BLOG: Want to get paid to play the game you love and travel for free?

My name is Lonnie Hursey and I run the site www.safety-blitz.net.  I have been coaching American football in Europe for 6 years now and I started my site to help spread the word that players just out of college or players who just quite could not make it to the next level  get the chance to continue to play the game they love while getting paid, and to travel the world for free.  Football has been very good to me the last 6 years.  I have had a chance to see so many different places, I have coached in Spain, Norway (twice) Denmark, Sweden, India, and now Serbia, while seeing many other countries along the way

If you would have told me years ago that I could coach the game I love and travel the world for free I would have called you crazy and you were trying to scam me.  My website is dedicated to getting the word out, telling the story of my week to week life along with other imports, and helping players/coaches get adapted to being in Europe.  I am here to answer any and all questions you may have about being an Import in Europe.  On my site there is an IMPORT 101 section that explains what to expect and what teams expect from you.  Multiple stories from not only me but other imports who are happy to share their story with the world.  Allot of it is about my team The Wild Boars of Kragujevac where we play in the Serbian Super League and we also play in the Central European Football League.

I will start posting as I go on my website but if you are interested in knowing more feel free to check out www.safety-blitz.net.

Anyone who has questions about being or becoming an import feel free to email me any question at [email protected]  I will be glad to answer any and call questions.

 

Here is my Latest Story about My bye week in Poland (as posted on www.safety-blitz.net)

After I left the Belgrade Blue Dragons Imports house I got on a tram to the train station.  When I arrived I found these two polish guys who were waiting for the same train as me to Budapest and then would catch the train to Poland.  The came all the way down to Belgrade to watch a soccer match between the two Belgrade teams because they said there fans are the craziest.   The train to Budapest was a very old beat up train I swear they had from the WW2 days.  The lights went off and on at random times it squeaked and the seats were the most uncomfortable I have ever sat on.  The ride was over 8 hrs and I caught it at 9:15 so I had to try to sleep which of course for you that know me I cant sleep on planes, trains, or automobiles.  when I arrived in Budapest it was just after 6 am and nothing was open that would take credit card to get some food.  So I ventured outside of the station and even the grocery stores were closed so I had to eat at the only place that was open, McDonald’s.  I had a breakfast sandwich and it was actually very good.  It was a sausage patty (not like the ones in the states) with hash brown on it, cheese, bacon, tomato, and some sauce.  After I ate I went and got my ticket to Katowice Poland and was on my way for another 7 hrs.  This ride was not so bad because the seats were way more comfortable and I had my tablet so I could catch up on the 4th season of the TV who Breaking Bad.  If you have not seen it, you should.  Its very good and the character development of the main charterer is simply amazing.   The plot of the who (first season) is about a high school chemistry teacher finds out he has cancer and he is going to die in 6 months.  He hooks up with an old burn out student who is a meth head and they start cooking meth so he can make his family enough money for when he dies they will be taken care of.  He makes meth that is 99% pure so it becomes very popular and everyone wants it.   The rest you will have to go watch because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.  On my way home I watched the first half of the final season (season 5) and the second half will start airing in August.

When I arrived in Katowice Kasia was there to greet me.  I was so hungry and tired we stopped at the subway to get a quick meal then headed back to her place where she lives with her mother and brother.  That night we just  kind of relaxed because I was so tired from not sleeping for over 24 hours.  The next day we got up early and went on a bike ride up in the hills and around town.  Ended up eating lunch at this little place that had a great salad.  All kinds of fruit, veggies, and a chicken breast in the middle of it.  it was also only 5 dollars.  We went home to meet her mom later who was taking us all to her grandma’s house for tea and to hang out. 3 months ago her grandpa passed away from cancer and they go over there allot to just check up on their grandma. She is such a sweet lady,  Speaks no English but very sweet.  She had me try what I think is the most unhealthy vodka around.   Its vodka with egg yolks and sugar.  It tasted very good, but I would not dare drink more than a shot or two of it.   After we left we met up with some of Kasia’s friends and went to this indoor water park.  It was so cheap to get in less than 5 dollars all i had to do is not saw a word as we paid because it was a special for people from her city for 1/2 off.  This place had hot tubs, 5 water slides, indoor out door pools, a wave pool, a whirl pool, and my favorite thing was a pool only about 4 feet deep but in the middle was half of a giant rubber ball with 2 ropes (one on each side) to climb up, which you did not need it but for “safety” you had to use it.  On top there was a spout that dropped water like a water fall on you, so what you did was jump off land on your back or butt the rubber ball and you bounced into the water.   It was the most fun thing there.   We went on all the slides a few times and spent the last 30 minutes in the hot tub before we ended up leaving, catching the bus and headed home for the night.

Another look at the water park

 

The rest of the week I just did some site seeing.  Kasia showed me around her town and also in Katowice where she goes to school and she had to turn in some papers.   I have been to  Poland and stayed with her a few times but never really stayed around.   The first time I was in Poland we rented an apartment in Krakow which is one of my favorite cities I have been to.  When I was there we saw the salt mines which has a cathedral carved out of salt 600 feet underground, and also went to see Auschwitz which was the most famous death camp during World War II.   The other time I was in Poland we were just there for a short time before we went on our 3 week Eastern European backpacking/hitch hiking trip when we went to, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Back to Hungary and then Poland.  So this was nice to see the cities around where she lived.   As everyone knows I love churches.  I think they are beautiful and cant believe that people spent so much money on these things on there faith.   As you know I’m not religious but I am drawn to churches and religious stuff of all kinds.  In Katowice after we stopped at Kasia’s University we ate at some Chinese/Japanese/Thai place and I love trying new things,  so when I saw frog legs on the menu I had to try them.   I always wanted to try them but never seen them on the menu.   Three legs were 3 dollars, when I got them they were all covered in some breading so I took most of it off and ate the legs.  They were so good.   Tasted better than chicken but too bad there was only a bite or two on each leg.  We did allot of other site seeing the rest of the trip as well and got plenty of pictures.  One of the nights I was there I promised I would  make Kasia dinner.  I made some pasta that was simply Delicious.  It had chicken and bacon in a garlic yogurt sauce with some cheese on top.  I ate a little too much but it was good.   Also had a glass of red wine to top it off.

One of the last nights I was there we went back to Kasia’s grandmas place for what I kept asking for.  Her double boiled cabbage.  I love this stuff.  I never used to like cabbage till I went to Poland and it was in every meal.  With the cabbage she made this stuffed pork with who knows all that’s inside of it, but for sure there is a pickle in the middle.  Then she made some amazing gravy to put on the meat and the meal was complete.  On Sunday I headed home.  It was such a terrible trip.  It was 7 hours from Katowice to Budapest, I had 1.5 hrs to kill so I met up with my buddy Gottii who I met through Kasia when we stayed in Budapest last year.  We had dinner and just chatted for a bit before my next train that was 8.5 hrs to Belgrade.  Of course I did not sleep a wink on the train.  Once I got to Belgrade I had a 2 hour bus ride to Kragujevac to where I took a cab to my place and got home at 10 am.  So I left the day before at 1 pm and arrived at my home at 10 am the next morning.  I went home slept with my dog for 4 hrs and then went right back to work on football stuff for the last 7 weeks of our season.  We had a coaches meeting that lasted over two hours and then I went home and back to bed.

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