Happy New Year!, Plus a Huge Dutch Cup Victory - Blog #12 (Dec. 30, 2024 - Jan. 5, 2025)

Basketball Update:

Coming back from our mini Christmas break, we had a few days of practice, a day and a half off for New Year's, and another few days of practice. It had been a while since we played, so we were excited to get back into action for our Dutch Cup quarterfinal game at QSTA. We have already played at QTSA this year in league play and won by about ten or so. The game was a bit back and forth, and I was having one of my worst games of the year. The fourth quarter was super back and forth. We were down one with the ball. Our PG, Aaron Cook, was having an unbelievable game. He was getting to the rim at will and carried our offense the whole second half. Aaron shot a heavily contested corner three that missed. I tipped it straight to my teammate, Lucas. He fired up a desperation type of shot that banked in for an and-one! He made the FT to go up two, and they took a timeout with five seconds to go. It was such a huge relief. I was ecstatic because winning a game like that while not playing your best is really nice, so you do not feel like you cost your team a win. Then, they advanced the ball with the timeout and proceeded to bang a corner three to take the lead by one. Oof. The refs put 0.9 seconds back on the clock. We had time for one final shot. Then, this happened...

It was a weird feeling postgame because I felt like I didn't play well, but we still got the win in an important game. Nice bus ride home!

Leadership Lesson:

A cool story about last year and our CSU team. We had a huge game on the road against our conference rival, Wyoming. The game was a battle, but we were up 11 with 50 seconds to go, and it seemed like we were going to win a huge road game. Well... a few stupid plays by us, clutch plays by them, and an overtime later, we lost on a total choke job. To make matters worse, we had a matchup versus league-best San Diego State just two days later. Those are the less glamorous moments that you don't hear about when you want to play Division I athletics. You get to hear everyone's, including the peanut gallery on social media, opinion about what went wrong and what needs to be fixed for the team to get back on track. We came in the next day expecting to get yelled at in film and have a difficult practice. Instead of this, Coach decided to cancel practice and organize a kickball game. We ran around and played like kids at recess. It was something I will never forget. A basketball season can completely consume you to the point that you forget you are supposed to have fun playing a game you love with your best friends. That was Coach's main message to us. It got all of our minds off of basketball for a couple of hours which was something we desperately needed. This experiment worked, and we ended up beating SDSU handily with very little scouting. It brought our team a lot closer together and is one of my fondest college basketball memories.

The moral of the story here is to never forget to have a little fun in whatever your job is. Odds are, you are doing what you are doing because you enjoy it, are good at it, or like the people/teammates you work with. Finding some joy and fun in what you do will go a long way.

Top 5 of the Week:

Yard Games/Recreational Sports

1. Frisbee Golf - If you know anything about the Cartier family, you know how much we love Frisbee Golf. We set up nine-hole courses in our yards, so each house has a unique course. We do not use baskets and chains. We use wooden sticks that are put into the group via PVC pipe. It is an unbelievable time and fun for people of all ages.

2. Pickleball - I have come to really enjoy racquet sports, and pickleball is my number one in this category. It has obviously completely taken over in the United States over the last few years, and for good reason. My height and length definitely help me in pickleball, but not quite as much as you would think. It takes skill, coordination, and positioning. Great game.

3. Beersbee - Another frisbee game, but this one is a great yard game. Takes teamwork and hand-eye coordination. A ton of fun.

4. Spikeball - Spikeball is amazing but have you ever tried Spikleball? Both are a hoot. Great game to play on grass but arguably better on sand. If you have four people who know how to play, you can have a blast with it.

5. Pickle - Kind of weird that I have two games with pickle in the name, but this one is a baseball game. Basically, you have two people with gloves each protecting a base. It simulates when you get "caught in a pickle" in a baseball game. The rest of the players are runners. We used to play this all the time growing up at the Johnston's house. A top tier yard game.

What Else Did I Do This Week?

It was a pretty slow week for your boy. Nikki went to visit Dani and Andrija in Bari, Italy, with her sister, Morgan, which left me home alone for the week. I was pretty bored for most of the week without Nikki to hang with. I went into a World War II rabbit hole watching a bunch of YouTube videos and a 10-part Netflix documentary about it. It was very interesting to learn more about the story and the different roles that each country played in the war.

For New Year's, I went over to my teammate, Brad's, apartment to third wheel with him and his girlfriend, Cecily. We had some chili dogs and played Mario Party. It was a blast. Brad and Cecily watch High School Musical every year on NYE, so we did that too. They are a fun hang. We spent some time outside in the midst of the firework madness that goes on here which I will talk about a bit more later.

Nikki had a much more eventful week than I did. She was in Bari visiting her cousin like I mentioned. After, she and Morgan went to the small country of Andorra to ski for a couple of days. She has been missing skiing and being by some mountains away from the flat Netherlands terrain, so it was nice for her.

Top Meal of the Week:

No picture for this week, but I have to give this award to my teammate, Brad, for the chili dogs he made on NYE. The chili had beef, beans, corn, and some other vegetables. It was great!

One Thing I Like About the Netherlands:

The way that the people here love their fireworks is like nothing I have ever experienced before. We had practice on NYE, and fireworks were going off continuously from the moment I got home from practice, around 2 PM, until 2 AM. I am not talking about the occasional firework every couple of minutes. They were going off every second, and it sounded like we were in a war zone. Fireworks are cheaper here, so people just go crazy for New Year's with them. They also don't have the 4th of July for obvious reasons, so they use all their fireworks lighting energy on NYE. It was incredible. Thanks for reading!