Playoff Focus...

Hello everyone, I sincerely apologize that I have not posted anything in over months to keep you guys informed with what I have been up to but honestly the reason has been because I haven't been doing much other than the same routine to maintain through this process.  For a quick update we finished the regular season number 1 seed from here which gave us a bye in the first round which meant a whole week of practice in preparation to help us in our win last night. We are currently up 1-0 in this series in a relatively big win by 20+ margin. I personally had a decent game I am still finding my rhythm on the court as far as going to my old level of play.  I play much more smarter and poised now with all that I have been through to get to this point but I am still gaining my strength and confidence in my leaping ability. I did a fast break dunk off of one leg (Thank God) and my teammates acted like they saw a ghost lol I had to tell them that I didn't celebrate because before a year and so before that was the norm and more which I am fighting to return to. Other than that I have just been watching a lot of basketball, training and preparing myself for the opportunity to play on the summer scene to show off my regained strength. Thank you for reading this as always i know this post may not be that exciting but honestly I am taking the simple approach these days in maintaining an even keel of going about my business. I have to get my rest now because its back to the normal two a days Monday morning in a few hours 10am usually with the second practice at 730pm.  We have game 2 on the road Wednesday so that is my main focus right now. Practice is just to stay sharp for the big show (gamedays). All in all I cannot complain because I like my job if it was doing something else I am not sure if I could be this optimistic and motivated but its paying a sport that I love and that was taken away and now is back so I revalue everything these days.  It is human nature to feel as"Things can always be better" but I truly understand "they could also be much worse" so I am thankful for whatever opportunity God brings my way. Its time for me to sign off so until next time good people.

Peace & God bless.
John

2 months into the grind... We outchea

Hello my people. Once again reporting live from Kosovo, formerly of Serbia that those who are unfamiliar with Europe by the way. Anyhow this is just an update to the folks that don't follow me on twitter (hint hint) lol or facebook to get the updates but if you are reading this post I'm pretty sure you do by now. I am safe here thus far.  I only had one incident with some rowdy disrespectful idiot fans were making racist remarks in the preseason and I had to check them but I have overcame that stumble across the road. We played about 10 preseason games and now the season is upon us. To be honest I am kinda hitting a wall from 2aday trainings here but I am fighting through it.  They say pressure makes diamonds well the pressure my body is under I hope it is VS1 at least VS2 quality after all that it is enduring.  Honestly its not much to say really. I made a vlog entry on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/jgovereasy?feature=guide
a few weeks into being here and y'all can check that out here to see some of the sights but all in all its okay here. The weirdest thing of this living is the entire water supply in the city shuts off at 1030pm and comes back on in the morning at around 5am to conserve so that has taken getting used to. We have to rush home after our night practice.  The weather is starting to change so its making the living conditions better since we walk everywhere around town if we don want to chalk us euros for a taxi and that's our life. We train, practice, eat, rest, recover and back to training.  that's why I am here to do a job and that's my main focus.  i am getting to a point in my life that I have matured to be content with that.  I am not really home sick at all.  I realize that I am here to make a living save some money for the summer to take a vacation or whatever get my body and timing back to make a big push for the next season.
"I've learned that this profession, as in life, is all about stepping stones and improvement."
The people here have been very hospitable one of the team owners are affiliated with a delicious restaurant named PRN Arena that makes us two meals a day for breakfast I just whip something up before heading out the door besides taking all the my protein requirements and going on my day.

