hey everybody,

this is goin to be a quick post. The team is doin good, we are now 11-15 and moved up into the 5th place in the league. we have won 7 out of our last 9 games. But last game we played without our only true Center presence and our other leading scoring and team defensive leader Brandon Crone (american) strain/ maybe torn a ligament in his knee and will both be sideline for 2-5 weeks. So there are rough times ahead of us a little bit. But up to this point we have done well wit adversity and fought and worked hard to get where we are now and arent making excuses from stopping us to hold our position where we are now.

But i was just talkin to my aunt and some became real to me. Everybody on my team around me is getting seriously injuried and home sick and having all kinds of problems and the only problem im having is being a little sore from day to day and having to decide what to eat after a late night of practice. Every day i wake up with energy and i have grown to love this game so much more in last couple of months. I told my aunt i can feel a blanket of love, protection and guidance over me everyday when i get up and i know its because all my friends, family, and loved ones back in the states. I just want to take this time to thank everybody for the prayers and support.

Im loving everyday over here. Im miss my friends and family but i am not homesick at all lol.

Like i said this was a quick post. Going to a friends house for dinner. Thanks again everybody for everything.

Will Walker #13

Update

Hey everybody,

Its been a while lol, but i havent had much to talk about because i don't do anything special ever. But i thought i would be nice come on and at least say Happy Holidays to everyone.

Basketball Update

My team is now 7-14 and has moved into a playoff spot (8th place) in the league. We are playing good basketball right now that can be credited to our defense. In a recent news paper here a coach in our conference said that we might be the scariest team in the conference because we play a defense that cant be scouted. We have rules on D but we rarely ever follow them. We like to let communication solve all our problems, which is how it should be, and it throws our opponents fits. Also Coach G says something alot now that Coach Lightfoot says all the time, "Our defense is our offense." It really works for us because we are a undersized team in this league and that cause a lot of problems for us in the half court game. So we will keep being scrappy on defense and keep knocking off teams and try to climb this ladder.

Life in Sweden

As i stated before Sodertalje is boring lol. Right now its freezing cold. Its usually between 2 and -4 degrees every day. Ive been watching alot of movies and playing alot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the ps3. I think thats all i have for right now. Ill write again soon. I wont say when... won't make a promise i cant keep.

Its a new year time for new beginnings and new goals. 2010 !!!!!Happy New Year!!!!! 2010

week 3

Hey everybody,

I have come to the conclusion that Sodertalje Sweden is more boring that Michigan City Indiana. There is absolutely nothing to do in this town lol, which gives me a lot of time to concentrate on basketball and play games on the good ol' PS3.

We played two games this week and went 1-1. The the game tuesday i was feeling a little under the weather but had a really good first half. Then, the sickness came into play and i had to room to the garbage can a couple times while we were playing. My coach told me to never run off the floor like that again... if i have to throw up in a game again, grab the closest opponent and do it in their jersey lol. This man is crazy... the bad part is he was serious. Yesterday we lost a good game against the team thats picked to win it all. Gee Gervin ( the Iceman's son) is on the team, but wasn't there because of a death in the family.

My team is not the most talented bunch of guys but we definitely work hard, we have been within 3 points of the best two teams in the league in the last 2 minutes of both games and let them both slip away. So we have the opportunity to be a real good team, but we are young and unexperienced compared to the teams we are playing against and we make young team mistakes. Once we finally cut down on some mistakes we will start winning games. Just gotta get over that hump.

Now we on a 14 day break, we had to move a game because the head coach has to go to the States for 6 day and we have our bye game. So for the next two weeks we'll be practicing hard and getting days off. Hopefully i get to go to Stockholm (the country's capital) this weekend and get some pictures to put on here.

Well im about to finish watching GI Joe, and probably take a nap. As always if you have any questions or comments dont be afraid to email me, will33walk@aol.com, it gives me stuff to do. Thanks for the prayers and support. :)

Will

Whats up,

I really dont have much to talk about this week. Basketball isn't going so well... what i mean is that we aren't winning, and that not a good thing if you know anything about this business. Our team has good spurts offensively and defensively but can't seem to be consistent in anything; while other teams are starting to find rhythm so its making it hard for us. Coach told us last game that we have to change how we are playing or we have to change who we are playing so hopefully we get our act together.

Traveling to a away game in Gothia was fun. Got to see the Sweden country which was gorgeous. Three hour train ride past farms and fields kind of made me feel like i was in indiana. I also got to get out in my city a little bit this weekend. Got to go downtown and see the shopping spots, went to subway for lunch, and actually was around and interacted with the locals. My coach told me that alot of people here spoke english , but it seems like they all do. So thats a cool thing.

