APP WORK FELIX MERLE

I haven't been a basketball fan for so long that ,In fact I started basketball a very short time ago because I practiced handball until now, two sports which are very different but which have some similarities.
Both are played with a ball and I have always liked team sports with balls.
First of all, handball allowed me to run, to jump, then sport began to become for me a means of setting myself goals, from that moment my approach was different, I tried to progress technically, collectively and individually.
But handball has its limits ... in 2016 I started to take an interest in the NBA (I had already watched a Celtic's match being small but I quickly forgot (I was especially interested in pokemons at that time ...))and I kept learning about the history of these players and their franchises. Immediately understood that basketball was a free sport where one could express oneself and carried out movements which were not possible in handball.
These are players who gave me the desire to practice basketball, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson or even Kevin Garnett.Their way of playing, of expressing themselves on their sport, their mentality and their talent develop a deep desire to show what I was capable of whether it was to my loved ones or to myself.
I started playing basketball in the summer of 2018 with my friends on playgrounds.
Learning the rules was complicated, indeed to go from handball and its three steps to basketball or only two steps are allowed is a real hell. During 2019, I played basketball on courts but never indoors, I was still able to progress technically, adjust my shoot and my defense.
But this summer I took a step, taken by the furious desire of progress and a deep motivation, I decided to join a club with three of my friends, it would be a new start for me.
During the summer I therefore spend my days training ,shot, dribbling, running, defending, to reach a better level.
To be continued in the next episode...

Training with the team started in September, but the season started in October.
Our first game was not very glorious, most of us have just started basketball so we are not all up to scratch ... so we lost that first game sadly enough...
More determined than ever after this defeat, we approached the next match against Cognac with the desire to win.
It was a Saturday, my teammates and I brought our girlfriends, our families etc ... we had to win this match.
The stress is at its peak, the referee whistles, I was doing the in-between.
Our team gets the ball, the game is launched.
The game was close from start to finish.
At half-time I take a look at the scoresheet, 20 points, at the end of the match I'll have 32.
But the is not the important.
I'm going to tell you about the fourth quarter, and more specifically the last minute.
57-53 for us.
We have possession, I put the ball back and score two points on a fade-aways end-line (thanks Kobe).
Ball in game 59-53, we were almost certain to win, but a teammate made a mistake on the shot of one of the opponents, on 2 throws he only put one.
59-54. A teammate shoots but misses his shot, in counter-attack the opponents score 2 points. 59-56.
There are 20 seconds left, I have the ball, sees my teammate alone in the corner, passes him, he shoots, but misses his shot.
The opponents have the ball, put the game down, 2 seconds remaining, one of their player shoots at three , he scores.
59-59. We are lost, our coach takes time out to put our ideas back in place.
Taken with an excess of confidence, I look at my coach and say to him, pass me the ball, I will score.
We have two seconds left, the room is silent, people are waiting for the extension ...
Not this time. My teammate takes the throw-in, I get the ball. 2 seconds. Time to dribble and then shoot.
Behind the line of three, I shoot, I know.
SWISH.
62-59.  
We won the match thanks to my golden buzzer, the stands were on fire, I was very proud of myself and of this feat. In front of my family, my friends and my girlfriend, I had won.
At the end of the match many representatives of clubs and players came to congratulate me on my evening performance, I was a happy man.
Someone in the stands recorded the moment, I might be able to send it to you if you're interested!

After my experience ,I decided to present a team that is very close to my heart, of course the Boston Celtics AKA the best team ever .
First of all I'm going to tell you a little about its history, then about some of its players, finally to finish about why I like this team.

In 1946 the Boston Celtics franchise was created by Walter Brown who chose the name Celtics in memory of the New York team and also because Boston is populated by many descendants of Irish. The green color came from the choice of the name.
Since its creation, the Celtics have won the NBA 17 times which makes it the most successful team, it is also one of the most hated teams (but that's because people are jealous).
Let's talk about the players, more precisely 3, my favorites, first of all Larry Bird an incredible player, monstrously complete and completely monstrous, one of the best players of all time. The Celtics also welcomed the one we called Jesus, Ray allen the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history. And finally to finish a current player, Jayson Tatum, drafted in 2017, who is evolving at a superstar level ... in a team which is obviously playing the title this year and which I am very close to.

Why do I like this team? Imagine yourself at 11 years old turning on the TV and stumbling upon a Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals between a Kobe Bryant on fire and a Big Three made up of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray allen who put misery to lakers who are yet so strong .
I wear this green jersey in my heart, because to love a team is also to identify with it and to vibrate for it.
Sport is also a true transmitter of passion and hope because as Kevin Garnett tells us: “Anything Is Possible. "

This year the Celtics made me dream, with an overpowered Jayson Tatum, an incredible Kemba Walker in our role of leader, and a Jaylen Brown perfect to be the right arm of Tatum.
I followed all their playoff matches with a stomach ache (except for the sixers that we swept   ). Unfortunately the heat eliminated us in the final of the conference, I was very disappointed, but we will come back stronger. .. (I would have liked bam to be dunked on the head by tatum, but bam severely counter tatum in a clutch moment ...)

Hello john , today I will talk about one of my favourite player in the NBA ,Larry Bird!

