing the huge sacrifices and hurdles that will come. Remember nothing worth having is going to come easy and if your dream is worth it then the road you travel to get there is going to be tough. Now that you have mentally prepared yourself for what’s to come, imagine yourself being in the exact situation you envision and an environment that will enable you to become a step closer to reaching your dream except now you have physical obstacle arises. This is supposed to be the easy part but you find it difficult. You are drained mentally and emotionally and you have someone behind you commanding you to do your best and pushing you to your limits. 13 months of being pushed to your absolute limit. Imagine that.
Now think about what your limits really are and how often you cut corners or take short cuts because that route is easier. In the long run that only hurts you because a lot can be learned from taking the road that is less travelled. Are you confused yet? I bet you are wondering where I am going to take this right?
Well, for the past 8 months I have been pushed like never before. The last time I remember this amount of pressure being put on me I was a kid and it was from my dad. It wasn’t a pressure directly as if someone was constantly in my ear. It was the pressure of someone believing in you and seeing something in you that you might not be able to see in yourself. That kind of pressure can be very stressful and for those of your who have experienced this may know what I am talking about. I mean, I was looking in the mirror just the other day and noticed a gray hair in my mustache. I’m sure it is from the past 8 months 0f stress. So I immediately decided to shave to keep a professional and young image, but that’s not the point. The point is that I have someone who believes in me, who took a chance on me, and has pushed me. I am and will forever be thankful of that.
So despite playing basketball for 13 months, I know that I am only at the beginning of something great. All this has just been preparation and will only make sense for me later on in life.
So now that the season is complete I plan to take a month long break away from hoops. I need to unplug because I don’t want to overload on basketball. I believe in balance and I am in dire need of that right now. I will come back to Germany in September refreshed. I like to think of it as a new and improved Michael Lay, but I will leave that for you (the fans) to judge.
I will keep writing on my blog as it is a place to debrief and unwind which contributes to my peace and balance. Until next time.
Coolbrz84
Now that I have successfully completed a season in Europe the time has come for me to reflect and look back. After all, if I want to know where I am going I have to know where I’ve been. Most of you may not know but I have been playing basketball on a semi-professional level for the past 13 months consecutively. For most of you that might not register or you might not fully understand how long that really is. So let me highlight the journey I have been on these past 13 months to fill in a few gaps. Before I do so, let me say this: “Everything that has happened in these months is exactly what I wanted to happen.” I want to make that clear because I am realize how privileged I am.
February of 2008 I was standing in front of a class teaching 12-15 year old kids how to operate computers and helping building up their mathematical skills. Little did I know that within that one year later I would have played over 60 games. I then traveled to Australia for a second season because I enjoyed my time there so much the first year. Plus the club wanted me back. In my opinion we had everything in place to win a championship but all that changed when I fell and hurt my wrist three quarters through the season. It wasn’t just the immediate season I was concerned for, but also my future. Up to this point in my career I had never suffered an injury as severe. Seeing that I had signed to play in Konstanz by this time I was very much concerned about my future in Europe. I toughed it out and rehabilitated my wrist as often as I could. It was 7 months of intensity and focus down in Australia.
Once the playoffs came, critics were expecting us to be in the championship considering the team we had. Our dreams fell short as we lost in double overtime in the third game of a three game series by 2 points. It was the craziest game I ever played in.
I then had about 3 weeks to somewhat relax but I still had to stay in shape seeing I had another season I was about to play in. I felt more pressure seeing that I had never played in Europe and I know how With that said, that mentality didn’t allow me to really relax because I was in the gym trying to get back to 100%.
September comes and I’m on a flight to Germany, leaving behind my precious girlfriend and not to mention it has been 7 months since I have seen my family. I have a dream and I know they all support me so I kept pushing. I arrived in Germany with a few goals, to win a championship, play my best, and make a name for myself. By the end of the season two of those goals were accomplished, but it took a lot out of me. Coach Washington really pushed me to my limits. At the time, it was misery but it only brought out the best in me. I never kept my eyes off the prize though. Although, we fell short of a championship this year I think we did a great job this season considering the amount of new faces that were added and that’s tribute to Coach Washington.
Just for one second imagine this. Before you read on take a deep breath and close your eyes for a brief second before you read on………..
