By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China.

Three years ago at this time I was an incoming freshman listening to head coach Grey Giovanine tell me about the unbelievable opportunities I was going to have at Augustana. At the time my soon-to-be teammates with the Vikings were practicing and preparing to travel overseas to play in Ireland. Due to NCAA rules I was not allowed to participate in either the practices or the trip.

Looking back, I can definitely remember first wishing that I could be going on that trip with those guys and also wondering what that experience would be like. I also remember thinking how much I was looking forward to being able to go overseas as a senior with my own teammates and friends. Those would be guys I had already established a strong relationship with during my time at Augustana.

There’s no need to wonder anymore, as we prepare to travel to Hong Kong, China, and Tokyo, Japan for two weeks of basketball, unbelievable sight-seeing, new cultures, and much more. There will be 15 players and three coaches as we are set to take off on a ride that none of us will ever forget. It’s hard to imagine going with a better or closer group of guys than the one I get to travel with these next two weeks. We have already began to leave our mark on this trip, having practiced and stayed together for eight days leading up to this.

Our practices have been intense so far, comparable to those we will have as we prepare for our first regular season games at the start of the year. It’s a great start for our team, as we are set to face some of the toughest competition any of us have ever played against. As you know if you have been following the articles in the Moline Daily Dispatch about this trip, we will play three professional Chinese teams that will test our ability to stay together and play as a team.

There are definitely some changes in style of play that we will be forced to adapt to quickly, and it has been cool to kind of learn them on the run so far. Wider and more open lanes, a shorter shot clock, and live balls over the rim are a few of the bigger changes in play we will see on our trip. I think we are all looking forward to the quick tempo that we will see.

One of the more difficult aspects of this trip is the amount of time we’ll spend in the air flying from place to place. For someone like me, who recently flew for the first time since he was two years old, on a two hour flight from Florida to Moline, 16 hours of flying the first day makes me a little uneasy. But, it’s all part of the experience, and something we can get through the same way we’ll get through a lot more on this trip: together, as a team. Some of the trip will definitely have its ups and downs or bumps in the road, but how many people do you know that have had the chance to represent the USA on foreign soil in athletics?

We do, and we plan to take full advantage of that opportunity.

You will hear from me next when we get to Tokyo.