After taking the summer off from blogging, I figured I might “pick up the pen” so to speak and get back to writing. My off-season so far has been a bit chaotic, so I will try to bring you up to speed pretty quick. In the beginning of Oct, I found myself at the National Book Festival in D.C.—this happens to be one of my favorite events. It combines two things I am passionate about: I am an avid reader and I LOVE the NBA/WNBA’s Read to Achieve program that not only creates reading and learning centers for kids, but emphasizes the importance of education and helps to develop a love for reading!! The next stop I found myself in New York for the WNBA’s sales and marketing meetings—as an athlete, it was very educational to understand the business beyond what happens on the court.

Next stop: the mid-west. I spent most of my life on a farm, so there is something comforting about going home to the familiar faces and environment. My high school, North Miami, is literally in the middle of 4 cornfields—I know typical of Indiana. The first event was fundraiser for Nothing But Nets (www.nothingbutnets) where we raised $4,500! Then, I did a free basketball clinic for all the kids of my school. I have to share one quick story with ya: there is a gym full of K-6 graders, so you can only imagine that it was a bit chaotic with basketball going everywhere. One of the little kids accidentally set off the fire alarm, next thing I know the siren is blaring loudly and all my little kids got very quiet and formed a perfect single file line around the gym to go out of the building They were so cute!!

Continuing from Indiana, I headed up to Detroit where Nothing But Nets was doing a city launch. I had the opportunity to talk at the faith breakfast—where I spoke to leaders of many different churches in the area about my experiences from Africa and how they can get involved with our fight of preventing malaria. I also had the opportunity to visit Pare Elementary School. Many people approach me, asking how tall I was in the first grade, ect . . . well obviously I don’t remember stuff like that, but I can guarantee you that my little line on this kindergarten chart would have been the highest line by far!!!