It said that white people cannot jump, we would tend to validate these words ...
but when they are able of almost 2.5 balls per game, to intercept to win a final match in conf, to make 6.3 assist on average in career some of which are as spectacular as effective, take 10 rebounds per game in career, to score with the buzzer with the pressure of a good defender ,to score at 3 points in imbalance, to score behind the board with the serenity of a celt drinking a beer, finally jump is of little importance ...

When Larry Bird arrived at the Celtics in 1979, they did not know that they had just got hold of one of the best players of all time.
Bird instantly becomes the patron of celtics from the first season, being the best scorer, passer and rebounder of his team.
Boston won 32 more games than last season, moving it from first draft pick candidate to NBA finals candidate.
Despite his limited physical means Larry dominated the league for 12 years.
In total, 3 titles with boston, 3 MVP titles and nominated 12 times for all-star.
Bird had a surgical precision, a millimeter shoot whether from a distance or near, which made him one of the players with the highest shoot percentages approaching 50%.
Larry Bird's panoply was monstrously complete, or completely monstrous, he is the player with the highest basketball IQ, all his teammates will speak of him as a leader, a trashtalker, endowed with a killer mind in the most decisive seconds.

Indiana famer Bird gave his heart and his body to basketball, but injuries will unfortunately catch up with him ... during the 88-89 season he will only play 6 games ...but incredible fact these stats averages doesnt move.
On his return, he is bruised, he preferred not to sit on the bench, but rather will lie down to relieve his back pain (a bit like me), it remains nonetheless always combative, and is relies even more on his game intelligence.
Larry then greatly wins the respect of the league, a league which has benefited enormously from his rivalry with magic jonhson, the two men arrived at the same time in the NBA did not stop challenging each other during a high intensity match between the two teams most titled in the league, Lakers-Boston posters which people loved to see these two monsters evolving at their mutual summits, this rivalry turned into respect and then into a great friendship.
Larry ended his playing career on an Olympic gold medal with the dream team composed of Jordan, Malone, Robinson, Ewing, Barcley… but the spectators only wanted one of the players..Larry !
Finally he was not only a great player, he became coach of his native team, the pacers a few years later, with which he won the title of coach of the year in 99.
In 2003 he took control of the franchise and became manager of the year in 2012.
One evening in February 1985, the Celtics were traveling to Utah, at the Jazz. In three quarters, Bird blackened the sheet with 30 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 9 interceptions. He was therefore at the interception of a double quadruple. However he did not return to the floor because Boston dominated this match by more than 20 points and he will simply declare after the meeting:

"I had already done enough damage."

That was Larry, trashtalker but also very little focused on himself, on his stats or the records to beat ... A unique player, a basketball legend. Besides, Magic Johnson was not mistaken and did not forget to point it out when he made a speech for the retirement of his big friend to whom he addressed these words:

"Larry, you lied to me once. You told me there would be another Larry Bird. Larry, I tell you, there will never, absolutely never be another Larry Bird."

Again, Magic was right ...
Larry Bird understood everything in basketball and finally the nickname that suits him best is Larry Legend.
From a more personal point of view, larry represents what I like in sport in addition to being a legendary player from my favorite franchise.
I find myself perfectly in his vision of the game, his perseverence, and his insolent side.
Being a player like that is not given to everyone, and larry took advantage of this to share values and deep feelings of the sport and practice.
Larry Bird is one of the people who participated in the democratization of basketball and his way of playing it has inspired and will continue to inspire young and old.

This afternoon, getting lost on youtube, I came across a video about Australia, this country interests me a lot, so I did some research on it and I'm going to tell you some amazing facts about Australia!

-The largest property in Australia is 80% of the size of Belgium alone! It is Anna Creek Station, located in South Australia, which has a surface area of approximately 24,000 km², all for breeding. Besides, it was recently for sale, if you are looking for a quiet land without neighbors.

-Australia was the second country in the world to allow women to vote. This right dates from 1901! Only their neighbors New Zealand ahead of this social advance (in 1893). As a reminder, in France, it was not until 1944 that we finally wake up!

- One of the largest straight lines in the world is in the Nullarbor area, and is 146km long.

-In 1859, Thomas Austin, a British lover of hunting and nostalgic for his country decides to introduce on the Australian territory 12 pairs of rabbits. After escaping from their enclosure after a fire, these cute animals will be responsible for one of the worst disasters Australia has ever known.
They proliferate, multiply without any limit. In just a few years, more than two-thirds of the country will be ravaged by these mammals, which are growing more than 110 kilometers per year in the outback. They contribute to desertification by devouring vegetation, causing a serious agricultural and ecological crisis
After several unsuccessful attempts to eradicate this species - traps, hunts, poisons and even explosives - the government decided in 1901 to erect a barrier to prevent the rodent from reaching the cultivated lands of Western Australia. More than 1833 kilometers of barriers are thus installed from Wallal (north-west) to Starvation Boat (south), making it the longest fence in the world.
Unfortunately, by the time the book is finished, the rabbits have already gone to the other side. A second, then a third barrier of more than 3000 kilometers.

-Hillier Lake is a particular Australian lake. This salt lake has the particularity of being pink.Hillier Lake is 600 meters long and 250 meters wide. It covers 15 hectares.It is impossible to swim in this lake. Only scientists can get closer to the lake.The pink color would be there because of the combined presence of Dunaliella Salina (a micro-alga) and a pink bacterium called Halobacterium salinarum.

I hope this has interested you! see you soon !