May 30th, 2010 by Dusty Rychart

Since I’ve been in Cairns I’ve been busy working out, doing promos and setting my computer for the total geek experience. I also decided that it was time to break out the wallet and buy a second monitor so I can add much needed real estate for my viewing pleasure.

The last time I posted I was having trouble fining a decent place that felt like a home but not need to worry because I found a place that feels and looks like a home. When i was a young guy traveling around by myself I thought it didn’t really matter what kind of place you stay in as long as you have a roof over your head but I soon found out that if you like the look and feel of your home it brings you this peace inside and you can relax and enjoy life much better. Now that the home is taken care of the next thing on the list was to start working out again. I hate sitting around and doing nothing because that’s something I have never done. People say to me all the time that you have the best job in the world and I think to myself “yes I do” but then they say it must be nice only working 7 months out of the year and that’s where they get it wrong. I don’t work 7 months I work 12 months like everyone else. You can never take a step back and relax because this is a competitive industry and when you get out of shape it’s twice as hard when you’re in your 20′s to get back into shape and 3 times as hard every year past 30. You’ve got to stay on top of your game of you will get passed and put on the sideline. I think that goes with anything in life. As soon as you stop wanting to get better or stop learning that is when you slowly start getting passed by. In saying that I’ve been working out alone and starting this week I think a few of the other guys and I will start a strength and conditioning program. I’m told that I’m too light and need to put on weight. Currently at 102 kg’s or 225 lbs for us Americans coach wants me to play at around 105-108. Adding a few kg’s doesn’t sound that hard to do but don’t be fooled it is especially during the season when you’re in full training. I’ve normally played between 101-105 through out my career here in the NBL. The extra kg’s helps when guarding big guys but if too much weight is added then the knees start to hurt. We’ll see how it goes during the season.

During my spare time i’ve been glued to the computer as I’m day trading my own stock portfolio. Has been interesting to say the least. Very hard thing to do but I’ve done pretty good in the last 6 months. The reason for me doing it myself is over the years I have trusted a few financial advisers with my money and lost a ton. I realized that they don’t care about you and your money just about moving your money around acting like it’s doing something new but in reality they are just fattening their pockets. So I figured that at least I care about my hard earned money and educated myself to make it happen. I still look at their advice but instead of just saying OK I analyze it myself and then make the decision.

Talking about stocks and advisers that only care about fattening their own pockets brings me to agents. Currently I have the best agent in Australia Paul Bell www.mvpsports.com.au but prior to that nothing really mentioning. I always got frustrated with the agents I hired prior to Bell because they never really believed in my ability as a player and where I could go. I’m not the sexiest player alive or the most athletic but I get the job done but no matter who I talked to they seemed to think that I wouldn’t last long at the professional level. I remember my first years out of college I was on the phone to my agent at the time and was mentioning that I would really like to try Europe or Italy somewhere I can be challenged. He then proceeded to tell me to my face that maybe I should try a lower league just in case I fail and am not good enough. That pissed me right off because if I was scared of failing I would have never walked-on at the U of M. You have to take risks and not be scared of failing. The people that never take a risk are the people sitting on the sidelines looking and wondering how those people made it. The kicker that really put me over the edge was that this agent started talking about another player that I knew and how he thought he could have a great career over in Europe but then I was thinking if you think he can but you think that i can’t then what am I doing with you? After that I told him that I no longer needed his services and that I will find someone else. I then hired this other guy but he didn’t do anything either. You never really know if an agent is pushing hard for you or not. If I could of at the time I would have represented myself, at least I would have known I was doing everything possible to get a job.

It comes down to everyone thinking that I have had it easy to get to where I am at today. That is so far from the truth it aint funny. Yes I am fortunate to be where I am at but it doesn’t come without years and hours of hard work. Too many haters out there and I never had the best opportunities but when they came I made the most of them. I think that is the key to success. You work hard for all those years for that one moment when you finally get that chance or opportunity and when it happens you grab it with both hands and both feet and make the most of it. Don’t look back at what if just go forward. You won’t know or realize how good the ride was until it’s over so enjoy the ride.

Follow me on Twitter @ dusty_rychart

May 15th, 2010 by Dusty Rychart

When I first started D-Rych.com way back in my college days it was a side project for class which i decided to keep and write about my basketball journeys. Sometimes I take some criticism as to why I have the site and why would someone want to read about things that I’m doing. There has been a few time where I thought about shutting shutting down but didn’t. The reasons why was the amount of emails I get from fans and friends that I lost touch with over the years. That much alone has made me keep the site up and running and enjoy hearing from new people and reconnecting with the old which far exceeded my expectations.

May 12th, 2010 by Dusty Rychart

Is harder than I expected. I’ve been trying to find a good place to set up shop this year and the only criteria that I have is that it have a nice kitchen, big couch and bed. Is that too much to ask for? Not looking to pay $500 per week but something reasonable. You would think with the tourism slowing down over the last year or so that landlords would start cutting us small people some discounts but with the lack of people I guess you have to make that up with charging a little more. Either way finding a new place to live isn’t fun. If anyone has some suggestions please email asap as I will be out looking at places.

Looks like the Tigers are going gigantic this year with the signing of Luke Nevil and Haliwell to go along Trigger. Might be the biggest front line the NBL has ever seen. Trigger playing the 3 will be interesting and he’ll have to start developing his jumper from beyond the arc. Well that’s all I have so far, now it’s back to apartment hunting.

Twitter @dusty_rychart

May 2nd, 2010 by Dusty Rychart

Stark has been offered a roster spot to walk-on a the University of Minnesota. This is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime. Sure you would rather have a full ride but Tubby rarely allows walk-ons and from my source Ryan James he has only had two in his time at the U. Never be afraid of failure at least you’ll know you weren’t good enough and can always go onto something else. Good luck