Hoop Summit: Donatas Motiejunas
09 abril 2009
Donatas Motiejunas, from Lithuania, is one of the World Select Team players in Portland this week for the Nike Hoop Summit game against the USA on Saturday.
It is Donatas' first visit to the United States and here he shares his first impressions:
It is Monday and I'm still tired from the long, 11-hour trip over here. It's my first time in the USA and the first time I have flown for that long - the plane took off in the middle of the day, we flew for 11 hours and we landed in the middle of the day as well. Like my father said, it was like the sun was chasing us!
As for the first impressions, my first impression is that America is very different than it looks on television ... and that American people eat a lot! In Lithuania, three guys would eat what one person eats here.
Monday night the whole team and staff went to the house of our team manager Mike Hackman to watch the NCAA Championship game and have a barbeque. I guess it is like I said to my father, you are only young until you experience something for the first time and, yes, this was my first ever barbeque.
It sounds small but this is such an unbelievable experience. Everything is new, strange and, of course, exciting.
Like practice today. We trained at the Portland Trail Blazers' facility and even the biggest and best teams in Lithuania cannot match anything like these facilities. This is the sort of place you need to be to move forward as a player.
For me, this week I just want to try and learn everything the coaches show me and to learn from my team mates, as well. I want to try to show I am the best but this team has the best people from around the world so I'm trying to learn from every one. Every player is different, every player has different moves and I want to learn from them all.
I know most of the European guys on our team, in fact the player from China and one of the guys from Argentina are the only ones I don't know from playing for national teams or in friendly games, but it is nice to be on the same team this time.
Luckily, most of the guys speak English, apart from the Chinese player and one of the French players but, already, we are all mixing. Four of us sat together for one meal then, the next meal, I sat with a different group of four guys.
Like me, all the guys are trying to show what they can do here at Nike Hoop Summit and that is going to be difficult. The coach has already said if we want to beat the US team, we have to play together but, of course, all the players have been chosen because of their individual talent. I'm the same.
The other thing is if you play for your national team or your club and don't play well in one game, it's not too big a problem because you will have other chances soon. Here, we will not.
So, there is a lot of hard work to come but that's what I want. This week is about working with the coaches, learning from them, and enjoying the experience.
Photo Credit: USA BASKETBALL
It is Donatas' first visit to the United States and here he shares his first impressions:
It is Monday and I'm still tired from the long, 11-hour trip over here. It's my first time in the USA and the first time I have flown for that long - the plane took off in the middle of the day, we flew for 11 hours and we landed in the middle of the day as well. Like my father said, it was like the sun was chasing us!
As for the first impressions, my first impression is that America is very different than it looks on television ... and that American people eat a lot! In Lithuania, three guys would eat what one person eats here.
Monday night the whole team and staff went to the house of our team manager Mike Hackman to watch the NCAA Championship game and have a barbeque. I guess it is like I said to my father, you are only young until you experience something for the first time and, yes, this was my first ever barbeque.
It sounds small but this is such an unbelievable experience. Everything is new, strange and, of course, exciting.
Like practice today. We trained at the Portland Trail Blazers' facility and even the biggest and best teams in Lithuania cannot match anything like these facilities. This is the sort of place you need to be to move forward as a player.
For me, this week I just want to try and learn everything the coaches show me and to learn from my team mates, as well. I want to try to show I am the best but this team has the best people from around the world so I'm trying to learn from every one. Every player is different, every player has different moves and I want to learn from them all.
I know most of the European guys on our team, in fact the player from China and one of the guys from Argentina are the only ones I don't know from playing for national teams or in friendly games, but it is nice to be on the same team this time.
Luckily, most of the guys speak English, apart from the Chinese player and one of the French players but, already, we are all mixing. Four of us sat together for one meal then, the next meal, I sat with a different group of four guys.
Like me, all the guys are trying to show what they can do here at Nike Hoop Summit and that is going to be difficult. The coach has already said if we want to beat the US team, we have to play together but, of course, all the players have been chosen because of their individual talent. I'm the same.
The other thing is if you play for your national team or your club and don't play well in one game, it's not too big a problem because you will have other chances soon. Here, we will not.
So, there is a lot of hard work to come but that's what I want. This week is about working with the coaches, learning from them, and enjoying the experience.
Photo Credit: USA BASKETBALL
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