Im getting ready to head to practice. No days off in this profession.

Until next week,

Will

week 1

Hey everyone,

Its been a crazy four days but i think im starting to get use to my surroundings. The flight was good...7 hrs and 48 mins of good flying. Got into Stockholm at about 7:30 am, by the time we (Brandon Crone) got our luggage and got to Sodertalje in our apartments, its was 930 and practice started at 10. So we dug our shoes out and went to the gym and had the firsts practice of the day. Practice was good, we just walked thru the plays and shot alot (thats how our morning practices usually are). we went to lunch with the team, i went back to my apartment and unpacked. Now its 1 pm and we have practice at 4:30, the only thing that is on my mind is dont go to sleep knowing that i hadn't slept much in the previous 48 hrs, i wouldn't wake for practice. Sure enough, i fall asleep and wake up to two alarms going off and a doorbell ringing like crazy. Look at the clock and its 4:25. So i take off running for the gym end up being about 10 minutes late and coach comes up to me and said, "If you were on almost any other team the coach would be telling you to pack your bags... I'm just going to say dont let it happen again," with a big smile and walked away.

Practices have been good. Although the team was 0-6 they are a very talented bunch and very young. We won our first game against Stockholm 08. I didn't have a stellar game...8 pts, 2 rbs, a couple fouls, and some spurts of great defense. Its going to take me a little bit to get use to some things in this game. The pace is fast...FAST!!!! Its like a soccer game... they just keep going, and the way the guards and choice of passes is different too. One thing that i have to get use to fast is the physical play that happens when going for rebounds. That is a battle for life, but Coach said thats where the team really needs help so thats what im going to do rebound. One rule that im gin to master is the fact that the ball is live once it touches the rim, so im going to make it my business to start slapping and grabbing them basketballs right off the rim.

All in all my experience has been good thus far. Everything ive eaten has been great. They have this place called Kabob Place that is just like a King Gyros, but they just call it a kabob and put this special sauce on it that is amazing, Im pretty much addicted to it already, and i have a pizza parlor on the first floor of my apartment building that makes a great pizza. The food isn't anything out of the ordinary, the only difference is that your main meet choices will be less beef stuff and more duck and lamb, which i dont have a problem wit at all.

I dont have any outrageous stories yet. Well i probably could about my coach... but ill keep it clean for all my bethel readers lol. But his pre-game speech was hilarious lol... Well since i talked about it i gotta tell... So we in the locker room and he giving the pre-game speech and he starts getting real excited and started speaking in another language but i was still feeling his energy and then out of no where he switches back to english and yells, "LETS CRASH THIS F*CKING PROM AND F*CK THE SH*T OUT THE PROM QUEEN," and i just started dying laughing... and i was told thats just the beginning... they get alot worse lol. So ill be looking forward to this pregame comedy lol.

We have a game on Tuesday and a game friday this week, so go to http://www.eurobasket.com/Sweden/basketball.asp

and see how they go.

but anyways, if you guys have any questions about anything just ask, i think im going to blog every sunday unless i just get real bored or if something off the wall happens. my email is will33walk@aol.com. You can shoot me a email if you feel like it. Keep me in your prayers... Its the first time im living alone and being around all this strange stuff is all different. Im not feeling homesick or anything just bored alot.

So i guess this is bye until next week. Once again if you have anything to say or any questions just shoot me a email. It will give me something to do. And please dont get on me for grammar errors. At least im putting g's on the end on "ing" words and not saying wit and ya'll and stuff like that.

Will Walker #14

Intro

Whats up everybody,

It was suggested that i do a blog so everyone could keep up with me and ask questions and stuff while im over in Sweden. Ill try my hardest to keep it updated.

Please keep me in your prayers. Its looks like on top of making the big move and starting my pro career im going to be once again thrown into the fire and be called to play big mins at a high level right away. The team is currently 0-5. There are no Americans playing with them as of now tho. We (Brandon Crone from Butler) are both going over on the 20th. Brandon is coming back, he played wit the team for a little and got injured and left, but now he is coming back. Originally Joe Nixon from Valpo was suppose to be on the team, but he recently was injured.

The best way to keep track of scores and stuff is this site. http://www.eurobasket.com/Sweden/basketball.asp

You can see the game scores and if you click on the scores you can see the box scores. The official team site is all in swedish and the eurobasket team site is not kept up well.

Feel free to ask any questions, at some point ill be workin on getting game film online. But that will come later.

Will