My College Basketball Career!

Well it has been quite some time since I have posted anything but it hasn't been for lack of excitement, more just the lack of desire to write a blog entry on top of the other papers I have been writing. Although I have been off from Uni for just over a week now for my 5 week Easter holiday, things did pick up school wise a bit while I was back at Warwick. The work load is still significantly less than any usual week at Madison but when you get really used to doing next to nothing it gets even harder to do anything at all when assignments become due. LIke normal I procrastinated the two things I had to do much longer than I should have.

Aside from school, the weather finally started to get nicer so I took an adventure into the campus town of Royal Lemington Spa for an afternoon with my mate Will just to do some exploring and see what it was all about. It is a really wonderful small town and lacks any of the visual attrocities that coincide with the stereotypical industrialized British town like Coventry. The main road is lined with beautiful white stone buildings filled with a wide variety of shops and cafes and adorned with exquisite parks and green spaces. Unlike Coventry or the University of Warwick campus, Lemington has a great deal of character and delightful little places to go and hang out for an afternoon; I imagine I will spend quite a bit of time there when it becomes time to study for exams in May and am rather dissapointed in myself I didn't make it over there sooner.

Another notable event that I have been meaning to write about for quite some time was the Warwick Ale Festival. In summary, it consisted of a large room with over 100 different kinds of ales, ciders and wines to be had and 4 hours to get as drunk as possible. To top it all off, there was an absolutely absurd musical act that consisted of a group of older people dressed as pirates playing random instruments like the accordian, banjo etc.., and singing ridiculous songs about masturbating a kangaroo among other topics. It reminded me a lot of the freecreditreport.com commercials except that it was a great deal more absurd. It was really cool to be able to try different ales brewed from across the UK and expand my horizons even further when it comes to beer drinking. However, after drinking everything from cider and lighter ales to expresso stouts (darker than Guinness) -not to mention the rather large amount of beer that was consumed in general - my stomach had definitely felt better . The next morning proved to be a struggle as well since I forgot to drink any water or eat anything the night before. If I would've had any classes that day I wouldve skipped them for sure!

One of my most rewarding experiences thus far at Warwick has been my chance to play with the university basketball team! One day while shooting around and playing a worthless game of 3 on 3 against some very untalented Asains, I was approached while taking off my shoes by another student who introduced himself as Tom. He said he saw me playing from the balcony and that, if I could, I should come practice with the basketball team the following day. I smiled and agreed, overjoyed in the fact that it was the first time I had been recruited for anything in my life. Practice the next day was a great deal of fun; it was good to play with some kids who were competent again. There were some obvious differences in playing styles between what I consider good basketball and what the others did but I thought it was really cool to see the contrast between different cultures. Probably my favorite part about the opportunity to play is that, since there are very few English guys on the team due to the general disdain for the sport in this country, I have gotten the chance to befriend people from all over the world: Canada, China, Belgium, Lithuania, Romania, Norway and Greece. Just talking to people from different places really opens your horizons and facilitates more learning than you can learn in a classroom. Not to mention, it was wonderful to finally be able to talk basketball again, especially during March even though most admitted they had never really watched much college basketball since it is never played in Europe. Basketball provided a common subject for all of us to bond and I have made really good friends with the kids from the team.

It should probably be noted how different university athletics are in Europe as opposed to the States, otherwise a lot of this might sound pretty obscene. First, they really aren't much of a big deal at all; maybe 20 or 30 people will go to watch a Uni sporting event on any given day. Second, they are entirely less formal; practices are somewhat optional and there is a general lack of an actual coach. They are much more similar to intramurals than anything. In this context, it makes a little more sense that I would be able to join a team 3/4 of the way through their season. Unfortunately, by the time I had gone to practice, the team only had a few games left but, with a little handiwork, I was able to suit up for the last game of the year against Warwick's rival team from Coventry University. Who knew that after giving up on my dream of playing college basketball 5 years ago due to general lack of athletic ability and the decreasing dedication to become good enough at anything to stand a chance that I, Patrick Lueck, would suit up as an official college basketball player for 1 game! Don't get me wrong, the game was probably less intense than the average SERF pick-up game but, nonetheless, it was cool to put on a uniform, lace up the Nikes, and go play an official game. The first half was somewhat embarassing. I think I was about 0-4 with 2 points from freethrows. Fortunately, I asserted my role as the proverbial 'defensive stopper' so I was at least contributing somewhat to our halftime lead by guarding their best player. I redeemed myself as an American in the second half scoring 15 or so points and grabbing about 5 steals on route to a Warwick victory! Now when I'm old and reminiscing about my younger years I can tell everyone that I played college ball and, on my career, averaged about 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals a game - clearly statistics that warrant the retirement of my jersey in the rafters of the Warwick University gymnasium. Then I can just skillfully change the subject, no one ever has to know I only played 1 game.

A few days after the game, I had to pack up all of my things and get ready to live for 5 weeks out of an oversized backpack. My first adventure was to my mate Grant's house on Canvey Island in the south of England and then to London for a few rowdy days with the Wisconsin crew. I will post something about these in the next few days because they are definitely noteworthy. Currently, I am sitting in London Stansted Airport waiting for my flight to Genoa for my 22 day adventure around Italy and Greece with some friends from London who are meeting me in Genoa on Friday. Since the plane ticket on a Tuesday was only $12 and it was well over $100 on Friday, I figured I'd just go early and enjoy the sunshine in the Italian Riviera for a few days and see if I can get a bit of color!

I hope everyone is enjoying spring break in Florida and wherever else people's adventures have taken them. Weather in the states seem to be perfect lately so I don't doubt that everyone is partying up a storm and showing the world how the midwest does things :) Stay tuned for more soon.

Cheers,
Patrick :)

P.S. I didn't have spell check for this one so please excuse any poor grammar :p