By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China. For more posts about the Vikings’ journey, click here.

It was kind of a slow day in China for us today, one that we used mostly for travel. The beginning of the day gave us a unique opportunity however, one that few people can experience. Our entire team had the chance to be led in practice by an NBA coach with loads of experience and success.

Bob Hill, who formerly coached the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, and (most recently) the Seattle SuperSonics, was in China for the 10th annual coaching clinic of the China Basketball Association. This is the same clinic we worked out at and played in front of the day before. Because of the motivation of the Chinese to become better and better at basketball, they have begun to bring in more high-profile personalities in order to teach their coaches how to better themselves and their teams.

Coach Hill led us through a series of drills, some of which we were familiar with, and some of which were new to us as well. Much of his focus was on the defensive side of the ball, discussing things such as transition defense, rebounding, and one-on-one defense. It was very interesting to hear his philosophies and ideas about how the game should be played, especially because they sounded so familiar to us. Many of the same principles that Coach Hill were preaching were the principles that define our program. To name a few, he said that a strong defense and rebounding the ball were two of the most important parts of being successful.

It was definitely one of the more enjoyable parts of the trip and I think our guys really soaked it in. After we finished at the clinic, we went back to our hotel and checked out to end our stay in Wuhan. We started a stretch of three flights in three days and a total of five flights in seven days today, flying from Wuhan to the capital city of China, which is Beijing. It was a shorter flight than the ones we have become use to on this trip, only two hours. We were able to see some of the city on our way from the airport to the hotel, and there were some pretty cool sights along the way.

Tonight is going to be a lazy night, because we have to get up early tomorrow for our next flight. We head to Hohhot, the capital city of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (still part of China). There, we will play in a 6,000-seat arena against a Chinese professional team. Our game is part of a festival commemorating the 60th anniversary of Inner Mongolia achieving autonomous recognition, and hopefully it will be a game to remember.

By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China. For more posts about the Vikings’ journey, click here.

Today started with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call to prepare for our last, busy day in Wuhan. After breakfast we got on the bus and drove about an hour for our game-day practice. This practice, however, was unlike any of our other game day practices, because we worked out in front of around 200 of China’s basketball coaches. Ranging from university and college level coaches up to the professional team leaders, the coaches were gathered for the 10th Annual Coaching Clinic of the CBA (China Basketball Association).

It was an awesome experience for all of us, and an opportunity that we realize not many players will probably have. For about an hour we went hard through a series of our drills, ranging from defensive slides, to rebounding and individual shooting drills.

After we were done going through our work, Coach Giovanine opened up the clinic for questions, and for around a half hour we walked through some of our offensive and defensive philosophies for the Chinese coaches. You could definitely see the type of motivation and determination that these men and women had for their profession. All of the coaches were very attentive, and it seemed like they were really trying to soak in all of what Coach G was attempting to teach them.

It is said that the coaching is not necessarily the best in China but, much like in many other industries, you can easily tell that they will get up to speed and begin to excel in this area as they excel in others because of their strong work ethic.

Once we were done with the clinic, we came back to the hotel to get cleaned up, eat lunch, and prepare for our game. Game time was 3:00 p.m. so there wasn’t a lot of time to relax in between practice and the game. After our warm-ups were finished, there was a long set of speeches by some of the more prominent people at the clinic, and we then exchanged gifts with our opponents. It is a traditional Chinese custom to exchange gifts with people you interact with, and it was cool to give them a more Western gift (a lanyard) and receive a Chinese craft in return.

The game went well for us, and we ended up beating the Hubbi Province All-Stars by a score of 68-45. We continue to really defend and rebound well, with seniors Oliver Rorer and Dan Rukavina really going after loose-ball rebounds. Juniors Alex Washington and Jeff Becker also played extremely well tonight, and helped lead us on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

After the game, we experienced an interesting atmosphere. Many of the people in attendance asked to take photographs with some of the guys, they had us all sign a bunch of basketballs for them, and they even asked me to do an interview, through an interpreter, for the nightly sports news. It was pretty cool for all of us, but we know that in the end only one thing really matters: we left the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law gymnasium 2-0.

By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China. For more posts about the Vikings’ journey, click here.

Today started with a good breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn Riverside hotel that we are staying. Kind of nice getting a little bit of home mixed in with the Chinese culture. The food was good, with a nice mixture of Chinese food and American food. Again, it was good to have some Frosted Flakes and get a little taste of home.

After breakfast we returned to Central China Normal University for practice. Today, instead of practicing in the basement facility we used yesterday, we got to work out in their 5000-seat, air-conditioned arena. It was a cool atmosphere that none of us had ever really practiced in, and some of the students and more influential people at the University were there to watch us practice. After we were done with our practice, some of the guys had the opportunity to scrimmage against the University’s players.

Afterwards, we had lunch at the University hotel and restaurant with their players and some faculty. It was interesting to learn that one of their professors, Ms. Fu, was getting ready to head to Rock Island to teach advanced Chinese this school year at Augustana. The relationship between our college and the University has helped make our stay in Wuhan as accommodating as we could imagine. It was cool being able to talk with their guys, and learn how their college life compares and contrasts with ours. One of their guys told us that Kobe Bryant was his favorite player, and that Michael Jordan was the best player ever. We can definitely relate to that sentiment. A lot of their guys were P.E. majors, and a couple of them even admitted to skipping class every once and awhile. They said that we were all much more experienced at basketball, but that they would dominate us playing ping pong.

