Jantel Lavender:
Polish-ing Her Game (Blog #2)

On the heels of a successful first season with the Sparks - in which she was one of only three WNBA rookies to record multiple double-doubles - Jantel Lavender has taken her game nearly 6,000 miles east of Los Angeles to play for CCC Polkowice in Poland. The former Ohio State star is blogging about her first off-season abroad on LASparks.com, and will check in with fans throughout the WNBA off-season.

- Feb. 7, 2012 -


So, my first two games with Polkowice were both wins and I am meshing with the team well. It took me a few days to learn the plays but now I know them all. My team is really cool and they are fun to be around. They are really patient when it came to teaching me the system. The only thing that is a little more difficult to cope with is the fact that they speak Polish. If something happens in practice there is this long debate in Polish, and then the American players get about a one sentence translation to explain a twenty minute dialogue! I guess it’s a little fun trying to figure out what they are debating by watching hand motions and reenactments of previous plays.

The first two games were really fun, being that I had not played in an actual game since about November 8th. I was nervous about not being able to remember some of the plays , because there are about ten different systems, but I did fine. The fans here are really supportive, but not as great as Sparks fans! They cheer really loud and they are so in-tune to what is going on, every little play.

In case you were wondering, playing in a dress did not turn out to be bad at all. It is actually quite comfortable! As with the dress, I have also gotten used to driving my bright orange car. I realized people here really don’t care about the color so why should I? ;)

I look forward to playing in the next game which is this Wednesday, February 8th. We don’t usually play games on Wednesdays but because this weekend is All-Star Weekend, our game that would have typically been on Saturday got moved up to Wednesday. I wish that I would have been with Polkowice originally because I would have more than likely been participating in the All-Star Game, but with two games under my belt I don’t think it’s possible to get selected – hahahahahaha!

Our team made it to the first round of the EuroLeague playoffs and we will be playing Ros Casares Valencia later this month. That team has great players such as Lauren Jackson and Maya Moore, so it should be a pretty competitive three-game series…

I will be sure to keep you guys posted on when the Polish League playoffs begin and let you know how we do in the EuroLeague Round of 16. Until then take care! :)

Jantel Lavender #42

CLICK HERE for Jantel's first blog from Poland (Jan. 25)

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