Barcelona

Anna and I made it to Barcelona after we almost missed our train and Anna almost took out at least five people with her rolly suitcase. As I am writing this Anna is making baby noises trying to make fun of me because she adores her rolly suitcase and gets offended when I make fun of it. The five and a half hour train ride was non eventful and we found our hostal fairly easily. Anna wanted me to add thanks to her great navigational skills. The hostal is nice with a large kitchen.

Well I just wanted to let everyone know we made the first leg of our trip. I hope to post some pictures tomorrow. Now its time to see the lovely city.

Adios
TJW

I'm Off

Well I finally have some time off and I am headed down to Spain to meet up with Anna and do a little touring of Southern Europe. I actually leave here in a bout 6 hours for about 2 weeks.

My internet access will be sketchy throughout the trip but I will try and pop on and give everyone an update when I get the chance. If not, I just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Love from across the big pond
Trevor

SVD Dortmund

93-63

We got our final win of the first half of the season in fashionable style. To make a long story short we went into Dortmund and took care business. The game was close for probably the first quarter but then after that we had a 10-20 point lead the whole way stretching it to 30 by the end of the game.

The young guys stepped up again for us. Marko although takes the cake from everybody as he had his best game out here. He played very well and finally with lots of confidence. If we get this kind of contribution from these young guys we are going to be hard to stop in the second half of the season. Marko finished with a game-high 19 points.

After the first half of the season the league breakdown looks like this
1. Munster - 1 loss (to us)
2. Hagen Haspa (2 losses)
3. Luddenscheid (2 losses)
4. TV Werne (3 losses)
5. Paderborn (5 losses)
6. Recklinghausen (5 losses)

After finishing our last two games strong we have set ourselves up for a run at the championship. It should be an exciting second half.

We taped our last game too so I may be able to put a highlight film together and put it on youtube but we will see if my software starts working.

My statline for the game: 19 points (3 dunks), 12 rebounds, 5 assists

Game Day - Dortmund

Today we are playing away at Dortmund (which isn't really that far away). This will be the last game before Christmas and a little much needed vacation time. I most likely won't be able to post the score after the game so if you NEED to know the score check out one of these two websites:

http://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/lokales/welo/wesp/Sport-in-Werne;art945,433228

http://www.wa-online.de/sportwerne.html

I don't leave for Southern Europe until the end of the week so I will post a game analysis on Monday.

A Day at School

Well I just got back from a morning at one of the schools in town.

So I was in the weightroom yesterday jamming out to my tunes when this lady approaches me right before a set of pull-ups. I take off my headphones to start saying I don't speak German but she starts speaking English. What a nice surprise. She asks me if I can come to her class and teach basketball.

Granted I had to get up a few hours before my normal wake-up time but I thought why not. After finally finding the school, then finding the RIGHT school I made it to gym class. The kids were great. They did a great job listening and trying to speak English. The kids were in the ninth grade. It was a fun class, we learned how to do lay-ups and how to pass then played some games.

One thing that I found very interesting was how diverse this group of kids are. I met kids from Turkey, Poland, Lebanon, Russia, ect... The German school system is set up very interesting. When kids finish grade school they test out into three different schools. The top school is called gymnasium followed by realschule and then halpschule. The school I was at was the lowest school.

It felt good to get involved in the community even if it was only for a few hours because my other than basketball life was getting a little monotonous.

Thought for the Day:
Get involved in something no matter how small and step out of your comfort zone. At first in may be hard and uncomfortable but thats all part of the experience. Afterwards you will look back and thing "wow" I really made a big deal out of nothing. A change of pace in life will rejunvenate the mind and body.

Paderborn Game Analysis

Hello and welcome again to late night or should I say mid day with T. On tonight's show we have a great guest for you featuring TV Werne Men's Basketball.



How ya doing TV Werne long time no talk. How have you been?

Well T I have been better. We have had a tough last couple games but made it back to the good side this last Saturday against Paderborn. This last game was definitely a must win for us and for our jobs. Not only does it keep us in the championship race but it also keeps the Americans here for another week. The way I see it, if we aren't competing for a title there is no need to have so many foreign players on the team. So I guess we live to play another day. In this business nothing is really guaranteed.

Wow, it sounds like you have been really busy lately. Tell me a little more about your last game.

Well it was a shoot-out right from the start. We started fast and got out to a nice lead early in the game. We got out to a five point lead by the end of the first quarter. We went with a smaller quicker line-up for most of the game so Wittwer had to play the four thus leaving us with only one real true post of the floor. Wittwer managed to stay out of foul trouble only picking up two in the first half. With styfiling shooting and aggressive defense we were able to take a ten point lead into halftime.

Thats a good first half, what happened with the second?

Well P'born came out hot in the third quarter. They cut the lead down to single digits a few times in the 3rd quarter. At the end of the third quarter we only had a ten point lead. Finally in the fourth we really turned it on and finished them off winning 101-83. Conboy scored the final two points to push us past the century mark with a couple free throws with 1.5 seconds left.

How did the team play?

I felt we played very well. Our energy was better, we did a better job on the boards and our defense is improving. We had 5 guys score in double figures and a few guys on the team had the best games of the season. It was good to see a bunch of guys get into the double digit scoring column. Now if we can just keep improving we will have a real shot at the title. The unofficial stats for Wittwer have him with a triple double 21 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds, 3+ blocks, and a few steals. In case you were wondering no he did not keep track of all this in his head. One guy on the team J has been hurt and keeps the other stats. Tremaine had 18 points. Tom had 14. Marko had 4. The box score will be posted at the end of the article.
Thats a nice win, so where are you sitting now in the standings?

We are currently tied for third place. Munster (the team we beat) is in the lead with one loss, followed by Hagen Haspa with 2 losses and then Luddenscheid and us with 3 losses. If all the teams win out as they are expected to the after christmas special (aka the second half of the season) could be very very interesting. 4 or 5 teams are within striking distance of the title.


So who do you have next?

We travel to Dortmund next week who will definitely prove to be a worthy opponent. That will be the final game of the first half of the season and we will have played all the teams and now have a short 2 week intermission and then the second half of the season kicks off in early January.

Well it was great having you on late night/mid day again. Until next time take care.

TV Werne BB - Paderborn II 101:83 (27:22, 28:18, 22:26, 35:17)

TVW: Aaron (18/2), Meinert (17/2), Mersch, Docenko (13/2), Manske (6), Wittwer (21), Lüttecke (8), Filipovic (4), Langos, Tübel, Conboy (14).

vs. Paderborn

We win 101-83. Game Analysis to come in the next couple days when I get some time. Feels good to be back on the winning track.

TJW

Happy Nicolas Tag (Day)

Hello Everybody

I think we ended on a bad note on the last post so I plan to make up for any hurt feelings right now. Today in Germany is Saint Nicolas Day. You may be thinking to yourself doesn't Saint Nic come on Christmas, not in Germany. Today the sixth of December is Saint Nicolas Day. Santa Claus comes to give all the children candy. Now does Santa Claus come twice then? Today and on Christmas Eve? No my friend on Christmas Eve comes the Angel to bring presents.

So in celebration of Saint Nic Day go treat yourself to some candy, no shame.

TJW

p.s.
Marko says Hello

I will post the score of tonight's game later and have a full analysis early next week

p.p.s
I just want to Thank my little cousin Alicia (even though she is no longer little but to me she will always be little) for the delicious delicatessens she sent with my mom. My roommates and I basked in your cookie goodness for a good two days.

A word to all the other cousins, Alicia has one up on everybody -- let the games begin :)

THANKS AGAIN ALICIA