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Dusty Rychart
DUSTY RYCHART'S BLOG    View profile
201cm / 6'7'' - Forward - 1979    USA Australian USA-Australian

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Its not only the food, the language and the culture that are different, but also the experience you get from being a professional athlete - Apr 2, 2010

POSTED BY:
EUROBASKET CENTER
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Corey
Muirhead
When you board a plane to travel to Europe from the USA, its not only the food, the language and the culture that are different; but also the experience you get from being a professional athlete. This is now my fourth year playing in Europe and my second season in the Czech Republic. Its been a wild and crazy ride thus far in my career. But despite the ups and downs of playing overseas, I dont ever take for granted how blessed I am to be able to do what I do as a basketball player. I thank God everyday for blessing me with this talent to play basketball and impact peoples lives in a positive way. I know many guys that would love the opportunity to be able to do what I do on a daily basis; rather than working a 9-5 job, I really only have to focus for a total of 4 hours each day when I have practice/games.

THE GAME
Playing overseas was my first professional experience playing basketball. I only played basketball in college at the amateur level in the USA. But I do see a lot of differences in the way the game is played in college and the NBA compared to Europe. One difference is basketball in Europe is more team oriented. Its not just about one individual. On a championship caliber team in Europe, anyone can be the high scorer/impact player on any given night. Where as playing professionally in the states, its more individual and you can pretty much bank on the same guy each night to be the one taking all the shots or trying to make all the plays and everyone else follows his lead.
The rules differ a bit as well; here in Europe its legal to hit the basketball off the rim while its still on the Cylinder, in the NBA and College that would be illegal. Also another interesting rule is you are not able to call timeout as a player during the game in Europe, but in the USA as a player you can call a timeout. I knew this coming over to Europe, but I didnt actually witness a player try calling a timeout during a game until this season. My teammate and I both heard the player on the opposing team trying to call a timeout during a crucial point of the game. We started laughing so hard because we knew he wasnt able to call a timeout. But to his credit he was a rookie, so he gets a pass. But still, ignorance is no excuse; youre a professional athlete, you should be a student of the rules as well as the game.
Teams here in Europe also love to switch all screens, but opposing teams are not able to take advantage of this. But if it was the NBA, they would punish you for doing that. If you watch a lot of Euroleague games, its normal for teams to do that without paying the price, where as the NBA teams would for sure get punished for switching all screens.

THE FANS
I think the fans here in Europe are more involved than the fans in the USA. You can watch some games in Serbia, Greece or Italy and fans are singing the whole game. I guess passionate is the best word to describe the fans here in Europe. One thing that people from the states would find odd is that fans here in Europe whistle when something bad happens in the game, but in the states the fans boo.
One recent game I played in, one fan came out of the stands and pushed the referee while the game was in progress. That would never happen in the USA. Another incident involved one of my current teammate that played for another team before joining Mlekarna Miltra Novy Jicin. His team lost a playoff game and one fan was so upset that he came out of the stands and punched the referee in his face. Again, I dont think that would have happened in the USA.

OFF THE COURT
Off the court I think the language barrier is something I have to deal with on a daily basis. For example its a bit more difficult to shop for groceries because I am not able to communicate as well as I would like to. When I go to the supermarket and try buying Salami or ham from the counter. I have to motion with my hand how much I want or what kind of meat I want. Sometimes its easy and sometimes its difficult. I think the funniest thing for me is, every time I go out with my wife and son, everyone thinks that she is Czech or European. So they automatically assume that she speaks the language. So sometimes I just dont say anything but really I am laughing inside especially when we walk into a store and all their attention goes to her and theyre looking at her to translate whatever questions I may have. And then she says English I always get a good laugh from seeing their reaction when they realize that she is an American. Even after she tells them she only speaks English, they still instinctively look to her to speak the language. I find that people really stare a lot, sometimes its a little uncomfortable, but I always assume that when they stare, they have the best intentions which make it somewhat more comforting. Maybe they know I play basketball and I am only here temporarily. I mean there are not a lot of black guys living in the Czech Republic.
THE TEAM
I am currently playing for Miltra Novy Jicin in the Mattoni NBL in the Czech Republic. This is my second season here and its been a great partnership from the moment I came here. Its a well run organization and the level of professionalism is second to none. We are having a great season so far, we are 35-4 and currently one game behind the league leaders Nymburk. We are gearing up for the playoffs which start in a few weeks. I feel great about our chances for the championship run and hopefully we will be the ones celebrating in June. As a team we just have to remain focused and keep pushing forward to get to where we want to be in June. That would be the perfect finish to a great season so far and of course make my summer/offseason a lot more enjoyable.

The blog is maintained by Corey Muirhead (198-F-83, college: W.Carolina) of Mlekarna Miltra Novy Jicin
  


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Christmas Break- Dec.5, 2011  (by Eurobasket Center)

Welcome to my blog (Semaj Inge(193-G-87, agency: I.D.S. Law, college: Temple)). This is my first blog post since I made the transition from Iceland to playing over in Czech Republic. Now here we are in early December, and its about that time where most foreign players get a chance to return home for several days.These days are critical for players [read more]
The NBA is BACK!! - Nov.26, 2011  (by Eurobasket Center)

Whats up World!! For all you hoopers and hoop fans the NBA is back, that's real big news, there going to be alot of changing going on with a lot of Euro Teams and NBA teams! I've been checking out on eurobasket [read more]
The NBA is BACK!! - Nov.26, 2011  (by Eurobasket Center)

Whats up World!! For all you hoopers and hoop fans the NBA is back, that's real big news, there going to be alot of changing going on with a lot of Euro Teams and NBA teams! I've been checking out on eurobasket [read more]
Hello World!!! Nov.25, 2011
Preseason Oct.9, 2010
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Living and Playing in The Czech Republic Apr.12, 2010
Its not only the food, the language and the culture that are different, but also the experience you get from being a professional athlete Apr.2, 2010
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