When I arrived here on Sept. 1 for "my tryout period" I was not sure what to expect. I know that Andrej Urlep was the coach but also the coach of the national team and would not be around to do the practices. So, when I arrived Andrzej Adamek (our second coach and great, great person) was running the practices. After about 10 days the club decided that they wanted to sign me, I was a little nervous though, because I had still never met coach Urlep and I had heard that there were money problems here in the past.
I did know about the history of Slask though. My very good friend, Eric Elliot, played here in Poland for three years and he told me about Slask and its basketball history. Eric also told me that coach Urlep would make me a better player and push me to the top of my basketball abilities. So after a couple days and me turning down the first contract we settled on an agreement between the club and I (!!)…. this has turned out to be the best decision I could have made, for my basketball career.
Our team here in Slask is a great team to be apart of. The guys on the team are always hanging out together and are really friends besides teammates. I think this has to do with the fact that we do not have that many players from Wroclaw, so everyone is away from home and we only have each other. I have never been on a team that goes out to dinner, to movies, or to shopping malls together as much as this one. It really gives you a chance to get to know other guys and what they like to do.
The practices are very tough which everyone knows about coach Urlep. They can be long and drag on but there are something that happen in every practice. At every practice you can guarantee that Radek Hyzy will be talking all the time. I have never met someone in my life that likes to talk as much as this guy. Second, Alex Dimitrovski will be playing some joke on one of the other guys. He is constantly taking guys shoes, clothes, phones and hiding them or making up some huge story that is not true. Thirdly, coach Urlep will be yelling at somebody. Those are three things you can count on with every Slask Wroclaw practice.
After are first two games, which were on the road in Turow and Slupsk (two of the most difficult places to play in the league) coach Urlep told our team about the history and tradition of Slask and that the fans would be crazy for our first home game against Polpharma. I told coach that there was no way our fans could be louder than at Turow or Slupsk!!! He laughed at me and said “you just watch”. Well, I found out very fast that I was wrong. Our fans have been unbelievable and the way they cheer for us reminds me of being in college again. Yesterday against Koszalin the place was packed like we were playing Sopot or Anwil and cheering us from start to finish.
It has been a pleasure so far to play here in Slask and I am hoping that things will continue to go well here in Wroclaw. It is truly great to play in front of fans that love you and want nothing but the best for you. Hopefully soon, Slask will be able to return to that great basketball tradition of always having great teams.