Wow! First I would
like to thank Provost Haynes and John Suarez for providing
us with this opportunity of a lifetime. I also want to give
a tremendous thank you to my assistant coach
Angelika Szumilo. She coordinated every single aspect of this
trip. Most tours are organized through outside groups that cost
a great deal, but Ang has many international contacts and travels
with me on all our international recruiting trips. She did an
outstanding job and should be applauded for a job well done!
There was a lot of time, money, and thought put into a trip of
this magnitude, but Ang did it all. You want to allow the players
to see and experience different parts of the world and also improve
as a basketball team. I can confidently say we did both!
May 19-May 22
The trip began with a great deal of travel; we waited anxiously
at the JFK airport before we flew to Prague for a four-hour
layover. The real adventure began as we proceeded to get a
boat to our hotel in Venice. Whew! Talk about a great workout!
Our bodies are adjusting to the travel of the time difference,
but after a good Italian meal, my gang (my sons D.C. and Cooper,
and I) were asleep by 9 pm. Our few days in Venice were highlighted
by bird feedings, gondola rides, and sightseeing. On Sunday
the boys and I sat in confusion through a mass, all in Italian.
The city was beautiful, but the people came across as pushy
and rude (with the exception of our hotel owner). I am told
this is because of the large number of tourists they have to
deal with on a daily basis. Our first game on the tour wasn’t
pretty, but finally adjusted to the European difference in
game play and found a way to win (I also must note that we
met a 1974 LIU alum and his wife on our way out – yeah
Blackbirds!).
May 23-May 25
The second part of our trip was absolutely wonderful! Polona
and Sara’s families truly embraced us and made us feel
like one of their own. It was great to see their cultural backgrounds
and experience their culinary delights (yeah Kremsuita!); Polona
made the best dessert! Slovenia is a beautiful country with
great people. I also experienced the people and mass in a different
language again. The churches are beautiful and so detail oriented.
The trip was capped off by a victory against Sara’s old
club. It was so rewarding to see Sara’s family as they
saw her play in an LIU uniform for the first time. I felt it
was important to have our players see the lifestyles of their
teammates. After seeing Sara's vacation home in the mountains,
Kara ommented on how beautiful the scenery was and how amazing
it was that Sara came from "Jurassic Park” to New
York City.
May 25-May 26
We boarded the bus for a long 7 hour trip to Split, Croatia.
This was a stop and set up to “Split” up the trip.
It was only a one day trip. After we arrived we headed into
the city. It was a 30 minute walk. The city’s beauty
was not revealed until we hit the center and saw its coastline.
After, Cooper, D.C., and I enjoyed a great meal and headed
to bed and for the first time we had a tv in our rooms WITH
AN ENGLISH SPEAKING CHANNEL! Roseanne never seemed better!
The next day we played a club from Split and spotted a potential
future blackbird. It is customary to exchange a small gift
before each game and the club was kind enough to treat us to
a pair of comfortable shoes. Their hospitality continued as
we devoured a complimentary meal before we headed to our final
destination – Dubrovnik.
May 27-May 29
They weren’t kidding when they said “you save the
best for last!” Dubrovnik was everything we heard it was
supposed to be and more. We arrived late at night after a 4 hour
bus ride so we couldn’t appreciate the city’s beauty
until the next morning. We were surrounded by clear, clear water,
a castle, and breath taking scenery. I walked for 90 minutes
the first morning to ‘scope’ out the place. We spent
the day on the beach, and it was a lot different than the beach
in Ocean City (New Jersey). It wasn’t the soft sand, but
rocks. It was painful to get to the water but it was worth it!
We had our first 2 games against the Dubrovnik club. They were
very talented and the best team we played on the tour. We were
down 7 at half but fought our way back to an overtime victory.
We showed great fight and determination and many great signs
of mental toughness. Another big step forward for the Blackbirds!
We had a fun and beautiful Sunday. It was another day to survive
a different language. It was also a special day in the church,
as a group of young students were celebrating their first communion.
It also gave me time to reflect on this wonderful trip – a
blessing! D.C, Cooper and I took an hour ride on a boat. The
water was so clear that you could see the rocks on the bottom.
It gave
us a chance to see the whole beautiful city of Dubrovnik from
the water and we had lunch and sat on the beach for a few hours.
Marquita had warned us earlier that getting to our destination
of another beach down towards the player’s villa was a
lot of work. Although there are no exercise equipment in our
hotel, our trip to the beach certainly canceled out my Stairmaster
workout. Monday was our last full day in Dubrovnik. We hit the
beach early and treated the team to a team meal by our hosts.
We than headed to our final game of the tour. We took control
early and finished strong (100 points!!!). LiEsha Garcia hit
the century mark on a foul shot with 3 seconds to go. We played
well with a 24 second shot clock while establishing a transition
game. They don’t call us the Blackbirds for nothing – we
were flying down the court! Masa played well in front of her
home crowd and finished with 26 points! The team then enjoyed
their last night in the Villa (where they referred to it as their ‘Real
World’ place).
May 30-May 31
Wake up came early on Tuesday. I was up at 5 am to get one more
walk in before I got some bread and headed on the bus. Our
bus trip took 4 ½ hours to Split to board our flight
to Prague. We said our goodbye to Masa, Sara, and their wonderful
families. It was 1 ½ hours later before we got to Split
and waited 3 hours for our flight to Prague. We arrived at
our hotel in
Prague around 7 pm where I spent time with one of my former players
(Jana). Jana played professionally in Prague and knows the city
well. We eventually headed back to Jana’s apartment so
D.C. could follow his beloved Phoenix Suns on the internet.
Wednesday had arrived and it was time to go home! Jana took us
to the best croissant place before we headed for the airport.
To summerize the trip, I would have to give it a ‘10’ for
everything it offered culturally, team bonding, and plain old
fun. I want to thank the Seniors (Amber, Goska, Kara, Lana, and
Polona) and wish them all success. A special thanks to Stacey,
Dan, Felicia, Amber, and Sara for doing a terrific job on our
internet site! Also a shout out to Ang, Sami, Jen, and Amra!
Of course I needed to thank our new outstanding trainer Junko
(Chin Chin!) – that stands for ‘Cheers’ in
Italian.
I applaud our returning players for really making the most
of every stop along the way. I felt this team took a big step
forward
as a team and as a program as I strongly believe this trip
has now put us in a position to win next year! I also want
to thank
D.C. and Cooper for embracing this opportunity and making the
best of it, as they both filled out journals each day.
We are already talking about our next destination in 4 years
and look forward to sharing these experiences with our future
Blackbirds! It may be time to land now – but the Blackbirds
are just getting ready to FLY!
See you in September!
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