Daily Archives: August 12, 2010

Behrend catches a wave in Brazil

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The Penn State-Behrend men’s basketball team is Brazil. Chris Thorsen blogs:

The second day was a very exciting and eventful day. We started our day off with a great breakfast at our hotel here in Guaruja. The breakfast is very similar to our types of breakfasts in the U.S. except down here they also have some desserts for breakfast, so we helped ourselves to some chocolate cake and other pastries.

We then went to the beach and were treated to our first surf lessons ever. It was a great time. The instructors we had were really cool and they all wanted us to succeed at riding a wave. Some of us were surprisingly good at it right away and others it took awhile to get the hang of, but eventually all of us were able to stand up on the board.

Next, we continued with another great lunch at a restaurant down by the beach. After lunch we headed to the city of Santos. To get there we had to take a ferry. However, on this ferry people just drive their cars right onto it and you have the choice of either staying in the car or getting out and standing on the boat. So of course we got out and stood on the ferry and took some nice pictures.

The next part of our day was very exciting. We went to a school where Brazilian children try to learn English and we assisted them in their learning. We split into groups and all of them had some questions prepared for us. Their English was a lot better than we thought it was going to be. They understood a lot of what we said and they spoke it with no problem. It was very nice to interact with them and learn things about how their lives are here, and it seemed like they enjoyed learning about our lives back home also. They were enjoyable to talk to and it was a great experience for all of us.

Brazilian school children

Finally, we ended the night with our first game versus P.R. Grande (a semi-professional team or “club” team here in Brazil). It was a very exciting and intense game. We ended up winning 73-71. Everyone on our team contributed and played well. There were some younger fans there watching and enjoying what they were seeing. After the game, we gave each player on the other team a set of Penn State Behrend playing cards. They were thankful for our gift and a few of them spoke English and were very nice to talk to.

Getting back on the bus many kids surrounded us and were telling us congratulations and some even wanted us to take pictures with them. We embraced all of the attention and tried making all of the kids happy. So all in all, day number two here in Brazil was a very adventurous and exciting day.

Case in Brazil: One day later

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The Case Western Reserve men’s basketball team is in Brazil, and blogging about the experience as well.

A nine hour flight isn’t bad, right? No, not at all. The nice thing going into nine hours on an airplane, was that the flight was overnight. A time where we were supposed to be sleeping, we would be able to sleep on the plane. When we arrive in Brazil, we would have our night’s sleep and the day ahead of us. A pretty good plan, if it had worked out.

Upon our arrival in Washington, D.C. to catch our connecting flight to Sao Paulo, we charged through the airport to make it to the gate in time. We were cutting it close making it to the gate for our 10:30 p.m. connecting flight. Up on the board the time remained 10:30. There was a slight difference nobody noticed as we thought we were racing against the clock. The little a.m. at the end of 10:30. This was no typo. Due to undisclosed reasons, our flight had been canceled for the night. The 10:30 a.m. flight would get us to Brazil at 9:30 p.m. with a one-hour time change as we are traveling to the east. Day one of Brazil, down the drain.

Looking around, while the loss of the day was disappointing, everyone was still content. I mean, here we were, on our way to Brazil, anticipating the amazing experience that lays ahead. Everyone has taken the change of plans in stride. We were put up in a fairly luxurious hotel, given meals, and now, flying 3,000 feet above South America. And, apparently South America is much larger than I have ever realized, for we have six hours left to go until we arrive.

Oh well. That’s all part of the game. Plus, it is quite entertaining to see an entire group of guys, all well over 6 feet tall, squish into their plane seats, and today’s practice was slated!

Augie in China: Back in the air

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Augustana senior Kyle Nelson and his teammates are in China. He will be blogging regularly on D3hoops.com about the team’s journey.

Our fourth flight of the trip brought us to the city of Xi’an in central China. The flight from Wuhan to here lasted only about an hour and a half. It seems like the flights are getting shorter and shorter. When we landed we were greeted by Mr. Chang (pronounced J-ong) our guide in Xi’an. Our first stop was lunch and then it was on to see the Terracotta warriors. The warriors were clay sculptures of an army that Emperor Qing (“Ch-in”) who reigned in about 200 B.C., had commissioned and buried along with his body so that he would have an army in the afterlife.
 
The site of the soldiers was massive. There were three different pits that we stopped at. The first was the pit where the first terracotta warrior was discovered by peasants who were digging for a well in 1974. What they happened to find was one of the greatest discoveries of this century. The other two pits that we saw were both discovered by archeologists when they began digging around the initial discovery site.
 
Terracotta warriors

The clay army was made up of infantry men, archers, horses, generals, captains and chariots. Much of the collection is either broken or undiscovered, but much of the army is exposed for this public to see. The warriors were made to be actual size, where as the horses and the chariots were scaled down to half of their true sizes. I thought that something very interesting was that not a single soldier was identical to another. Each warrior had its own face and given the massive scale of the army, that was an impressive undertaking. The terracotta warriors provided some once in a lifetime pictures because truly there is nothing else like them on this planet.
 
After seeing the warriors we went back to our hotel and then set off into downtown Xi’an on our own. We headed to the local market which was positioned right behind the bell and drum towers that have been at the center of Xi’an since the city was established. This market was one of the most lively and exciting and it sold goods that ranged from Rolex watches to squirrel on a stick.
 
Early night to rest for a game against Xi’an University tomorrow.
 
Kyle Nelson

D3 in Europe: Games over

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Chris McDevitt is part of a group of Division III players (and three Division II players) traveling to Europe as an All-Star team this month. His latest blog entry follows:

Days five and six were more relaxing as we did not travel and tour as much as usual. Day five we were still in Dusseldorf and had the chance to sleep in a bit. We walked around the city for a bit during the day to get lunch then got ready for our game at 8 that night. We played a tough opponent this night in Germany but our style of play forced them to do many things they were not comfortable doing.

Like most European teams, this team was very half-court oriented. We forced them to play a more up tempo game by pressing from the start. We won the game by around 20 and we played a very sound game as a team. After the game we grabbed a team meal and headed back to Dusseldorf for the night.

Day six we were on the move again back to Belgium. This time we made a pit stop in Holland on the way. We were able to stop at Philips Stadium which is the home of the Footbal Club PSV. We stopped in their team store and purchased some items to take home. After the stadium we toured through Holland for a few hours and ate lunch in the city.
Holland was similar to Brussels. Both cities were more advanced and much like a United States city.

On the way back to Belgium from our stop in Holland, we played our last game. We played Technico, a team from Belgium. Like the Previous game this team wanted nothing to do with trapping, but they did push the ball back at us while we pressed. The game was close for most of the game until we pulled away at the end. Ricky Hudson was much help as he went off for 30 points including two dunks and several threes. After playing five mostly competitive games we ended the week at 4-1 and started to play very well as a team as the trip went on.

Next time I check in we will be done a great day of tours in London and getting ready for our flight back to the states.

USA