Lunch was another buffet style, made up of many different Chinese dishes. A couple of them really stood out, the first being a cup of half-dried noodles. These noodles are especially famous here in Wuhan, where they were first made- it was kind of like a peanut-butter tasting spaghetti. Another dish that we tried was Chinese pizza, which tasted nothing like the kind of pizza we have in the States. Basically, it tasted like an egg-and-rice omelet. It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting when we heard we were having pizza, but it was good nonetheless.

Our last stop today was at an agricultural village in rural Wuhan. On this stop we got to see rice and cotton fields, tea-leaf fields, and a specialty village where they manufactured cranes. We were able to meet the governor of the village and he gave us a tour of his village, ripe with insight into the daily grind of the agricultural workers. The process that these workers go through on a day-to-day basis sounds unbelievably difficult and taxing. One of the more interesting tidbits they were able to give us was that China is able to feed its population (20% of the total world population) on only 7% of the world’s land.

Tomorrow we play our second game on the trip, and we are looking forward to putting our team to the test against some of the better competition in China. Right now though, we’re going to try to go find a KFC or Pizza Hut and get more tastes of home.

By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China. For more posts about the Vikings’ journey, click here.

Last night was our final night in Guangzhou, so we wanted to make sure we had a good time. After dinner, we all hung out in the room for awhile, and actually had the opportunity to hang out with one of the local citizens, Kevin Haotian Lai. Matt Pelton was Kevin’s counselor at a summer military camp in Indiana this past summer, so it was cool for us to meet him and hear what he had to say about his hometown. Afterwards, we decided to see what the Guangzhou night life had to offer. We found a night club called “Honey” and had probably the most fun night we’ve had on our trip. The environment was not unlike what you would see in the states, with a bar, tables throughout and a dance floor. What was a little different was the treatment we received, because we were given VIP seating and lots of attention.

Today we flew from Guangzhou to Wuhan, a city located in central China. There are some striking similarities between Wuhan and the Quad Cities that we had a chance to learn about today. For one, Wuhan is technically made up of three cities that are separated by a river. The Yangtze River is, like the Mississippi, the biggest river in the country. Furthermore, both the Quad Cities and Wuhan were the first places in their countries to connect the different sides of the river by dual bridges, the bottom for trains and the top for cars. There are also a few differences between the two cities as well. First of all, the Yangtze River is 70 feet deep versus the 9 foot depth of the Mississippi and it is one mile across, which is four times the length of the Mississippi from side to side.

We ate lunch at a place that serves 3,000 people and is the largest “cafeteria” we’ve been at so far on our trip. At all of our stops but one, we have been eating authentic Chinese cuisine and it’s safe to say that it’s been a little different for all of us. We’ve all been forced to try new exotic foods none of us have ever thought about eating. Things like lotus roots, moon cakes, and stir fried bullfrog are just a sample of the different kinds of food we have been offered. The style here is also interesting, as we eat in a “family-style” environment with a “lazy-Susan.” In this style, none of us have our own entrée, but they bring out many courses for us and put them on a circular plate that spins in the middle of the table. We then get to pick and choose what we want and don’t want to try.

We also practiced today at Central China Normal (Huazhong) University in Wuhan, a place that has a strong connection with Augustana. Soon, six Augie graduates will come to Wuhan to begin teaching English at the University for one year. The practice court was an interesting environment, sort of another open-air court where one rim was high and one was low. It was cool though, not a place where you would normally get to practice. Also today, we found out that our schedule has changed again, and we will be playing a professional team on Friday with a few players added from the National Team that will be playing in the Olympics next summer. This should be an interesting experience and a chance for us to really compete. More on that later.

By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China. For more posts about the Vikings’ journey, click here.

We spent today in Guangzhou, China sight-seeing, going through the markets, and trying to get some Chinese money.

Today was kind of a down day, with no game or practice to talk about. We got to lie around, hang out and just took it easy. It was a nice change of pace from the last few days that were a little bit more upbeat.

The day started with a buffet-style breakfast on the top floor of our hotel; the view was phenomenal and we were able to see a lot of Guangzhou. After breakfast we took a tour of the city, stopping at three places. Our first stop was at a monument/museum made for the “father of China.” It was a cool stop, and the building was one of the first that reminded me of Chinese architecture in its construction. Our second stop was at a Confusion temple that was right in the middle of the city. The temple was converted to a memorial for Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist Revolution that began in 1911. This was another place that reminded me of Chinese architecture, so that was an interesting break from the more modern architecture we have been seeing a lot of at our stops. It was also interesting to learn that part of Mao Zedong’s mission in the revolution was to elevate the status of the peasant farmer in China, hoping to bring these people to his cause.

Our last stop today was at a traditional Chinese market. Walking down these streets we saw many different things for sale. One stretch of the market was mostly devoted to selling animals — everything from dogs and cats, to turtles, chickens, and even scorpions were available at these shops. Shortly thereafter we went through a stretch of hand-made crafts that were extremely impressive. After crossing a bridge into another part of town we saw a variety of more Western-style shops mixed in with traditional shops. One shop would be selling designer clothing and golf clubs, and next door you would find Chinese scrolls, jewelry and even swords and daggers. It was eye-opening to see the shift from shop to shop, and really showed the dynamic between the modernization of China and traditional Chinese culture.

Tomorrow we will be taking our third flight of the trip, as we head to Wuhan, China. We will be there for at least three days, practicing twice with a game towards the end of the week, and helping out at a clinic as well. The clinic will be a cool experience, giving us the opportunity to show a group of coaches how we operate and how hard we work. That’s all from here, talk to you soon.