Well I realize it has been some time since my last blog, and I do apologise. The last few months have been extremely busy with no less than 4 long haul flights, a 16 hour bus ride through 5 countries, 6 international friendly games for Australia and 15 games for my Italian club…. whew!
The highlight was obviously getting our 2012 London campaign underway with the Rollers by hosting the Spanish national side at the Australian Institute of Sport European training facility right here in Italy. It was great to catch up with all the boys again and playing some serious ball as we move towards London and while we didn’t took care of business against Spain I think our best basketball is yet to come.
Totally out of the blue I was invited to attend the ANZAC day memorial here in Rome, it was quite interesting as besides the Australian and New Zealand representatives there were also dignitaries from Germany, UK and Turkey in attendance remembering the fallen soldiers from their countries also. It was perfect morning for the service and the haunting sound of the lone bugle still pulls at you, even in another country as we remembered those that had fallen defending their country. The invitation extended to then attend a morning tea complete with homemade sausage rolls, party pies and ANZAC biscuits at the Australian Consulates home in Italy…. a really great day all round!
Next on the agenda was heading back to one of my ex playing grounds in Istanbul, Turkey for the finals of the European Champions Cup. Having taken away the trophy 3 times previously I know what it takes to win it all and while I like to think we had an outside chance, I think that we performed very well to finish as the 3rd best club side in Europe. From Turkey it was then on a flight directly to Canberra for a training camp with the Rollers before heading back to Perth for 10 days of rest and relaxation with my family.
As of right now we are coming to a close on the season here in Italy, having qualified for the final and now chasing the ‘scudetto’ (the flag) for the first time in this clubs short history. The finals are a best of 5 series over 3 weekends and are against our arch nemesis and local derby team Santa Lucia. I look forward to recapping in my next blog how we finish the season off as well as looking towards our last few months of preparation before London!
