Category Archives: D-III overseas

Augie in China: From now, just tourists

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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 second day in Beijing marked the end of the basketball portion of our China tour. Our final game was an afternoon contest against the very talented Tsinghai (Ching-wah) University.

First, however, our team made the twenty minute ride from our hotel to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple ground was an ancient and sacred area for Chinese people. It was a large section of Beijing cut out for prayer, before the Temple became a tourist attraction. The Temple is 600 years old and contains multiple areas of prayer.

To get to the most recognizable Temple, the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvest, we walked under a large covered walkway which had many Chinese locals playing games, sitting or dancing on the large squares that surrounded the walkway. Once by the temple it was a very impressive structure that was made entirely of wood. An interesting fact about the Temple that Dr. Moline, who has been superb as our educational liaison on this trip, pointed out was how everything was built in multiples of nine, because the number nine signified that it was imperial.

Outside the temple

After the Temple, our focus shifted to getting out of China on a winning note. We knew Tsinghai University was going to be a very good team and that they were coming to America later this year to play Washington University in St Louis, a team who we also play later this season. The game was very physical from the start and they made it clear that they could compete with us. In the end, our constant defensive pressure, ball movement and rebounding was too much for Tsinghai and we cruised to an 86-68 victory.

The end of the end of basketball in China is bittersweet. We had a great time competing this summer against some of the best China has to offer. From this point on we are in China just as tourists. Still left to see are Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. To finish China by seeing three of their most historical landmarks in going to be something special.

Kyle Nelson

In Brazil: Case’s day off

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

Our third full day of the Brazil trip provided a long day as we drove from Guaraja to Rio. The drive provided many eye-opening views as we neared Rio and drove through the slums or favelas throughout the city.

As someone who lived internationally before in Tokyo, Japan, I often feel I have a good perspective on foreign places and different cultures. However, what we saw today was like nothing I’d ever seen before and really put things into perspective for me and how fortunate I am to live in the United States and all the rights and privileges I have there. The amount of poverty and poor living conditions that thousands of people have to suffer through everyday really makes you count your blessings.

After we drove through these conditions and got closer to our hotel is when we saw the beach and the waves. The waves here seem significantly bigger and more powerful than those in Guaraja. Pat, our tour guide, warned us that it is extremely dangerous to go further than waist deep as the pull out to sea is quite strong. Once we reached the hotel we had a little bit of time until dinner and were able to walk around a little bit and shop in a market area with small booths aimed at tourists with various T-shirts and souvenirs.

After we finished shopping it was time for dinner, which was one of the best meals I think I’ve ever had. We were fortunate enough to dine in an upscale Brazilian steakhouse, which was all you can eat. As a team, myself included, we indulged to the fullest and tried various different types of steak and meat. We ate for quite a while until we could barely move, because it was so delicious. The different flavors and seasonings on the steak were plentiful and there was never a dull moment as the chefs continued to bring new cuts. As somewhat of a picky eater I decided to get a little bit adventurous and even tried a frog’s heart, which was certainly a different taste, but good nonetheless.

Along with the meats there was also a plethora of different side dishes to complement the different steaks. Fried bananas seemed to be a crowd favorite among our guys. Once we finally finished the chefs invited us back into their kitchen to see all the different steaks and cuts and how they were prepared.

Overall, for mostly a travel day today and no basketball, there was by no means a lack of activities as we arrived in Rio and continue our adventure in Brazil.

Behrend in Brazil: Mmm … pizza

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The Penn State-Behrend men’s basketball team is Brazil. Justin Kovac blogs:

Our team’s fourth day in Brazil began with a breakfast consisting of chocolate cake, caramel cream puffs, and coconut cake. Every little kid’s dream breakfast. We then ventured through the cleansing forest to a picturesque beach that is usually only found on postcards. Houses that belonged on MTV Cribs lined the winding private road as well as the white sandy beach.

We learned one of Brazil’s most famous actors owned the most unique house on the beach. It made Vincent Chase’s house from Entourage look like a humble abode. Not only were the houses enormous the waves swelled to ten feet above our tallest player Russ who stands 6-foot-9. All of us were crushed by the humongous waves and in many instances flipped head over heels. Salt water was coming out of our noses, ears, and mouths hours later. As we drove back through the private windy brick pathway, we stopped at a magnificent waterfall. We walked across an ancient brick wall no wider than two feet to get to the waterfall. As we all stood underneath the waterfall we realized this was a once in a lifetime experience. We arrived back in the hotel, packed up our clothes and said our goodbyes to the city of Guarajua.

The many memories from our stay will remain ingrained in our memories forever. A four-hour bus ride awaited us to the city of Sao Bento de Sapucai. A mountainous region that the locals described as muy bonito (very beautiful in Portuguese). Sao Bento lies a mile above sea level. So as our bus struggled to make it up the steep, narrow roadways, we were able to take in all the breathtaking views. We arrived after a long trip to the resort that we would be spending the next two nights.

