Playing defense out here against grown men is physical.
I was fortunate to start the sport at a young age. I was 6 years old when my dad started teaching me. We started playing tournaments together when I was 11, in the lower ranking of beach volleyball in California. We weren't playing against kids; we played against grown men, so immediately, I had to raise my game to compete.
I remember when I came into the NBA, eighteen years ago, there were maybe nine to twelve international players playing in the NBA. Today we've got more than 85, so that tells you how our game has grown at that level.
I was always taught, even as a kid, playing against grown men, you get better.
I think you need to understand games to write them. There's a learning curve, just like there's a learning curve in anything. It's not precisely the same as film or television, but you're using the same muscles.
I'm still learning. It's all a learning curve. Every time you sit down, with any given episode of any given show, it is a learning curve. You're learning something new about how to tell a story. But then, I've felt that way about everything I've ever done - television, features or whatever. Directing or writing, it always feels like the first day of school to me.
I have learned so much making first collection that I am excited to use all of it towards making the next one even better! It's been an amazing learning curve and experience.
The military doesn't teach rifle marksmanship. It teaches equipment familiarity. Despite what the officer corps thinks, learning to shoot a rifle is not like learning to drive a car. Instead, it is like learning to play the violin.... The equipment familiarity learning curve comes up quick, but then the rifle marksmanship continuation of the curve rises very slowly....by shooting one careful shot at a time, carefully inspecting the result (and the cause).
Yeah, I was ready for the NBA. Because I went through a lot of things back overseas. And you know, playing professionally from a young age and then playing against the older guys - guys over 30; older, talented guys - was really tough, but it also helped my game grow and just get me ready for the NBA.
Tennis is interesting. I feel, in terms of stats and stuff, maybe we're a little bit behind the curve, especially me just coming to the States and seeing stats used for, obviously, NFL, NBA, et cetera. Especially in baseball, there's stats galore.
Obviously, Steve Nash making the NBA and becoming a two-time MVP gave us the hope that if we work hard, we might have a chance to just be in the NBA. Seeing his success gave us hope.
By playing games you can artificially speed up your learning curve to develop the right kind of thought processes.
The biggest surprise has been making the adjustment after losing a game. In the NBA you could lose tonight and you have to put that game behind you because you have another game the next night.
Before, it was just about making the films - and now it's releasing them. Which is a steep learning curve.
Guys are playing a lot of limited overs cricket and not making that adjustment when it comes to the longer version and pay a price for that.
In the early '80s there was a big gap between the NBA and the international game and when we started making our careers here in the NBA, obviously, we became better players. When we used to play each other on the international level, that gap became smaller and smaller.