Ciao For Now
Title says it all, and I wish I could leave it at that because this blog post has been incredibly hard to write.
As of today, I have officially signed with Padova Millennium Basket for the 2013/14 season, meaning that I am leaving Steelers for the year.
For anyone who's not fully read-up on the various wheelchair basketball leagues around the world, the British league is still run at an amateur level while most of the other leagues in Europe are professional, with players earning money to play for their team as a full-time job.
This is what has been the main factor in my decision to go abroad. As I'm on a gap year, my options were either to stay at home, get a part-time job and train around it, or to go somewhere where a job and training were the same thing. Hard to argue with the opportunity to become a professional athlete, so I'm going to be heading to Italy to play in possibly the best league in the world in September!
The whole thing feels so surreal, can't even begin to describe how excited/nervous I am about the coming season, it's been about 7 weeks now and I'm still struggling to put my feelings into words. Doesn't feel like it's really happening yet, but I'm guessing the reality of it all will hit me somewhere on that 19 hour drive from Halifax to Padova.
It's such a big step, for life in general and not just basketball. I'm spending my summer learning Italian, and have never lived by myself or had any kind of job, so there are going to be a lot of learning curves and first experiences in the 8 months that I'm out there.
I don't want to go into the details of my contract, but what this deal basically gives me is accommodation in a flat with a teammate all paid for, and an amount of money every month. All I have to do is train every day, improve as much as I can and help Padova win as many games as possible.
I'm going to keep the blogging up while I'm out there, incase any of my regular readers (if such people exist) want to see how I'm doing in my new home.
I just want to take this opportunity to say a huge thankyou to Sheffield Steelers, the team that has turned me into the player that I am today. I know that I'm absolutely unrecognisable now compared to what I was when I joined Steelers 5 years ago. The five seasons that I've been in Sheffield have been the best time of my life, both in terms of basketball and life in general with all the amazing people I've met (and Joe). Steelers have given me opportunities that I really wouldn't have got anywhere else, taking me to my first Eurocup when I was only 16 and every year since, can't even put into words how much I appreciate the time and effort they've put into making me a better player, and I hope I can do them proud by putting it to use in Italy!
They're without a doubt the best club in the country to be a part of, and I hope they have an awesome season!
I'm leaving Steelers because this is the next step for me to improve as a player, but I'm only going to be abroad for a year before I come back to do uni.
If they'll take me, I already can't wait to be back!
Mark
It's such a big step, for life in general and not just basketball. I'm spending my summer learning Italian, and have never lived by myself or had any kind of job, so there are going to be a lot of learning curves and first experiences in the 8 months that I'm out there.
I don't want to go into the details of my contract, but what this deal basically gives me is accommodation in a flat with a teammate all paid for, and an amount of money every month. All I have to do is train every day, improve as much as I can and help Padova win as many games as possible.
I'm going to keep the blogging up while I'm out there, incase any of my regular readers (if such people exist) want to see how I'm doing in my new home.
I just want to take this opportunity to say a huge thankyou to Sheffield Steelers, the team that has turned me into the player that I am today. I know that I'm absolutely unrecognisable now compared to what I was when I joined Steelers 5 years ago. The five seasons that I've been in Sheffield have been the best time of my life, both in terms of basketball and life in general with all the amazing people I've met (and Joe). Steelers have given me opportunities that I really wouldn't have got anywhere else, taking me to my first Eurocup when I was only 16 and every year since, can't even put into words how much I appreciate the time and effort they've put into making me a better player, and I hope I can do them proud by putting it to use in Italy!
They're without a doubt the best club in the country to be a part of, and I hope they have an awesome season!
I'm leaving Steelers because this is the next step for me to improve as a player, but I'm only going to be abroad for a year before I come back to do uni.
If they'll take me, I already can't wait to be back!
Mark
Hi Mark, best of luck with your new life in Italy. This is Katya from Bulgaria/Belguim. I am reading your blog/tweets and I learn a lot from you about the wheelchair basketball in the life of a young, talented person. This keeps me going in my work with youth with physical impairments, interested in sports. Thank you, Mark! Take care.
ReplyDeleteHi Katya.
ReplyDeleteThat's so great to hear. It's nice to know that my blogging and tweeting is making a difference, especially to someone working for a good cause such as yourself. Thankyou for reading, I'll continue updating while in Italy!
Yes, I will keep reading. It is also wonderful to see that a young person can write in such a good English - I know that this is your mother tongue, but I am impressed that you use a variety of words: not only the usual COOL ones the young people nowadays use, and that you pay attention to the wording, the meaning, the photos that you have are decent and tell a story! Great work! This also comes to show that sport is not the ONLY thing in life - education also matters. And as the young people I am working with have issues with the mainstream education, I also translate carefully your posts, so that they could see how well you write. Thanks and good luck in Italy!
ReplyDeleteHi Katya
DeleteApologies that it's taken me so long to reply to you, I've been moving in, getting settled and training hard! Very flattering to hear that you use my blog in such a way, I hope that the young people you work with enjoy reading it!
Currently working on my next post now, should be up within the next couple of days, please let me know what you think!
Mark