LEA ENJOYING PANCAKES, BASKETBALL IN HOLLAND
WILMINGTON, N.C. Cherie Lea's coach has her team over to his house every Friday for pancakes. While she's there the former UNC Wilmington women's basketball standout will usually play with her coach's little son. They'll play soccer, where she'll let him change the rules just so he can win. Sometimes they'll play fight; again, the boy always wins. After it's all said and done, though, the evening is capped by high fives and hugs and usually the boy will have learned a few words of English along the way.
Even though this may seem like something commonplace inside the States, it's not. Lea is overseas, playing basketball in Holland, whose culture is about 4,000 miles different from the one Lea is familiar with growing up in rural North Carolina. The differences range from the language, where Dutch is the most commonly used tongue, to the pancakes, where their version features a much thinner layer of dough topped with powdered sugar and anything from apples to bacon.
Lea, who averaged 14.7 points a game from 2002-04 as a Seahawk, arrived in Holland on Sept. 21 for training camp with Yellow Bike Amsterdam, the 11-time champions of the Netherlands' top league, Eredivision, and the same club where she began her professional career last January.
Like with many things in this world, Lea's overseas playing career was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. After getting a new cell phone and forgetting to give her agent her contact information, Lea didn't hear from him for a while. While at a UNCW game, however, she ran into old teammate and current Coastal Carolina assistant Shameka Montgomery who happened to share agents with Lea. During the following week, Montgomery got a call from the agent who proceeded to ask about Lea. She gave him Lea's new number, and a week later, Lea signed a contract to play in the Netherlands.
"It took a while to get used to being over here," she said. "First of all I had to adjust to the six-hour time difference, so the first week is pretty hard to get some sleep and adapt to their time."
Lea's most obvious adjustment, however, has been breaking the language barrier and catching on with the complex Dutch language. "I've been trying to learn their language, but it's very difficult, and they make different sounds with their letters, so that makes it even harder," said Lea, a Blanch N.C., native.
One thing she hasn't had to get accustomed to, though, is basketball. She's played it almost her entire life, and it's obvious she didn't leave those skills here in the States. Known for her leadership with the Seahawks, Lea has carried that over into her professional career. She's helped guide Yellow Bike to a 6-0 record and a first-place standing in Eredivision.
"My role is to be a leader on and off the court," she said. "I have to play at a high level every game, physically and emotionally."
Also remembered in Wilmington for her ability to put points on the board - she led the team in scoring each of her two seasons Lea doesn't necessarily have to shoulder the brunt of the offense for Yellow Bike.
"I don't have to be the leading scorer every night for us to win because we have a very offensive-minded team, but I do have to contribute in some ways whether it's making an assist or grabbing an offensive rebound or leading the fast break," said Lea. "I basically feel I have to be a leader on the court, talk and communicate and be ready to play."
Lea seems to be enjoying the experience, soaking it all up minute-by-minute, game-by-game, season-by-season. "I want to keep challenging myself and keep getting better against other competition," said Lea. "All I know is I will be here for the rest of the season, but after that, who knows. I'll talk to my coach and we'll go from there.
"Personally, it was hard for me because I miss my family, especially around the holidays when we're all together. I also miss going to church, listening to the choirs and the preacher. But since I have been here, people have treated me like one of their family members. They take really good care of me and make sure I'm all right and not homesick. So I'm enjoying myself and not missing home too much."
Seems like pancakes and little brothers may be the perfect cure for homesickness.
