International Basketball Trip – Day 1 & 2

June 29

Basketball is a great thing. Especially when it is used as a vehicle as opposed to an end unto itself. Basketball has made me some great friends, given me a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, provided for my family and has allowed me to go places that I know I never would have gotten a chance to go to if it were not for the game we all love.

I am at the start of a journey that will take me from Miami to Athens, Greece to Tunja, Colombia just to teach some basketball. I thought it might be fun to take you with me. It will be interesting to see if there are different attitudes and outlooks toward the game in the different countries. In Greece I am going to be giving a clinic at Camp Olympia, a camp for kids of all ages. My target group is players from 12-16. In Colombia, I will be at a camp for players aged 10 -18 in the morning and conducting a coaches clinic in the afternoons.

I left Miami for Athens, through Rome at 4:15 this afternoon. I knew it would be a long flight when I got my 2 boarding passes as was told, “This one is for today and this one is for tomorrow. As I boarded the Alitalia flight, I was not charged for checking luggage nor was I charged extra for my aisle seat. That seems to be an U. S. airline phenomenon where the more trouble the airline seems to be in, the less customer friendly they become. In addition, upon entering the aircraft they had a newspaper rack filled with newspapers filled with newspapers from all the countries they fly out of. I was able to pick up a Miami Herald I missed in the morning. I was also given 3 meals and could have had seconds, if I wished, at no extra charge.

June 30

It was a long flight to Rome, 9 hours. We landed at 8 am local, which is 2 AM Miami time. 9 hours is a long time to be in an airplane. I slept for a couple of hours. The flight seemed longer because my entertainment system was not working. It was a full flight so there was no chance to change. Just had to grit my teeth and fight the boredom.

My flight to Athens doesn’t board for about 2 hours. I had to go to another terminal spur for this leg. Through security again and I had to go through passport control. That is where I started to learn the difference between Europe and other places that I’ve been.

I have traveled many times to Latin America (all on basketball business). Living in Miami has made me pretty comfortable with the Latin culture. I have also become fluent in Spanglish. In Miami or other Latin area a simple, “No hablo Espanol,” or an “Hablas Englese?” will usually start a more productive conversation. Needless to say, in Rome it doesn’t have the same effect. Going through passport control is a great illustration. I got at the end of a long line with a sign that said, “E. U. Only.” Anyone in Miami will tell you that E. U. stands for Estados Unidos (United States). Upon reaching the front of the line, the gentleman informed me that in Europe it stand for European Union. It took a little while but I finally got through the other line and got to my terminal.

I am now learning that grilled ham and cheese is a breakfast food in other parts of the world. It is true in Colombia; it is true in Mexico and now I know it is true in Rome. I stopped to grab a quick bite and there were at least 10 people in front of me. Each ordered a grilled ham and cheese. Of course they ordered in Italian which made it sound a little more romantic.

I think they are calling my flight now. Of course it could also be a flight to Brussels or Vienna for all I know, I’ll just follow the signs and see what happens. Of course, in Greece they don’t even use the same letters so it will be interesting to see how that works out.

Well the day just got a little longer. While sitting on the plane they have just announced that we are delayed at least 1 ½ hours due to traffic. Sounds just like Miami. Just another opportunity to get some sleep.