January 2025
1st Anniversary, Spanish League, Homesickness
Welcome back to another edition of Dodson Diaries!
Many stores or restaurants around town sponsor or support our club, so sometimes when walking around Gernika, I see this team flyer. I just recently stumbled upon the new flyer for this year. Last year, I wasn’t here for the picture day, so this one is extra special to see around town.
I have started to post a lot more video content on my Instagram about my life as an overseas basketball player. Check out my Instagram to see some of the content!
Happy New Year! Thank you all for the support of my last newsletter. This month, I am writing about the 1st Anniversary of my newsletter, the Spanish League and Homesickness.
1st Anniversary!
This month marks a year since I started Dodson Diaries! I cannot believe it has been a year already. Time flew by. When I started the newsletter, I wasn’t sure if I could keep up with writing each month or if people would stay invested in what I wrote. I see that these fears and doubts were unfounded in anything real. I have found a lot of joy in taking the time to review each month of my journey. Thank you to everyone who has stuck around from the beginning, and for my new subscribers, I hope you enjoy the newsletter as much as I do.
Reminiscing about all the newsletters I have written, I wanted to choose one that was my favorite, which was hard to do. However, I think it has to be my February 2024 newsletter (linked below).
Do you have a favorite newsletter that I have written? Is it the same as mine? Let me know in the comments.
Spanish League
I play in the top league in Spain called La Liga Femenina de Baloncesto or LF Endesa due to being sponsored by Endesa an electric utility company. LF Endesa is the top league in Spain. It’s the equivalent of playing Division 1 on the collegiate level. There is a second division called LF Challenge. There might be a third division, but I am not sure. LF Endesa has 16 teams. Some teams may change from season to season depending on not having a great record or other things. For example, this year we have two new teams Joventut Badalona and Ardoi. Barcelona’s women’s team is now in the second division (Not due to having a bad record. I think the management didn’t want to invest as much). Half of the teams are EuroCup or Euroleague teams (check out my previous newsletter for an explanation of what that means).
We play each team two times during the season (it could be more with Queen’s Cup or playoffs). Players usually report for preseason in mid-August. I came later in early September to have more time to rehab my ankle injury at home. Pre-season games start in September as well. We played a lot of preseason games about 7 in total. The positive side of that amount of games is that you can get back in the flow of playing and get used to playing with your teammates. I didn’t get this opportunity because I was still rehabbing. It was challenging that my first game action was our first game. During the beginning of the season, I had to try to give myself grace when I was not where I wanted to be yet. The season started on October 5th. There are two rounds within the season. In the first round, there are 16 games (each team once) which determines the Queen’s Cup (top 8). The second round started this month. Our last regular season game is April 19th and after that is playoffs. It’s about an 8 month season not including playoffs. We hope to make playoffs this year because we missed it last year. Our games are usually played on Saturday. Last year, Valencia won the Queen’s Cup (“mid-season” tournament”) and were champions of the whole league. The current standings of the league.
Don’t be fooled though. Teams with a losing record are not easy games. For example, we played Cadi La Seu and built a league later in the second half of only 10 points. Most games are a dog fight until the end. If you have any other questions about the league, let me know!
Homesickness
Homesickness comes in waves. For about a week or two during this month, I felt homesick. I’m happy to be here in Spain, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss my family or just being home. Sometimes the homesickness comes from wanting a break from work, being in a different culture, or other things. This month, I felt homesick shortly after the New Year. Taking the time to analyze why helped me get through it. It had been about 4 months since I saw my parents and I hadn’t gone this long before without seeing them. Also, getting sick and injuries made me want to feel the security and rest that being at home with my family provides. I remember telling my therapist how I was feeling that my homesickness didn’t come from wanting to go home. If I could at that very moment I didn’t want to. Mostly, it came from not seeing my family. I thought about how soon my parents would be coming. It helped to make me feel better some days more than others. Also, calling my Grandma, Poppop, and brother makes me feel more connected to home. The feeling of homesickness is something that I have to manage.
Miscellaneous Entries
One day in December, it dropped just below freezing and my car was covered in ice (which is not normal for Gernika). I bought an ice pick. After that, it never got cold again, so I thought maybe it was a waste. Until now, for a couple of days I had ice on my car. The couple times my car does get covered with ice it’s a lifesaver. Since I have an older car, defrosting the windshields takes forever without the help of the ice pick.
For those who voted, here is a quick tutorial on how my dryer works. I was skeptical at first, but it works well enough if I do not have time to hang dry my clothes.
I went to get “coffee” with a friend (even though I ordered tea and she didn’t order coffee) on one of my off days. The whole week had been very cold, but that day the sun was shining and it was a lot warmer. I enjoyed sitting outside talking and enjoying the weather like so many other people in Gernika.
This month has been a bit challenging for me. We are halfway through the season, so I struggled to have motivation to continue to work hard especially when I am not where I want to be in terms of my playing. Being sick, rolling my previously injured ankle, getting whiplash, and hyperextending my knee (playing the post position is very physical) added to the mental challenge of being locked in. I am proud of myself though that I have kept going and stayed disciplined.
Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter!
