Bowling Green State University Athletics
Postcards From Ali: Mann Checks in From Portugal
March 18, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 18, 2008
ERMESINDE, Portugal - One of the greatest players in Bowling Green State University women's basketball history is following the exploits of the 2007-08 Falcons from overseas. Ali Mann checks in from Portugal with the latest update on her pro career and her life in general ...
Photos from Ali
Hello Falcon fans! I know it's been a while and I apologize for the delay. As most of you know, I didn't return to Luxembourg after Christmas. The basketball wasn't what I was expecting and our team was losing almost every game. I wasn't happy and my team wasn't happy either, so we agreed that I would not come back for the second half of the season. I flew home on December 19th, not knowing if I would give overseas basketball another shot. I had been home for almost one month and was planning a ski trip out to Colorado when my agent called me with an offer from Portugal. She called me on January 15th, said she needed a definite answer within 2 hours, and 2 days later I was on a plane to Portugal.
I'm living in a small apartment on the top floor of a sports complex that my club owns. Our practice gym is on the first floor, along with a pool and weight room that I have access to whenever I want. It's a pretty nice setup since I don't have a car. I can just walk downstairs to practice and workout. We usually practice every night around 8:00, and play one or two games on the weekends. When I first got here in February my team was 2-8, but since then we've gone 8-3 and secured a spot in the playoffs which start the first week of April. The basketball in Portugal is better than it was in Luxembourg, and my teammates are a lot of fun to play with. I'm averaging around 25 points and 9 rebounds per game.
I played really well in my first two games and after being here for only 2 weeks I was nominated to the All-Star game. It was a North vs. South format and they had an all-star weekend for both the girls and the guys. We stayed in a really nice hotel, and we had a 3-point shooting contest and the guys had a dunk contest. I came in third in the 3-point contest and was named MVP of the All-Star game. They gave me this big golden basketball. I have no idea how I'm going to get it home!
My coach, Gusto, is a great guy and makes me wonder if Coach Miller had a Portuguese brother that he never told anyone about. Gusto's sideline antics could possibly be even more outrageous than Coach Miller's! Hard to believe, I know, but at one point this season someone on our team made a bad pass at a critical point in the game and he started banging his head against the brick wall behind the bench. And any time he gets frustrated (which happens about 50 times a game) his face turns bright red and his head looks like it is about to explode. The best part is, he doesn't speak a word of English. I usually can get a general understanding of what he is saying, but sometimes I need my teammates to translate for me. It definitely took some getting used to, but now I love it. I never know if he is yelling at me or not.
I'm living in a town called Ermesinde which is just outside the city of Porto. There are two major cities in Portugal, Porto and Lisbon. Porto is in the north and Lisbon is in the south, and you don't find much in between the two so I lucked out being so close to a big city. There is a train station about a mile from my apartment that I walk to most days. It's about a 15 minute ride to the city and from there I use the metro to get around. There are some really nice beaches in Porto so when the weather is nice I spend my afternoons there. Porto is also the home of port wine and there are about 30 different wine cellars that you can tour and taste wine. That never seems to get old. ;)
I've been lucky to have a lot of visitors lately. Liz Honegger came for a week at the beginning of March, and 4 days after she left, my parents came for a long weekend. I had a great time showing them around and it was nice having them in the stands for a couple of my games. Liz even got to experience riding on my team bus. I had to send a picture because it's not quite what you would expect. (Editor's note: see photo gallery at top of page.) It's more of a van and I think it was made in 1970. When we go on our road trips, making it up hills is always an adventure. We have to downshift at least 2 times and sometimes I wonder if we are going to make it. It's classy!
I have to give a little shout out to Rick Court (my former basketball strength coach at BG) to let him know that even to this day he has an impact on my life. The grocery store that I go to is about one kilometer (yes, I am using the metric system now) away from my apartment. Once a week I walk there and buy a cart full of groceries. I then load all the bags on my arms and put some of the groceries in a backpack. Usually I have 5 or 6 bags on each arm. I then proceed to walk all the way back to my apartment with my arms weighted down. At BG we used to carry dumbbells and called it the "walk of doom." It's the same concept here, and I refuse to put the bags down and rest on the walk back because I hear Rick's voice in the back of my head telling me that if I put the weights down I'll have to start all over again. It's one of the tougher workouts that I do during the week. Thanks Rick! :-)
I've still been keeping up with BG basketball since I've been over here. I listen to every game over the internet and I got to watch the MAC tournament games live through the MAC website. I'm really proud of everything they have done this year and wish them the best of luck in the NIT.
My return flight is set for May 2nd. We'll probably be done with our season the first or second week of April, so I'm planning a little European tour with some of my other friends who are playing overseas. I'm definitely going to make a stop in Luxembourg. I really do miss the people there. I can't wait to be home though. Hopefully I'll see a lot of you around BG. I don't know what's in store for me next year. As fun as basketball can be, playing over here can also get very lonely. I'm going to take the summer to figure out my next move and then go from there. I hope everyone is doing well. Don't forget to pack Anderson Arena on Thursday for the game! I'll be listening!