After getting situated in our rooms we arrived back at the lobby for our dinner. Little did we know the treat that was awaiting us. We sampled six different pizzas. Some of them similar to pizza in the states such as mozzarella or tomato and basil however most of them were pizzas that could not be found at any local pizza joint. The most unique pizza had toppings of ham, onions, mozzarella, and corn. Although it doesn’t sound to appetizing on paper, this was the consensus favorite pizza on the team. After trying each pizza, we still were in for a surprise. They served us chocolate pizza. The pizza tasted like a s’more but even better. The meal was amazing and we look forward to the clinic we will host tomorrow as well as the celebration of the city that is currently going on in Sao Bento.

Thus far in Brazil we have met many appreciative, interesting people. I have had the pleasure of keeping in contact with one of the people we met while teaching the children English at the Wizard school. She emailed me asking if we could contact each other and I would correct her spelling and grammar in each email. As I told her, I should not be teaching her English, she should be teaching me Portuguese. Through email, we have been able to learn a lot about each other as well as learn more about each other’s culture. Brazil has been a very fulfilling experience, full of many, many memories. I would like to thank the people of Brazil for being so accepting and nice to us. I hope to keep in contact with them as well. Obrigado Brazil (Ombrigato = Thank you in Portuguese)

Augie in China: Arriving in Beijing

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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.

Augustana has arrived in Beijing, China!

After many days of travel, lots of sightseeing and three games, we have made to the last stop (in China that is, we stop in Tokyo, Japan also) of our China ’10 tour. We awoke in Xi’an at 5:45 am, ate a quick breakfast and drove to the airport to catch our 8:30 am flight. We were flying to Beijing early to prepare for our game against the Chinese Junior National team later that afternoon.

This team was the best group of Chinese players in the nation that were 18-21 years old. However, according to an inside source, an American weightlifting coach for the Chinese women’s basketball team, this team was playing as an 18-and-under team. Clearly age requirements are very loosely followed in China…just like their gymnastics team from the Olympics.

This team is also the group of players that will represent China at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China in 2011 and will be one of the gold medal favorites playing in its home country. We played the game against this team at the National Fitness and Training Center in Beijing. This center was a walled off area of Beijing, essentially like a gated neighborhood, that had facilities and training grounds for every sport that China competes in internationally. This is the location where they would have trained for the 2008 Olympics. As we drove in we got to see their female weightlifters, swimmers and drivers, and their gymnastics team all in training. It also appeared to have dormitories where the athletes would live on the grounds as well. It was a very impressive facility.
 
To say that their Junior National team was tall would be quite an understatement. On their frontline they had at least four 7-footers, including a 7’2 center. I am proud to say I won the tip from the guy although I don’t think my quick tip was legal. For the majority of the game we outplayed the taller Team China. Our energy and defensive intensity overwhelmed the Chinese players who were not as physical as us, which allowed us to outrebound them. Everyone that played did a tremendous job, but unfortunately the outcome did not go in our favor. We ended up losing by one as a last second shot off a nicely executed play drawn up by Coach Giovanine did not drop.
 
We came away from this game a positive note however. We competed and outplayed the best that China has to offer at our age. Of course we would have like to have been winners, but playing this caliber of completion in the environment that we did is something rare to experience in the summer.
 
We looks to bounce back today by facing one of the top five university teams in all of China, Tsinghai University. This team just back from a camp coached by American coaches and is looking for revenge after we beat them three years ago in a close game. This game is sure to be a tough contest, and we plan on leaving China on a winning note!
 
Kyle Nelson

Behrend in Brazil: The ball is tipped

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The Penn State-Behrend men’s basketball team is Brazil. Dan Simpson blogs:

Our excellent tour guide, Fernando, rented us surf boards and took us to the nicest beach I have ever seen. He explained to us that the low tide created a path to an island and consequently created another beach. It was neat having ocean in front of us and behind us. So we crossed the path to the island to climb up a hill, which we all expected to be easy. Come to find out, it had steep slippery rocks and wet dirty paths. I thought for sure one of us was going to wipe out, thankfully no one did. A couple courageous individuals (myself not included) kept venturing to the other side of the hill. The hill allowed us to see the city we were staying in and a breathtaking vantage point on the ocean.

To cap off the night we played at a gym in the city of Cubàtoa. Outside of the building there was a banner advertising for the game with Penn State Behrend E.U.A on it. It was neat to see, and we knew we were going to have a fun environment. The second biggest television station filmed our game and conducted interviews with coach and some players. All throughout the game there were kids and even adults lined up behind our bench asking for our names. We didn’t know if we should talk to them or not for fear that coach wouldn’t approve it during a game. Once the game ended, we spent the next thirty minutes being swarmed by kids. Justin has been a crowd favorite (maybe because he handed out silly bands). During that time I approached a player on the other team and he wanted to trade me a futbol jersey for one of my Behrend shirts. I was shocked he wanted to do so, but I made the trade.

We won the game, but the atmosphere made the experience something we will never forget. Fernando (our guide) thanked us and told us how thankful the city is to have us play and impact them in a positive way.