Sunday, March 23, 2014

It's Only Entertainment

*Royal Wave*

Thank you for visiting my blog Overseas With A Carry On! I am happy to deliver another detailed look into the life of an athlete living in kilometers - or miles 'por mi americanos' - away from home.  Before we dive into things I would like to congratulate every team, player, and university that has continued on to play in the post season.  Not only March Madness but on every level, not limited to the NIT, CBI, NCAA Division II, III, and all the others.  A special shout-out to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs who advanced past UGA in the 2nd round of the NIT tournament and big pat on the back to the Oregon Ducks who unfortunately fell to Wisconsin last night. 'Twas a great run!

In 2014, our generation is fascinated with technology, speed and selfies. We've become so impatient as a society that we even have a notification through iMessage (solely for iPhone users of course) that tells you that your recipient in is the middle of typing a response. Postal mail? Fax machines? Yeah right! You're better off scanning and E-mailing that document.  We've become fiends for instantaneous communication on all levels.  Let's take a look at what a typical player had to go through playing overseas before the WIFI era.

The pioneers who came to chase their dreams across the waters didn't have the luxuries of video chats and mobile devices like we do today.  They most likely had to deal with home telephones, calling cards and airmail. When's the last time you used a home phone? Better yet, how often do you see your home phone ring and you neglect to pick it up because, "That's not for me. If it was urgent, they would just call my cell phone."  I can remember my mother using calling cards to make long distance calls over the speakerphone when I was younger.  She would have to dial the access number, followed by the PIN code then an automated voice would tell her how much credit remained on the card.  Then she'd have to enter the phone number of the person she was calling and again the automated voice would tell her approximately how many minutes she had to make the call. All that for ONE phone call! Like Jay-Z said, "Aint nobody got time for that."

Writing letters has become a thing of the past. Ancient. Prehistoric even!  For my generation Y folks, the only time we wrote letters was back in grade school! Those paper notes passed through class were the first footsteps of todays' Facebook inbox messages or Twitter DMs. The majority of the ones I passed out were to girls in my class that read: Do you like me? Check: Yes. No. Maybe.  Needless to say, I had a 86.9% clearance rate of boxes checked "Yes".


On the side of entertainment, in the foreign countries I have visited, there were always a few channels in english. Usually something along the lines of international news coverage or the Disney Channel or something to that extent. Technology today allows some of the more mainstream channels to add sub titles to certain programs or even switch the voice-overs to english.  This is not available with every channel but progress is being made.  But to be honest with you, I never turn on my television, whether at home or in a hotel.  Thanks to wifi capabilities, all you need is your handy dandy laptop, tablet or even just your smartphone.  We can download the latest episode of Scandal or play levels upon levels of Candy Crush during road trips; our forefathers were stuck reading paperback books, listening to Walkmans or better yet, Discmans on their treks.

Last but not least, the pioneers didn't have live streaming March Madness games to watch. We're lucky to be able to view these games as if we were back home. I just watched fellow AAU teammate of mine, Dwight Powell at Stanford advance to the Sweet 16 and I'm currently watching another AAU teammate Kadeem Coleby at Wichita St. attempt to knock off Kentucky.  There have been a lot of upsets but that's no surprise if you're an avid college hoops fan. For all of those who filled out a bracket, better luck next year!  I'm terrible at brackets so I avoid the disappointment and just enjoy each game and usually cheer for teams based on their jersey/shoe colour combinations. . . Seriously.

Who will come out atop the 2014 NCAA Division I champion? Who knows, it'll be a team who's resilient, mentally tough and gets a little lucky in the end. Whenever it happens, with the right smartphone app, you'll get a bunch of notifications giving you every detailed stat of the game. Welcome to the fast life. Is it the life we chose, or rather the life that chose us?

Olu
#OWACO

Monday, March 10, 2014

Health is Wealth

Welcome back to Overseas With A Carry On!

I hope everyone has had a blessed week.  Things have been a bit up and down as far as hoops goes this side of the pond. Our starting shooting guard was sidelined for the rest of the season with what is believed to be a separated shoulder; he will be undergoing surgery later this week.  Our reserve stretch power forward has been out just over 2 weeks with a calf injury.  Luckily, we were able to pick up a replacement  veteran wing to help us for the remainder of the season.  He has provided a spark for us, not only on the court but with his leadership and experience as well.

On the brighter side of things,we are currently tied for 5th in the 18 team division.  We are pretty much a lock for the playoffs but that is not where our mindset is.  The higher seeded teams receive home court advantage throughout the playoffs so as a group, we have to keep fighting to rise in the standings and not only be happy with a post season birth.  The number 1 overall seed gets an automatic birth to move up out of the division which means they get a by for the entire playoff series.  In other words, they head home early and that leaves the playoff picture to be decided between the 2-9 seeds.

As the NCAA basketball regular season comes to an end, it is exciting to watch the conference tournaments begin and seniors play their last home games in front of family, friends and faculty. I can remember my senior night game at the University of Oregon. We took on the Utah Utes who were not one of the strongest teams in the Pac-12 that year.  We got off to a scorching 34-4 lead in the first half - it was unreal!  Fast forward to the second half, head coach Dana Altman called my play and well, I remember like it was yesterday, this happened...

Perhaps one of my best personal memories as an Oregon Duck.  Speaking of those Ducks, they defeated #3 ranked Arizona last night on their senior night. Not to be outdone, my alma mater, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs won the Conference-USA title last week! Their ticket to the 'Big Dance' has been punched. I'm quite proud of what they have built down there in Ruston, LA.

On the subject of post season, we stand at 19-14 with 11 regular season games.  The 44 game schedule is an increase from last years' 35 game schedule in the league.  Personally, it's a huge increase from the 26 game schedule from my days in Spain. Our final match will be on the road on May 2nd.  There will be approximately a week before the best-of-3 playoffs series' begin.  Our preseason training began way back on August 1st and for a successful team, you can find yourself playing well into the months of May or June depending on which country/league you play in.  That's a 10 long months of training, travel, practice and games; taking care of your body means so much more now than it ever did before!

My 5 Personal Injury Precautionary Actions

1. STRETCH - We all probably stretch before practice which is obviously important but many of us skip stretching AFTER activity.  Muscles have just been exercised and as important as it is for you to "warm up", it is just equally important for you to stretch and "cool down." Stay limber!

2. LIFT - Lifting weights keeps your body toned, under some sort of strain and continually has your muscles repairing themselves.  Without lifting, your muscles become softened or weakened. Your ability to take hits or minor injuries become reduced due the inactivity of your muscles working.

3. DRINK WATER - This goes without saying, flushing your body of toxins, waste and staying hydrated all have their benefits.  Drinking water will not directly avoid injuries, it will only improve your body in functioning properly which in turn may reduce the chances of you getting hurt.

4. REST - We all know the body repairs itself during sleep.  Enough said!

5. PREHAB - Rather than rehab after you've sustained an injury, develop strength and mobility in key areas in your body that are weak.  You know your body better than anyone else. Determine what little tweaks your body needs and start building durability today.

As we near the end of the regular season, remaining focused mentally will prove to be more useful than any physical attribute.  This is where good teams separate themselves from the mediocre group.  To all my fellow athletes going through the grind of the season, push through and stay healthy!

Until next time my fellow readers, thank you for reading! Please subscribe, share, tweet, etc.  The goal is reach as many readers nationally and globally.  Thank you for all of your support thus far.

Olu
#OWACO