Tag Archives: reflection

Augie: Men’s team finds its bond

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Decked out in Brazilian wearThe Augustana basketball teams are in Brazil this week and are blogging on the trip. Brandon Motzel is blogging for the men’s team and you can catch their blog posts on the D3hoops.com Daily Dose. Chaney Tambling blogged for the women’s team.

We are back on U.S. soil!!

While it feels great to be done with the long plane rides, it is weird to not be running out to the beach to body surf on the waves or go shopping at the markets. From the basketball side of the trip in São Paulo to the relaxation and tourism side of the trip in Rio, there was never a dull moment. We were always going on adventures to markets or visiting iconic sites or relaxing at the beach. I know it was a trip of a lifetime for me and I could not be happier that I shared it with my team and coaches and their families.

Coach Giovanine’s son Grey even wrote an eloquent poem about the trip that he read to us on the last night. We all have a special bond and countless stories to tell and reminisce about for years to come. We were already a close-knit team, but this trip brought us together even more. This has been a huge step towards our team contending for and winning championships.

We will need to continue to build on this experience and learn from it as much as possible. We know that the physical Brazil game experience has helped to prepare us for the tough CCIW. All of the guys who went on the trip, and the new members of the Augie family are excited to begin the 2013-2014 season! We are ready to embrace the challenges and become a great team. Training will begin with the infamous timed 2-mile in early September.
That will do it for our blogs from Brazil! It was truly the trip of a lifetime!
Obrigado (thank you) for following along!

Augie: Chaney Tambling reflects on Brazil

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On the beach, in uniformThe Augustana basketball teams are heading to Brazil this week and will be blogging on the trip. Chaney Tambling is blogging for the women’s team and you can catch their blog posts on the D3hoops.com Daily Dose. Tayvian Johnson is blogging for the men’s team.

Now that I’m in the comfort of my home I have time to sit back, relax and reflect on the last 10 days.

The ride home was filled with storytelling and memories. My next couple hours at home will be a bit different from everyone else’s because my parents got the opportunity to accompany us on the trip to Brazil. So, while everyone else is filling their parents in on the trip, I will be reflecting and reminiscing about my time in Rio de Janeiro.

As I sat on the bus on the way to the airport in Rio, I thought back to the trip that we’d been on. It was an adventure to say the least.

Filled with all the sight-seeing, community service, and basketball that we could put into 10 days, it was one of the most riveting and exciting trips I’ve been on. But, aside from all of the wonderful things we got to do, the people are really what made it special. Being a senior, I’ve spent the last three years of my time at Augie building friendships, helping to build a changing basketball program, and leaving whatever mark I can on those that will come after me.

I can confidently say that this trip has helped me to do all of those things. I couldn’t be happier and more grateful of the people I got to spend time with on this trip. They are girls and coaches that I started my journey at Augie with: girls that I’ve gotten to host in my dorm room when they were first considering Augustana, and all girls that I’ve grown to love, trust, and call my best friends. Without them on this trip, my experience would have been completely different. Although it still would have been great, with them it was more than I could have hoped for.

It’s weird to think that we won’t be all traveling together on a trip like this ever again, but I know these memories that we’ve built will definitely last us a lifetime. This trip is something I will hold onto forever and I couldn’t be more thankful and happy of how it all played out.

So in the end I’d like to say thank you to everyone on the trip, involved in the trip, and anyone who helped to make it what it was. We will all be forever grateful. It is an opportunity that not many get and we were lucky enough to receive.