Okay! Think about your personal dream. Now contemplate committing yourself to follow your dreams despite knowing the huge sacrifices and hurdles that will come. Remember nothing worth having is going to come easy and if your dream is worth it then the road you travel to get there is going to be tough. Now that you have mentally prepared yourself for what’s to come, imagine yourself being in the exact situation you envision and an environment that will enable you to become a step closer to reaching your dream except now you have physical obstacle arises. This is supposed to be the easy part but you find it difficult. You are drained mentally and emotionally and you have someone behind you commanding you to do your best and pushing you to your limits. 13 months of being pushed to your absolute limit. Imagine that.
Now think about what your limits really are and how often you cut corners or take short cuts because that route is easier. In the long run that only hurts you because a lot can be learned from taking the road that is less travelled. Are you confused yet? I bet you are wondering where I am going to take this right?
Well, for the past 8 months I have been pushed like never before. The last time I remember this amount of pressure being put on me I was a kid and it was from my dad. It wasn’t a pressure directly as if someone was constantly in my ear. It was the pressure of someone believing in you and seeing something in you that you might not be able to see in yourself. That kind of pressure can be very stressful and for those of your who have experienced this may know what I am talking about. I mean, I was looking in the mirror just the other day and noticed a gray hair in my mustache. I’m sure it is from the past 8 months 0f stress. So I immediately decided to shave to keep a professional and young image, but that’s not the point. The point is that I have someone who believes in me, who took a chance on me, and has pushed me. I am and will forever be thankful of that.
So despite playing basketball for 13 months, I know that I am only at the beginning of something great. All this has just been preparation and will only make sense for me later on in life.
So now that the season is complete I plan to take a month long break away from hoops. I need to unplug because I don’t want to overload on basketball. I believe in balance and I am in dire need of that right now. I will come back to Germany in September refreshed. I like to think of it as a new and improved Michael Lay, but I will leave that for you (the fans) to judge.
I will keep writing on my blog as it is a place to debrief and unwind which contributes to my peace and balance. Until next time.
Coolbrz84
Sunday, April 19, 2009
HOMELAND SECURITY
It's innate for us men to protect what's ours, especially when it comes to your home. When intruders approach, it's time to fight and defend but even more important is that it's time to protect what's rightfully yours.
This season many teams have attempted to step foot into Konstanz with the hope of winning the battle. Many have tried, few have succeeded. In fact, none have succeeded. We have managed to achieve a unprecedented undefeated record at home. I'm not sure exactly how many games that is but when you have zero losses at home it doesn't matter. That's pretty impressive and this week was our last home test of the season. We played the team who has sat atop of the standings pretty much all season long. They arrogantly stormed into our Hall with the expectations of winning. Probability wise their chances were good seeing that we lost last week.
Unfortunately, Holiday Check Baskets had other plans. We posses something called pride and although our chances of winning the Championship have narrowed, we still are professionals. Therefore, we must maintain that image not just for the fans, but for ourselves. And that's what we did. We protected our home in the most professional manner possible and left the likes of the league leaders with disappointed faces when the clock struck zero.
The funny thing is that we had a chance to move into second place because of the point system used in Germany to calculate the standings. You see, this week the 1st place team competed against the 3rd place team. Next week, the 1st place team plays against the 2nd place team. It will be the last game of the season. Seeing that the 1st place and 2nd place team have identical records, the winner will pretty much take all. Well if the 1st place team loses next week consequently they would move to 2nd place and thus having an identical win loss record with the 3rd place team (Holiday Check Baskets). It then would come down to head to head competition to determine who would acquire the 2nd place spot. Earlier in the year we lost to them by 14 points. So, if we won by 15 points that would put us ahead in the point column. And it couldn't have been scripted any better. There was about 10 seconds left and the other team was shooting free throws. At this point we are up by 12 points. Fortunate for us 2 misses followed but we couldn't get our hands on the rebound. A foul was called and they went back to the free throw line with now about 8 seconds. Two more misses follow and fate was in our control. We rebounded the ball and an outlet pass was thrown in my direction. I chased after the ball and paced down the floor with one goal, shooting the 3 pointer. I sailed down the right side and crossed over and pulled up for the 3 ball. It felt good and it looked good. I just knew that it was going to hit the bottom of the net and it nicked the front of the rim and bounced up and rimmed out.
That's not even the sad part though. Well really there is nothing to be sad about because we won, but I was a little disappointed. I was disappointed because we were actually up by 13 points and only needed 2 points to get the head to head point advantage. I somehow miscalculated while they were shooting free throws. It might not mean much to you but for me it meant a lot because I believe in our team and for me 3rd place finish is an underachievement. A 2nd place finish is also an underachievement but 2nd place sounds and looks better than 3rd.
