Augie: A win, with a side of chaos

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GoofyThe 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. Mark Roth is blogging for the men’s team.

Well we’ve done it again.

We have our second win of this Brazil trip and have just one more to go! Today’s game was by far a highlight of this trip.

While we played a normal game, even more fun came after the game where we split up Brazilian players and Augie players and played together on opposing teams so that we could play with each other and against each other. The language barrier provided a bit of an obstacle because we couldn’t run plays or most of the time even tell who was on our team, but that didn’t stop us from having fun.

We played more five on five for about five minutes, and then the Brazilian coach decided to have us play a 10 on 10 game where we couldn’t dribble. Then it became really confusing. Imagine 20 girls running around speaking different languages having different uniforms on and having no idea what exactly you should be doing or what others are telling you to do. It was a blast! Chaos of course, but a blast.

After the game we had more socializing time with everyone. We brought t-shirts to exchange with the players and they had brought some for us! Of course in true Brazilian fashion there were many photos and hugs to go along with the exchange, but it was fun to get to have a token from Brazil and to be able to leave something from Augustana there as well.

We’ve also decided that when we return to the Quad Cities, along with balls and nets we will be sending old jerseys and practice clothes for them to have and use. The women’s teams here do not have a lot of money. Their nets are worn and very old and they only have about six balls which are brought to the games in a garbage bag. We want to be able to share our things with them and allow them to continue basketball here in Brazil. Many of these girls are very good and some even end up getting recruited to play and study in the United States, so being able to help more of them is something that we’re happy to do.

along with balls and nets we will be sending old jerseys and practice clothes for them to have and use. The women’s teams here do not have a lot of money. Their nets are worn and very old and they only have about six balls which are brought to the games in a garbage bag. We want to be able to share our things with them and allow them to continue basketball here in Brazil.

For tonight we will be heading down to the beach to grab dinner, go shopping, and see whatever else there is to offer on the beach at night. Tomorrow we will go to the Olympic Village to meet some underprivileged children and be able to interact, play games, and have some fun with them while we are here.

Can’t wait for what else Brazil has to offer!

Augie: Relaxing pregame

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GoofyThe 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. Mark Roth is blogging for the men’s team.

Well we’ve had a great couple of days here in Rio. After a fabulous buffet dinner last night in our hotel, today we have a relaxing day. The sun is out and we have a game so we’ll be hanging out by the pool, getting nice tans, and preparing to get a win.

The game is at about 3:00 p.m., so we’ll spend the day conserving energy and after the game we will go to dinner and walk down to shops and places on the beach. Next time I write hopefully we’ll be celebrating two wins here in Brazil!!

Augie: Men’s team takes the floor

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Alex Dziagwa DunkThe Augustana basketball teams are in Brazil this week and are blogging on the trip. Mark Roth is blogging for the men’s team and you can catch their blog posts on the D3hoops.com Daily Dose. Chaney Tambling is blogging for the women’s team.

What an unbelievable time for the Augustana basketball program. After about a 10-hour flight from Chicago to São Paulo we made it in one piece. Dan Jurgutis overcame his anxiety of long plane rides and Tayvian Johnson took the first flight of his life.

On our way to the hotel in Jundiai we got caught up in traffic in São Paulo. With 15 million people in the city of São Paulo we were able to see how busy the city can be. Just by looking out of the bus we could see the change in culture between the United States and Brazil. The graffiti in Brazil seems to turn into art on the pavement surfaces and there are many outdoor soccer complexes. We are used to seeing basketball courts or baseball fields built for kids to play on. Here it is clear the soccer is the main sport of Brazil.

After a brief session at the hotel pool in our Speedos, we took off for our first game. It was a great feeling to be playing with each other after spending so much time competing with each other in practices and open gyms. We played in front of a small crowd in an “any place, any time” style of game. The crowd came to life on a few dunks by Alex Dziagwa (above) and we were able to play as a team very well. (Augustana won 107-71.)

After the game, we ate a pizza restaurant; this was no American pizza however. With a wide arrange of toppings from potatoes and egg to dessert pizzas with coconut and ice cream, the waiters was bringing different pizzas to our table all night. They must have gotten the Augie basketball message of “stay together, keep coming” (with pizza that is)! We are going to get some rest and then get back after it tomorrow!

Augie: A little schedule change

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The Augustana basketball teams are in Brazil this week and are 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. Brandon Motzel is blogging for the men’s team.

After a great first night here in Rio we woke up to a wonderful breakfast in our hotel. Breakfast proved to be very delicious and soon after we took a bus and a tour guide to Sugar Loaf Mountain.

We were supposed to be going to see the Christ the Redeemer statue today, but because of the fog around the top of the statue, the guides and others here in Rio decided to switch the schedule around, which isn’t unlike true Brazilian nature.

The Sugar Loaf Mountain was a beautiful sight. We took two cable car trips up to two different parts of the mountains, one Urca and one Sugar Loaf. While there we got to see various wildlife including very small monkeys and birds. It is a beautiful day and we now set out to the beach for an afternoon of fun in the sand and water!

Augie: Women’s first day ends with W

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The 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. Brandon Motzel is blogging for the men’s team.

Well we’ve finished up our first day here in Rio with a 62-44 Augustana win!

We played a Brazilian team from the Club Municipal in Rio and played in a stadium full of both students and other Brazilian fans. We got a chance to talk to several groups of students and understand a little bit more of their culture.

They were very excited to learn about our school and country and we even met a player who is going to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor next year to play! The game was fun because we played on a floor that was a different size than we are used to and we enjoyed being able to play the game we love in a different country.

For tonight we are done and will be getting some rest to gear up for a great day tomorrow where we will get to go see the Christ the Redeemer statue and eat dinner in a restaurant located in our hotel. The trip has barely begun and we are already having a blast!

(We are in the pictures along with the members of the other team and many of the students that we got to talk to before and after the game.)