MERSIN (EuroBasket Women/FIBA World Championship) - There are highs and lows for all professional basketball players.
All players encounter adversity and some cope with it better than others.
That is certainly true of arguably the greatest player in Spanish women's hoops history, Amaya Valdemoro.
The 1.83m small forward has spent her entire career playing not only with skill and talent, but an unbridled passion that has inspired many a youngster to take up the sport.
Four times she has represented Spain at FIBA World Championships for Women and twice - in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) - Valdemoro has competed at Olympics.
In 2007, Valdemoro was the MVP of the EuroBasket Women in Chieti, Italy.
At 36 years of age and coming off a campaign in which she broke both wrists, Valdemoro has left Spain to play in Turkey, one of basketball's hotbeds.
She is not in Istanbul, though, but rather Mersin, serving as the captain for Tarsus Beliediyes.
Valdemoro has dealt with change before, having been on the books of foreign clubs like Houston in the WNBA and Samara in Russia.
"I'm adapting to Turkey because it is a big cultural change," she said.
"I'm adapting little by little. For the time being, I train and go to the physio and don't do much else.
"Tarsus is a working class city and its economy is based on agriculture so there is not much to do.
"In the whole city there is no hotel but there is a hostel."
When Rivas Ecopolis signed Valdemoro, she was their most high-profile player and one who brought a lot of attention to the team.
She stayed with the Madrid club for two years and helped it win the Copa de la Reina.
"Rivas Ecopolis did not want to renew my contract and I wanted to be able to play the EuroBasket (with Spain) next summer," she said to Prodep.com.
"After breaking my two wrists, they did not want me and that is why I decided to start this adventure in Turkey.
"I have always played in competitive teams and perhaps the one I'm playing this year has a lower level but we are fighting to be a brilliant team."
Tarsus have had a rough start in the EuroLeague Women, falling in their first three games.
"I have been named captain of the team perhaps because I am the most experienced player in the team," said Valdemoro.
"In the EuroLeague, we have not won a game because the competition is very tough.
"In the Turkish league, there are 12 teams and you can beat or lose against nine of them.
"It is a league that is spending a lot of money. You have great American and European players.
"Moreover, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray have the backbone of the national Turkish team and to beat them is always complicated."
Valdemoro is playing more than 30 minutes per game for Tarsus in the Turkish league.
"If I'm honest, I would like to play a little bit less," she said.
"I'm 36 and I admit that I play a lot of minutes.
"I think in basketball to play more than 30 minutes per game is too much because it's a very physical sport.
"My problem is that in Turkey there has to be two players of Turkish nationality on the court always so they need me on the court.
How long is Valdemoro going to continue playing basketball?
"I wanted to continue playing one more year," she said.
Is there a chance she could appear at a fifth World Championship, when it is staged in Turkey in 2014?
"It is possible that I will retire (after the EuroBasket Women 2013)," she said.
"I'm still thinking about it but I would love to continue to be linked to sport because it is my life."
FIBA
