Favorite memories of trip to Costa Rica

By LANCE FLEMING
Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations

ABILENE – It's always good to get out of town for a few days, but it's also good to come home.

But landing at Abilene Regional Airport early Friday evening after five unforgettable days in Costa Rica with the ACU men's basketball team meant that a week of bonding, games, practices, clinics and relaxation was already over. For many on the trip, it was the trip of a lifetime. The chance to see a part of our world that we hear about infrequently. Think about it. When's the last time you thought about Costa Rica? Maybe 2012 when a 7.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the northwest part of the country? Or maybe never.

But for five glorious days, the Wildcats and the group traveling with them enjoyed a country that has every right to call itself the "Happiest Country in the World" because that's what we found. Happy, friendly people, who go out of their way to make strangers feel welcome.

We were able to enjoy their hospitality in many venues, none more than at the Anglo American School last Monday where the Wildcats coached and taught students at a basketball clinic. We had all already eaten breakfast and lunch by the time we arrived at the school, but before the clinic the cafeteria workers insisted on feeding us some of their country's most popular dishes.

So several players somehow put down black bean burgers, burritos, soft drinks and rice pudding. Most of them did it grudgingly knowing they still had a clinic to run, a pre-game meal to eat, a game to play and a post-game pizza to eat. All except for freshman Hayden Howell, who's got a fork ready for any moment.

That was just one of several moments that stand out on a trip that showcased a beautiful country and its people as well as a young and energetic ACU men's basketball team that might finally have the right pieces in place to help the program turn a corner back to putting a winner back on the floor at Moody Coliseum.

Here are some of my favorite memories from the trip:

• Waking up Monday morning to beautiful mountains, green grass and trees and – most of all – cool air and a breeze that kept the temperature below 80 degrees each day we were in San Jose.

• Watching transfer Jovan Crnic – who is a magnet for kids – walk out into the courtyard area of the Anglo American School and engage in a quick pickup soccer game with some the school children. Jovan's got game on the basketball court and on the soccer pitch as well. Quick feet. Nice moves. You can tell he's played plenty of soccer in his home country of Serbia as a child.

• Watching our coaches and players engage the school children that day in the hallways, in the courtyard and on the courts during the clinic. After senior forward Austin Cooke and Howell walked away from a group of boys at an outdoor picnic table, I heard one of them say "muy gigante" as in "very giant" or "very tall."

• Seeing the absolute joy on the faces of the kids at the clinic when they learned that the team would be leaving ACU basketball T-shirts and basketballs behind. It was as though Christmas had come in mid-August.

• Watching our team hit the floor as a team for the first time in the 2015-16 season Monday night against an invitational team. The freshman group is something special, Crnic will be a fan favorite, Drake Green has made huge strides from last season, and the seniors will be the glue that holds it all together. Get your popcorn ready, Wildcat fans. This is the start of something special on the floor.

• We enjoyed a great tour around the city on Tuesday, getting a chance to see the national cathedral, theatre and museum as well as take a riding tour through several different sections of San Jose. The whole thing was eye-opening for everyone on the trip. The national cathedral is beautiful and gave a few of us the chance to participate in a time of prayer in the prayer room while we were there. I'll never forget the peaceful quiet of that room that was filled with San Jose residents who were praying during their lunch break.

• Watching our players interact with hundreds of pigeons in the city square during our tour. Many of us braved our fear of the movie "The Birds" and put corn in our hands and held our arms out, allowing the pigeons to land on us and feed right out of our hands. Then assistant coach Solomon Bozeman and freshman Hayden Farquhar went the extra mile by putting the feed on their heads and kneeling down, waiting for the pigeons to land on their heads. Farquhar lost the feed off his head before the pigeons could land, but "Solo" wasn't that lucky. About three pigeons converged on him before he wisely took himself out of the line of fire.

• The Wildcats' 60-37 win over the Costa Rican National Team was a thing of beauty. ACU trailed just once (9-8 in the first quarter) and, aside from a 7-0 run by the Costa Ricans to open the second half, were never seriously challenged. The Costa Ricans were missing their best player, but even their coaching staff conceded that he wouldn't have made a difference. This was the Costa Ricans' third game in a couple of weeks against NCAA Division I teams and they had beaten Georgia Southern by 15 and Furman by 1 in their two previous games.

• Seeing the absolute abject poverty in south San Jose is seared into my mind. People living in sheet metal shacks without benefit of running water, electricity or heating / air conditioning is almost unconscionable. The parish that Father Sergio Valverde runs in that section of town is all that's standing between that neighborhood and a third-world existence.

• The absolute joy on the faces of the children of Father Sergio's day care / school / orphanage at Obras del Espiritu Santo, or the Works of the Holy Spirit parish. We were told by our tour manager, Mike Peterson, that it was a happy place and he was right. Despite their circumstances, the children we encountered during our visit were anything but sad or broken-spirited. On the contrary. They were jovial, light-hearted and filled with love and generosity. They can thank the people who work with them on a daily basis for teaching them the love of Jesus and that there is a way out of poverty.

• Watching our players and staff enjoy the thrill of a lifetime zip-lining through the rain forest near the ocean in Los Suenos late Thursday afternoon. Through the stifling humidity and thick jungle, you could hear the laughter ringing throughout the jungle. Most people that know me know that I'm scared of heights, but I put that aside to enjoy one of the greatest thrills I've ever experienced. The hour-plus that we spent zipping through the jungle is something most of us will never forget. And we'll also never forget Jaylen Franklin's scream on the first zip line.

• The breathtaking beauty of the final hotel where we stayed in Los Suenos. The end of the journey was a great reward for a team that had gone through 10 days of three-a-day workouts in Abilene (two practices a day and one weightlifting session) to prepare for the trip, and what a tremendous reward. Our players had the time of their lives late Wednesday and all day Thursday relaxing and enjoying the Pacific Ocean and pool area at the hotel. Several guys – Duran Porter, Green, Jaren Lewis and Franklin among them – engaged several young kids at the pool (including three from Clyde, Texas, of all places) and made new fans of those kids and their parents.

Final thought: This is a special group of players that head coach Joe Golding and his staff have put together, and that could make for a special season of Wildcat basketball. With so many new faces, no one is saying it'll be easy, and no one believes there won't be tough nights where they look like freshmen. But for the first time in a while, Wildcat fans have a reason to hope because a bright group of freshmen will be joining two great sophomores, a junior college transfer and four senior leaders. It's a group that will provide plenty of excitement on the floor, and will be accessible to fans of all ages and a joy to be around. Buckle up. It should be a great ride.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Austin Cooke

Jovan Crnic

Hayden Farquhar

Jaylen Franklin

Drake Green

Hayden Howell

Jaren Lewis

Duran Porter

Footer

Upcoming Events

Related News