CNU Alumna Chelsie Schweers ('11) is giving CNUsports.com an exclusive look into her professional playing career in Athens, Greece. Her blog It's All Greek to Me is a weekly entry to the Christopher Newport Athletics website, detailing her endeavors abroad both on and off the court.

Let's get back to basketball . . . unfortunately, I injured my thumb last week in practice. This was our last practice before hitting the road to Thesalanikki. I could tell it was more than a "jammed" finger but I thought I would be a real trooper and tough it out - no big deal. Wrong! After attempting to play just a couple minutes in Saturday's game I couldn't bare the pain and had to come out. On the positive side, we won the game! I had an x-ray taken of my thumb on Sunday. The doctor was pretty sure I tore a ligament and thought I had possibly fractured my thumb as well. I have had a few second opinions since then and a form of treatment that I had never experienced before. Friday is our biggest game and the coach wants my thumb to be ready for action!
 
I saw the doctors for the men's team and they decided they wanted to try Acupuncture. I wasn't ready to go there but decided to do some Google research. As I'm sure most people know, Acupuncture started thousands of years ago and was perfected by the Chinese. Even after reading up about Acupuncture (and talking to my mother!) I was still nervous when the doctor was explaining the process to me. Basically, the doctor sticks a bunch of needles all over your body, including the area that is injured, and leaves them in for 30-45 minutes.

I don't think that would have sounded any better if I were back at home, but I know it didn't sound all that appealing when the doctor was attempting to explain the process to me in Greek! However, part of moving to Greece was about having new experiences, and I knew I needed to do everything possible so that I would be ready to play on Friday. So I went for it and the treatment wasn't as painful as I was imagining it would be. I mean, nothing about sticking a bunch of needles all over your body sounds appealing, but the needles were really skinny and flexible and the only ones that stung were the 2 he put in my ear. I'm not even sure why it was necessary to put needles in my ear!? The good news -- with all the therapy and pain medicine, my thumb is actually feeling a little better. I haven't done much in the way of practice this week because the coach doesn't want to take the chance of someone hitting it again.

We have the Greek Cup and playoffs remaining. Only the top 4 teams in our league play for the Greek Cup. We qualified for 4th place for the Cup which means on Friday we will play the number 1 team again. They are 93-0 and awesome. I would so love to knock them off their win streak! The Championship Cup game will be played on Sunday. The playoffs will start next Wednesday. For the playoffs, once again it is only the top 4 teams, but for this Cup we are seeded number 3. We will play the number 2 team in the first round. We are already 1-1 with this team from the regular season. It is the first team to win 3 games that will advance to the finals of the playoffs. This is a very exciting time for us and I am excited to be a part of this Club. I am going to focus on making my thumb stable and be ready to hit the courts on Friday!