Settling In...

Its hard to believe that I’ve been down here for almost a month now. It has truly been a great experience so far. I have done quite a bit of stuff and have seen a lot of Victoria (the state where I am living). A few weeks ago I went to Tower Hill nature park, where I saw kangaroos, emus, and koalas. I have been to some beautiful beaches and spent a day and night in Melbourne, which is a great city. It is so diverse and has so much going on in the city. It’s a great city for young people who like to party, as the clubs stay open through the night and into the morning. Australians are very nice people and the players, coaches, and committee members really have made Warrnambool feel like home for me. We have a great community fan base as well and have around 500-600 fans at each game, which is very good for our league. The fans, especially the younger ones, are really involved and get loud at our games (we even have our own player cards)  A few days after I arrived in Warrnambool I got interviewed at the local radio station and was on a sports talk show, which I must say was pretty cool. I also write a weekly column in the local newspaper giving an insight into the life of a professional basketball player, both on and off the court. I am hoping through these media outlets that basketball will continue to grow as a sport in Australia. (The number 1 sport is Aussie Rules Football, or footy as they call it).
    The Seahawks are currently 2-4 and are in place in the Big V standings. We won our last game at Altona to pick up our second win of the year.  After getting the Easter break off, we are back to work this week and play Whittlesea on Saturday night for our next game.  Hope everyone had a great Easter and I miss everyone back home  Peace

Goodbye Ireland, Hello Australia

Its been about a month since my last post and quite a bit has changed in my life. The season in Ireland ended. We lost by two points in the semifinals of the league playoffs, which was a very tough loss. Despite the loss, I had a great experience in Ireland and want to thank all of the players, coaches, and committee members that helped make it such an enjoyable 7 months for me.

I recently signed a contract to play for the Warrnambool Seahawks in Australia's Big V league. I flew home from Ireland on the 22nd of March and headed down here the 31st of the month. It was tough only being home for a week or so, but it was great to see all my friends and family for a bit. Warrnambool is a small, coastal town located in the south of Australia, (about a 3 hour drive from Melbourne) in the state of Victoria. Its a beautiful city and I am very excited to be about 1 kilometer from the beach.

I arrived in Australia on the 2nd of April (ya it was a pretty long flight) at 9:30 and played in our game that night at 7. Despite the jet lag, I was still able to play a solid game and we won by 7 on our home floor. The arena and the crowd were awesome and everyone has been great to me so far.  I even got a write up in the city newspaper, http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/sport/basketball/seahawks-import-gets-down-to-business/2122347.aspx .
We have a very young team, but have lots of talent and should really improve over the season. Updates coming soon.