Overall, it was a good game and even better season. I'm really looking forward to the future in Germany but I'm very glad that God managed to introduce Michael Lay to Konstanz.
Thank all the wonderful fans for their constant love and support of our team. I hope they enjoyed watching us play just as much as I enjoyed being here.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
BlACK FOREST CONQUEST (part 2)
Day 2 of our adventure was better than the first because it was sunny outside. The best part of it all was that I got to visit 2 more castles. One of the castles happened to be Napoleon III's residence. I can't explain to you guys what its like to read about historical figures and see pictures of them in the history books and then to somewhat experience the life they once had is incredible. You can't take pictures inside the castles, which sucks but the outside and surrounding area is breathtaking.
Enjoy
Enjoy
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Black Forest Conquest
Seeing that it was Easter and I am here in Germany away from my family, friends, and fiancee one of my teammates extended an invitation my way to celebrate Easter with him. It was an honor so of course I rejected it. Hahaha! I'm joking, I accepted the generous offer. Enclosed you will find a slide show of photos taken on Day 1 of our conquest. The place is Freiburg, Germany, known for it's super bright sunny days even though the pictures don't reflect that. I hope you guys enjoy the show as much as I enjoyed the scenery.
Coolbrz84
Coolbrz84
Suffering Defeat
Last night was unbelievable. As the clock struck zero, I glanced at the clock, and saw that the other team had more points than my team. Up to this point it only happened on three other occasions, but it was something about this one that was more hurtful. Perhaps it was because the winner would be proclaimed as the 2009 Regionallia Champion. Maybe it could have been the fact that it was the cross town rivalry. All I know is that it was the game of the year. There was so much hype coming into this game that you would have needed Aderall, a drug prescribe to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, in order to calm down.
The game started out with lots of emotions as you can imagine. Back and forth the game swung like a pendulum. Up and down, like a pogo stick. Side to side like a... I don't know anything that swings side to side, but I wanted to keep it going. Anyway, everything was tight going into the half. We were down by 1 point despite not playing our best and considering a few of our players were in foul trouble.
The third quarter began with both teams firing shots at one another. Then the unthinkable happened. I picked up a technical foul. The first of the whole season. I was trying to explain to the refs what I felt the opposing guards were getting away with. Being caught in the moment, I took it a step further to demonstrate what was happening. I reached out and grabbed the refs arm and the second ref hit me with it. I got the technical foul plus a personal foul because I fouled when I initially lost the ball. They in turn get 4 free throws making 3 out of 4 plus they get the ball back. On the ensuing possession, their 3 point specialist nails a 3 pointer. We go down miss a shot and they come down and nail another 3 pointer. In short, they scored 9 unanswered points following my technical foul.
We never really recovered after that. We ended up going down by 15 points and it was I think I was most disappointed that all we had worked for was being stripped of us at our very own doing.
The game started out with lots of emotions as you can imagine. Back and forth the game swung like a pendulum. Up and down, like a pogo stick. Side to side like a... I don't know anything that swings side to side, but I wanted to keep it going. Anyway, everything was tight going into the half. We were down by 1 point despite not playing our best and considering a few of our players were in foul trouble.
The third quarter began with both teams firing shots at one another. Then the unthinkable happened. I picked up a technical foul. The first of the whole season. I was trying to explain to the refs what I felt the opposing guards were getting away with. Being caught in the moment, I took it a step further to demonstrate what was happening. I reached out and grabbed the refs arm and the second ref hit me with it. I got the technical foul plus a personal foul because I fouled when I initially lost the ball. They in turn get 4 free throws making 3 out of 4 plus they get the ball back. On the ensuing possession, their 3 point specialist nails a 3 pointer. We go down miss a shot and they come down and nail another 3 pointer. In short, they scored 9 unanswered points following my technical foul.
We never really recovered after that. We ended up going down by 15 points and it was I think I was most disappointed that all we had worked for was being stripped of us at our very own doing.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Brotherhood
I've said it before and I will gladly say it again. Basketball is like a brotherhood. It has so many parallels to family that no matter where you are, in most cases, you can feel right at home. My teammates here have grown to be viewed as life long brothers and basketball is the common denominator. So shouts out to my German teammates and everyone involved with Konstanz Basketball.
Coolbrz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
