SacramentoMonarchs.com recently had a chance to catch up with DeMya Walker who is currently in St. Petersburg, Russia playing basketball with Baltiyskaia Zvezda.

Q: What is it like being in Russia; you've been/played there before, right?
A: Playing in Russia is cool. I am in St. Petersburg, so the weather is similar to Jersey winter. I am having fun.

Q: Is the Russian language an issue for you?
A: YES!!! I don't have a translator so I have to try and translate the little English that some of my teammates know in order to understand things. It gets very frustrating sometimes.

Q: How is your team, Baltiyskaia Zvezda, compared to the others you play against?
A: Well, right now we are in third place in the Russian Championship and second place in our division of the FIBA Europe Cup. We are good, but all the other teams I have seen play their foreigners’ much more than my team plays ours. They also have more foreigners.

Q: How often do you practice with the team and for how long?
A: We practice probably six days a week and two times a day for about an hour and a half to two hours each.

Q: What is your role with the team?
A: I haven't really defined that yet. I know they need me to score and rebound and play defense, but sometimes it gets a little sketchy with what they expect of me, so I just do what comes naturally.

Q: How does the game of basketball in Russia differ from the play in the WNBA?
A: They don't call travels or over the backs nearly as much as they should!!!

Q: What is a typical day for you while you are in Russia?
A: I get up around 8:45am get breakfast, go to practice, come home and talk to my friends on Yahoo Messenger or watch DVDs and then I go back to practice, come home and either watch a movie or talk on the phone.

Q: Do you have any funny stories or things that have happened to you since you've arrived?
A: Yes, just recently I had the worst road trip ever!!! It started with an eight-hour train ride to Moscow followed by a flight to Turkey that almost crashed because it was struck by lightning TWICE!!!! Then after surviving we had a two-hour bus ride to our hotel and when we got there the bus driver dropped us off 30 minutes away and we had to walk in the pouring rain to our hotel. The next day our teammates said we were leaving for the game at 5:50, but they meant 5:15, so we were late. When we got to the gym in Turkey the electricity went out so we waited an hour to see if it would come back on. It didn't, so we drove an hour to another gym and played. The game was over at 11:15pm. The following day we get up at 6:45am for a 1:00pm flight, but it snowed in Istanbul for the first time ever and our plane got delayed for six hours, thus making us miss our connecting flight in Moscow. When we got to Moscow we had to stay in a hotel, but THE HOTEL WAS A SHIP!!! The first one (ship) wouldn't let us stay because we were American. The second one (ship) said the same thing. So we ended up on the third ship that had only one phone on the whole boat. In the bathroom our faucet detached to be our shower, which also included the toilet all of which I guess was supposed was to be the tub!!! It was too much. We got up the next day to catch a flight to Samara, Russia, where Marie Ferdinand and Mwadi Mabika play, but didn’t arrive until 5:30pm, got to the gym at 6:15pm for a 7:00pm game and we hadn’t washed our uniforms, ate, or anything. It was the worse trip ever!!! But we are finally back in St. Petersburg, so thank GOD for that!!

Q: What do you do when you are not playing basketball?
A: Hang out with my friends, talk on the phone, and shop.

Q: Do you have anything you especially like in Russia (food, music, etc.)?
A: DVDs. They are only four dollars here.

Q: Do you miss the United States?
A: So, so much!! I can't wait to go home, but I know I am getting better and working on my game here, so I can't complain.