Tough Week

This past week has been the hardest week of my entire life. Tough way to start a blog, but I certainly mean it when I say it.

First, I got a little homesick starting earlier in the week, which has never really happened before. Now that I have been living here for a decent amount of time and have really finished adjusting to the food, culture, and people, it is only natural to miss what you have been used to for 23 years. Trust me when I say that America is a great country, you will never hear me say anything bad about it again. Second, I got pretty sick from one of my teammates with the cold flu. Had a fever, really sore throat, stuffed up, and coughing up goodies and all of that. It is hard to play at your highest level with all of that going on. Like really really hard, when all you want to do is lay down and not swallow. Speaking of basketball, my team is now 9-2 and still in first place by a full game. We lost our last game in OT with some controversial calls but it was against a very good team, one we will definitely probably see in the playoffs in the near future.

We got to go on a team retreat shortly after our loss, so all wasn't a complete failure - except Coach decided in order to build more team chemistry we needed to be isolated in the countryside away from any technology or any people except each other. So that is what we did, drove out to the middle of nowhere (it was freezing) and stayed at a little hotel with my teammates. Things were going well when I checked my inbox and got a message on my phone.

 I am not going to get into details on a public internet blog, but sometimes you just get a phone call or a message that literally brings you to your knees. If you are reading this and this is something that has never happened, than you need to drop to your knees and thank God for such a blessing, because it has been one of the hardest moments of my life. A phone call that put Mongolia, basketball, and life in general in perspective, instantly. Before I turn this blog into a diary ill just finish by saying I never really had gotten a message or a phone call like that in my life and when you do get one, all you can do is pray and ask for prayer, so thats what I am doing. I would love to have your prayers my friends, I miss and love you all.

Will

It has been a crazy ride

Well it has been a long time since my last blog, and a lot has changed. As most of you know, after beginning the season in Romania I went down with a massive ankle injury. At first, we actually thought it was a break after the initial X-ray and examination in Bucharest. Either way, fracture or not, it was going to be 2-3 months before I could begin playing basketball again. So after discussing with team management it was decided that it would be best for both parties if I went home and began rehab and recovery as soon as possible. Medical care in Romania is not exactly the best, as some of you may have read about the American player who was killed after a bar fight, it was later determined he really died of medical negligence, rather than the bar fight itself. Either way it was a sad story that affected a lot of teams. At the time, I thought I would probably be returning to Romania to finish off the season, but I think God had other plans for me. We all know those are the best plans - He makes all things work together for our good!

So after being home for a couple months and through some grueling rehab in Midland, the chance of going back to Romania was beginning to look less promising. Just when I wasn't sure what I was going to do, I got a call about a possible professional basketball opportunity in Ulaanbataar Mongolia. My first thought was Mongolia - really? But after talking with the team management and researching the city I found out that it really wasn't as crazy as I thought. It is the capital city, where everything is based, with about 2 million people, how crazy could it be? I watched some videos of the league from last year, and I did some more research and decided it was a pretty amazing opportunity, and one definitely brought on by God, how could I say no? After mulling an offer from Australia as well, I ultimately decided to sign the contract in Mongolia. We ran into some problems with our sponsors, but to make a long story short, after several delays, I finally ended up in Ulaanbataar.

I had no idea what to expect when I landed, and it was a ridiculous amount of travel to get here, but I finally made it! The league here is sponsored by Pepsi Co. so I knew that at the very least there wasn't going to be to many money problems within the league and that the contract I signed was going to be honored. Basically, every team has a combination of Americans, Serbians, Mongolians, Chinese, and Japanese on their team. I got here pretty late, so I had to jump right into practice and games, and lets just say I didn't quite have my basketball legs yet! It took a week of pain, but I feel like I have them now, and am excited about our season. Our team is comprised of some very good players. We have 3 americans, and the rest Mongolian players. Eight of the Mongolian players, however, were on the Olympic team, so we definitely have a very strong team, with a lot of balance and depth. Our Coach is a really tough guy, who is also involved in coaching the national team here, so practices and games are not taken lightly. Anyways, we are currently 6-1 in the league and in first place, so things are going very well!

I don't want to overwhelm everyone with information, so I leave it at that for now. I have definitely had so many lessons to be learned over this past 6 months, lessons that I know have strengthened my character. I will update more and more of the course of the season.