On a lighter noter: For fun I have found an playstation3 arcade that is a way to blow a few hours a day, I watch my online stream of my cable box in the states ,That keeps me current called 'Slingbox" (A must have), I also watch many online "Netflix" movies or sometimes I just take walks around town on long days or eat out with my teammate, or we hit this sports bar called "Filkaqa" that's pretty cool and they have chicken wings, stuffed potatoes skins and cheese sticks ya know bar food. I feel at home a little. lol

Me & friends watching Lakers/ Heat (NBA) at sports bar Filkaqa

Basically I am not here to go out for real and stuff like that mainly because I have turned a new leaf in life being more domesticated and also I have to conserve my body and mind for basketball. I can do whatever I like in my own environment with my friends but for here I am here to work and get the job done and I hear so many horror stories of guys being out of bounds (in foreign places) and getting jammed up over a petty fight or anything: I.E. my industry friend's Wil Bynum situation in Israel, that other Maccabi TelAviv (Israel) import that got stabbed, the guy Chauncy Hardy (R.I.P) that was gang attacked and died earlier this year in a Romanian bar as well countless other altercations and situations that never even hit the national newspaper.  I do not want to become one of those cases sometimes in life you have to learn from others mistakes instead of your own all the time. I'm here to feed my daughter and return to the level of play that people expect of me as well as continued maturity, leadership and professionalism campaign.

In Layman's terms:

"I'm just Focused man. That's all I am saying, Point blank, Period" lol

Lastly but not least as always I just wanna give honor to God, my family and continued support from you guys. love is love I'm doing okay out here guys and I am definitely improving day by day and week by week. As a wise man once said "Slow Motion is better than no motion"
Thanks for checking up on ya boy. One hunid, Peace and love.

Truly Yours,
John Gilchrist

Hajde Prishtina! Hajde shkojme Prishtina!

Greeting friends, family & haters all the same... lol from Prishtina, Kosovo. "This is the day that the Lord has made we shall rejoice and be glad in it." Psalms 118:24
Hello I am reporting live right now from Europe and I cannot help in but grin from ear to ear when I think about the effort and uphill battle that I had to endure just to arrive here. With all that aside I would just inform you guys that I am safe and that I am vastly improving everyday and impressing the team, fans and teammates here.  As my tattoo on my right forearm phrase in Latin reads:

"Veni Vedi Vici"
(I came I saw I concurred) Also with a hand of Hamsa that protects from the eye of evil in some religions, I was introduced to it & various customs through my Judaism experiences in Israel. (History Lesson) Through my various travels & experience, That's honestly the name of the game in life for me really. I believe if you have to do whatever is required to succeed that's the necessary measures you must pursue.  I never thought I would be traveling the entire globe in search of my humble piece of pie but that's what it is at the moment and until I feel I cannot do this anymore.
Well for a brief synopsis of here its very very very cold like snow every other day and that can be a task getting up in the early morning and at night or anytime for that matter to go to work.  Sometimes you just want to stay in the covers all day but that's part of the grind that you have to embrace if you want to succeed also, professionalism. This is what I do so I decided that no matter what the condition are I will be tough and be a professional throughout the process, meaning being on time, with a good attitude and work hard as I can for the job requirements. With those types of qualities its no way that you can be defeated when people say positive things about your character. The first practice here I arrived I made it my point to impress in sprints, weight training & especially on court just to show everyone all of the rigorous training that I had done to get here and not to have any doubts of my fitness and dedication to my craft. ("First of all you must always gain the respect of your peers in order to become a Leader") Management, the coaching staff and teammates are good and that's refreshing because that is not always the case. The other American player that I share a apartment with is also cool so we made a pact to look out for each other and watch each others backs while we are here because we are both in a foreign place at the end of the day.
We have had five preseason games and our first official league game is on February 4th at home.  I am really looking forward to the real games so I can turn it up even more than I have showed thus far because it is a marathon and not a sprint race so I intend to only get stronger as the season progresses. The fans here have a reputation of being die heart so that is extra incentive to go out and impress them other than the sure love of the game. I believe if you are passionate about what you do, you should always want to put your best foot forward.

I am writing this kinda tired after 2 whole weeks of 2 a day practices and after 5 preseason games, so honestly it's not one of my best post but as always thanks for checking up on me. You can follow my journey on Twitter @jgovereasy , facebook search : John Gilchrist Hoops its all the same thing really.
I am in the process of getting the website up and running like it is supposed to be I am just busy with work at the moment so please bare with me.
 & Until next post Peace!!!


Thanks and God bless you all,
John