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Throughout his 13 seasons as a basketball professional, John Holland has seen it all both on and off the court.
With roots in Puerto Rico, being born and raised in the Bronx forged his character, but what he has experienced in recent years far outstrips any he previously lived through.
The 34-year-old power forward was playing in Russia at the time of the invasion of Ukraine and when Hamas launched their terrorist attack on Israel on Saturday, he was playing in the country with Hapoel Tel Aviv.
"This is the second war I've been in. I was in Russia when they invaded Ukraine, but that was a little different because you don't really feel it, apart from the ruble dropping in price and things like that. I didn't feel the bombs there like I do here," Holland recounted in a video he posted on Instagram.
In 2022, when the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, the player was at UNICS Kazan. He was about 1,400 kilometers away from the front line.
Now it is very different. Bombs pass over his head and even fall nearby.
"There is some shelling and it's crazy. We had a lot of alerts to go to the shelter. The streets are almost empty and you can hear and feel the bombs. It's scary. I'm not going to lie," said the forward, who played for Sevilla and has traveled halfway around the world throughout his career.
Holland is relatively safe
Teams have given their foreign players permission to leave the country and to train outside Israel, however Holland has yet to leave Tel Aviv.
"We'll see. Let's just say today was an interesting day. I don't think we'll have practice tomorrow, but I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just documenting it just in case, you know. I feel relatively safe," he concluded.
If in 2022 Holland could not continue playing in European competitions due to the international veto on Russia, he now faces another problem and that is seeing where the affected clubs can be relocated to in order to continue participating in their respective competitions.