Krystal's Overseas Blog: Part 1

Hi, Mercury Fans!!

It feels so great to be saying hello to you all, even though I am not in Phoenix. The season ended much sooner than anyone intended, but I know I can speak for each and every one of my teammates in that we will do everything we possibly can to change that next season.

I am also very excited to let you know that I will be continuing to blog all the way from China! This offseason I am playing for the Jiangsu Phoenix in China. My goal is to give the X-Factor a look at what it is like to play basketball overseas in the off-season.

As you all know, as soon as the WNBA season ends, we shuffle exit meetings, physicals, packing, and saying our goodbyes in less than 48 hours, and then head off to our respective homes. On average, we get about 10 days before we have to report overseas. I was fortunate enough to get three weeks at home before I had to leave for China.

The thing that I was looking forward to the least in traveling to China was the actual trip. It involved a five-hour flight from Orlando to L.A., a 14-hour flight from L.A. to Shanghai, and then a four-hour drive from Shanghai to the my team’s city, Nanjing. Thankfully, I was able to fly business class for the entire trip, so it was much more bearable.

The most exciting part was when my captain announced, on our way to L.A., that we were flying over Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. I secretly wanted to parachute down, say hello to everyone, and then shoot back up to the plane….well at least in my dreams…

I had mixed expectations of what my experience would be like living in China. I’ve heard many people love the experience, and some dislike the experience; I was very curious as to what end of the spectrum my experience would fall in. I’m happy to report that I have been in China for 10 days now, and so far I have really enjoyed everything about it.

My “home” is located at a training center in Jiangsu Province, the province that my team is located in. Athletes of all sports from come and train at this facility. I will explain in detail more about this training center in another blog, but I currently eat, sleep, and practice at this facility. It is their version of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I will play my home games in another city within the Jiangsu Province.

It has only been 10 days and I have so much to share as it is, so as the weeks continue I know I will experience more and more to share. I expect to talk about everything from food experiences to air pollution! For my first post, I just wanted to give you a short introduction as to what has occurred thus far, and a small peek as to what’s to come.

So, stay tuned for what’s next!

Go Mercury!

- Krystal