After being away from the game of basketball for 18 months, 4th year pro Tyler Hines talks about “trusting the process” as he makes the journey to playing basketball professionally again.
Trusting the Process
Hello, my name is Tyler Hines and I’m here to tell you why, “Trusting the Process” has been so important in life. I am entering my fourth year of playing professional basketball in Europe. I am currently playing for team in Cyprus called ENP Paralimini. This year is very special to me because I haven’t played organized basketball in 18 months due to injuries and family situations. It has been a long road to recovery, many days and nights, I thought about given up my dream to play professional basketball. I thought my career was over and thought about getting a normal “9 to 5,” but something inside told me to remain persistent and keep working and the hard work would eventually pay off. I came up with the saying, “Trust the Process” and I used it to motivate myself during the times in which I thought I would never get the opportunity to play again. Little did I know, my opportunity was coming soon.
This past August, I was invited to go to Athens, Greece for training camp and preseason with a team called Lavrio, which is in the Greek A1 League. It was a perfect situation for me because it gave me the opportunity to practice and more importantly play against some great competition. I was able to build strong relationships with the players, coaches and staff at Lavrio. But I knew that it would not result in me signing with them because they already had 6 Americans on their team. (Which is the limit to how many foreign players teams in Greece can have on their roster) I was getting very discouraged and worried that I would not find team. But again, I knew that if I continued to “Trust the Process” it would all work out. Preseason was over and I was faced with the thought of having to go back home, but then a few teams started to contact me for try outs. I was completely nervous and knew that I had to make some decisions that would be the best for my career.
In european basketball, especially in the lower leagues it difficult to really know the full situation of the teams. But lucky for me I had some great people in my corner who I trusted, George Meincke-Vassilopoulos and Nikos Spinos, who made sure I was going to be in the best situation possible. They told me about one of the best coaches in Cyprus, Nickolas Papdopoulus. He just got new coaching job at ENP Basketball Club. I heard he was a winning coach and helped players improve their game. It was an no brainer, I decided to go to Cyprus.
After a long travel day, I finally arrived in Cyprus, and man is it beautiful here. The best part is that it’s still summer and the weather will stay warm until the end of November. I live about 5 minutes from the beach. So I knew it was a win /win situation. I was anxious the next day to learn more about my teammates and meet the coaching staff. I found out that we would be playing in a preseason tournament that upcoming weekend. I was ready to prove to everyone that after 18 months of not playing that I was back and better than before. The night before this game I was so nervous, I could not sleep at all. I stayed up and watched Martin, one of my favorite sitcoms, for a few laughs to calm me. After a sleepless night, it was finally game day. My first live game action in 18 months. The first game went extremely well. I finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes, but our team lost. The second game, we played against Kervanos, one of the best teams in Cyprus. I scored 16 points and 8 rebounds. It had been the first time I played 39 minutes since college or maybe even in high school. I was sore as hell afterwards, but I showed everyone that I was back on track and able to play again, so the soreness and pain was well worth it.
On October 16, 2015, I lost my grandmother, which was one of the hardest days of my life. One year to the day she died, I received the best news of my life. October 16,2016, I officially was offered and signed a contract with ENP Basketball Club. (Thanks Mom Mom). I was officially back in Europe playing professionally. The moral of this story is the man upstairs makes no mistakes. Continue to work hard, believe and continue to “Trust the Process”, use me as an example that hard work truly does pay off. Looking back on everything now, it was all worth it. My journey over the past 18 months not only made me a better basketball player, but more importantly made me a better and stronger person. This is just the beginning!!! Wait to see what next !!!
Tyler Hines
source: myhoopjourney.com
