Veenhuis in Poland and Awesome W in Wałbrzych - Blog #48 (Jan. 12 - Jan. 26 '26)

Basketball Update:

We had an entertaining rematch with Sopot for our second game in eleven days against them. If you remember, we beat them by two points in OT at home. This game was just as much of a nail-biter. It was our new player, Sagaba's, debut. He will probably be the last foreign player we sign this year, as we now have six. He is a five man/center who will give us some good depth at that position. Neither team ever really took full control of the game. We had a couple of six-seven point leads, but Sopot always responded back and had the lead late. They missed a couple of clutch-time FTs, and we had a chance to tie at the buzzer. We missed and had a long, sad bus ride home.

We were on the road again, playing against Górnik Wałbrzych. We lost to them in OT in our first game of the season, so we were looking for some serious revenge at their place. It is one of the best environments I have ever played in. The fans are intense, and before the game, they have a theme song that all the fans sing during the final minutes of warm-ups. It was pretty surreal and gave me crazy chills. We were down twelve at half and had an awesome comeback in the second to eventually win by seven. The standings are really close, so every single win we get is huge. We are now in 7th, and if we had lost, we would be in 11th. Our fans traveled well per usual too. Fun celebration with them after the game!

Fan celebration:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT762VBjK61/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Here is the "hymn" the fans sing before the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH7N93DwQs4

Leadership Lesson:

For this week's leadership lesson, I am going to focus on a "Medved-ism". He always used to say, "How you do anything is how you do everything." His point in saying this was for us to focus on being well-rounded people. If you don't give a crap about your nutrition and sleep habits, then you probably aren't putting your best foot forward on the basketball court either. If Coach couldn't trust you to go to class, how could he trust you to execute on the court? I honestly think that there are some exceptions to this, but for the most part, it holds true. Building good habits bleeds over into all aspects of your life. Letting something slide or being negligent in a small thing in your life can undoubtedly bleed into bigger and bigger things. Keeping discipline in all parts of your life will lead to more success in the most important parts of your life.

Top 5 of the Week:

Big US Cities

1. Denver - This was pretty close and is definitely subject to change... however, Denver is an awesome city. There are a few things that make it great. Obviously, the proximity to the mountains is superb. It has all four major sports teams with all the stadiums downtown. The people in Denver, and more generally in Colorado, I really think might be the nicest in the world. Amazing weather too.

2. Nashville - I loved my time there this summer. The live music scene is definitely my favorite part about the city. A bunch of really cool restaurants and bars. Great vibes and awesome place to visit.

3. Chicago - I have not spent as much time in Chicago as I would have liked to, but I have gone the last couple of summers, and it has been awesome. Really great food scene too. Chicago thin-crust pizza is tough to beat.

4. Seattle - I have been to Seattle a couple of times because I have five cousins who live out there. It is a superb nature city. I have not experienced the notoriously rainy winters, but the summers were awesome. Public market is sweet, Mt. Rainier is amazing, and I love the greenery there too.

5. San Francisco - Another amazing nature city and area. Only been there once, but really liked the vibe and seemed like there was a ton to do. I almost put Scottsdale/Phoenix here but the nature here is a bit better I think. Crazy expensive though.

What Else Did I Do This Week?

My high school buddy and recurring blog guest was here two weeks ago, and stayed in ZG for a few days. We had a great time. I took him to il Viccolo for an awesome dinner on day one. I made soup, and we hung at my apartment for a bit on the second night. Then, we went to see Marty Supreme in theaters the day after. Chalamet is a beast. We also watched the NBA game in Berlin because it was primetime scheduling for us. It was great spending time with a familiar face and a good friend from back home. He also made the trip to Sopot for our game which is about a 4.5-hour train ride from ZG. Good times! Sopot in one of the "Tri-cities" which is what Poland call Gdansk, Sopot, and Gdynia. They are three cities right next to one another that is a very popular vacation destination in the summer because they are on the Baltic Sea. We went for a team walk on the beach which was covered in snow. It was unique and something I have never seen, but it was fun.

I spent my off day this past Monday trying out a couple of spots that my teammates have recommended to me in the city. I grabbed an awesome cinnamon roll from a new place, then went to a coffee shop to eat said cinnamon roll and read. The cinnamon roll was solid, not nearly as good as Silver Grill Cafe in FoCo (iykyk). The coffee from Coffee Hunter was very good. I also stopped by Conley's to give them a late baby gift for his newborn, Sam. It was nice to chat with Conley and Maggie for a bit. It has been a good couple of weeks, though! I have still been working hard to get better at German. I am using several apps on my phone and am watching an awesome German TV show. Slowly, but surely, I am getting better at understanding and reading, but my speaking definitely needs some practice.

Cultural Difference:

Europe is very well-known for its cafe culture. It is very common for Europeans to gather with friends & family and hang out for sometimes hours relaxing, enjoying a coffee or two plus a dessert of some kind. To be honest, I haven't been in any of the countries in Europe that are notorious for their cafe culture like Italy, France, or Austria. However, the phenomenon bleeds over to all European countries. Germany has a name for this, "Kaffeetrinken". This just means coffee drink. Many people designate time in their day to take a break from work to chill and enjoy some social time. Cafe culture in Europe reflects a bigger difference which exists in comparison with the US. The work-life balance is much "healthier" (let's say) in Europe. This may result in less productivity, to be fair, but it reflects the difference in cultural values between the two places.

Top Meal of the Week:

My top meal was definitely il Viccolo with Jacob, but I have already talked about that places several times, so I will pick a different meal we had. There is a really good burger place in ZG called Burger House. Jacob and I got a couple of burgers to eat while watching the NBA game that was happening in Berlin. They were great. Thanks for reading!