Gisembe Tournament

This weekend PJB girls spent the weekend in Kigali for the 15^th annual Gisembe International Basketball Tournament. We took a team of 12 girls who are part of the Elite PJB team along with three coaches. It was a great opportunity for the girls to represent PJB as well as the DRC as a country in the international tournament.

We left early Friday morning from Goma to travel to Kigali. On Friday we were set to play APR, the Rwandan National team at 4 PM. We arrived in Kigali at Amahoro stadium (the national stadium) at about 1:30 PM, which gave us enough time for a pre-game meal and enough time to rest and focus for the game. The tournament began at 2 PM with a game between fellow Congolese team, Goma Bulls (the PJB Elite men’s rivals) and a youth Rwandan team. I believe that it is always good to be a tournament because as you are preparing for your own match you can relax and watch a different match. As a player this always got me pumped for the game and helped me focus. As a coach I also find that I like to watch a game before my team plays a game. Through watching a game you can really think through basketball and see things that you want to do or you want to avoid when you get the chance to play. Both as a player and as a coach I would say that almost as important as playing basketball, watching basketball is essential to success.

Anyway, our game began at about 5:30 PM, which was no surprise that Rwandan time is the same as Congolese time. We had to start the match short 3 girls who were suspended for being late. Our star point guard lost her starting job and was suspended for a quarter for being late, and two other key reserves missed the game for showing up late to travel in the morning. We won the tip and scored on our first possession of the game, 2-0 PJB. It was a great feeling to hold a lead against APR, which is a powerhouse in East Africa sports. The feeling was short lived though as we finished the first quarter losing 34-2. The girls were great though as they did not lose spirit, and as the second quarter began the team turned around, with the starting point guard being able to play, and we went into halftime 42-10. After losing the first quarter by 32 points, we lost the second only by 10. The third quarter was our best quarter as our girls came out of half time no longer scared of the older, bigger, stronger and faster APR team, and played some inspired basketball. After the 3^rd quarter the score was 51-15, which meant we only lost the quarter 9-5. The final score of the game was somewhere around 78-17, because we used the 4^th quarter to rest our starters for the game the next day.

Though we got our butts kicked, it was great to see the girls were not discouraged, and us three coaches couldn’t have been more proud. We were playing with a team who’s average age is about 16 years old, and the APR starters had almost 10 years of experience playing together. After the first quarter I told the girls to play quarters, and try to win quarters instead of the game, like how I gave the game recap. They really bought into that idea, and I think that by doing this they saw that they improved over the course of the game, and that meant that they were successful. It was awesome to see young girls buying into a healthy view of success whereas most teenage girls would be devastated after a 60-point loss.

The next day wasn’t as good as first day in a basketball sense. We played the next game away from Amahoro Stadium (which was the main site for the tournament) at an outdoor court known as Rafiki Club. On Saturday we played RUN (Rwanda University National), which looked to be a match that we had a chance to win during warm-ups. Again we were playing out of our league as we were playing a University team of grown women with a group of young teenagers. The first quarter we played up to average for us, with our big girl Grace (6’0” 15 year old forward) playing really well both offensively and cleaning up the defensive glass. At the end of the first we were down 13-11 though. After that, our girls looked slow and sluggish and we ended up playing very ugly the rest of the game and lost 48-22, a pretty bad blowout. I know exactly what happened and it is hard to blame the girls.

The loss was due to a lack of maturity, but it served the girls a good lesson. On Friday night some pounding waked me up from bed at 1:00AM on my wall from the room next door. I went to the room and found the girls in the room wide-awake, laughing and talking. I then went to all the rest of the girl’s rooms, and all of them were awake, listening to music, talking and laughing. I got all of them in to bed, but I know they didn’t go to sleep. Then in the morning all the girls washing their uniforms for the game in the afternoon waked me up at 6:00 AM. This means that the girls got less than 5 hours of sleep, and you could see it in the game on Saturday.

I can’t blame them. I was the same way in high school. When you are in a different country/city and you are away from home with your friends you just want to live up every second. I remember all the APAC tournaments where we would fly home on Sunday completely exhausted, not just from all the games (and Championships if you played during my career at SFS J) but also because we would stay up late at night with all of our friends. Tournaments are exciting and a great time for team bonding, and going to Kigali for the Gisembe tournament was a treat for the girls, but more importantly it was another step for PJB in developing our reputation.

Our girls represented PJB and DRC in a great way I feel, and I was even told multiple times about the upside of our team. I think that the people at the tournament were impressed with what we had even though we were blown out twice. Success goes way deeper than scores and statistics, it is determined by spirit and heart.

Trip to Gungu

For the past 3 days I’ve been in Gungu, DRC on a farm. Gungu, you could say, is the furthest you can get from civilization. We came out here for the long weekend (Monday and Tuesday are national holidays for the anniversary of the two former president’s deaths) to get out of the city for a little while and breathe some fresh air. Though Gungu is only about 75 Km (about 50 miles) from Goma it took us over 3 hours to drive because the road was so bad. The road had actually been impassible for the past two months because of the rainy season. When we arrived I felt like I was in a completely different world, enclosed by the mountains of North Kivu.

            When we arrived we walked inside the farmhouse to a fire burning in the fireplace and some fresh mountain water. We then decided to explore a little bit and visit the cheese and butter factories and where they plant their trees. Of course, on a farm one adventure led to the next and we found ourselves five minutes later in a dense bamboo forest. We then returned home after our two-hour adventure to have a dinner made only of the nicest and freshest food you can find on earth.

            The next day was much of the same. Visiting (and milking!) cows, seeing the sheep, and trying to avoid the African wasps as we explored the beautiful farm. Though it was an awesome experience being in this surreal and beautiful place, I realized that I take for granted the world around me. Though here at the farm there is almost everything within just a couple kilometers walk, I saw nothing that I haven’t seen before (except African wasps). It took being in a place like Gungu though that makes me conscious of my world, of our world.

            I am a city boy through and through, and I actually hate farms. They smell, you go long periods of time with nothing to do, and I feel like whatever I do at a farm gets me dirty. This time I was at a farm I thought a lot. I stood still for a minute (or maybe many long long minutes) to breath, think and feel. This world is just an amazing and breathtaking place with so many adventures to be had. I have been blessed to have seen so much of the world and I know that. After today though, it would be my strong encouragement to everyone to take some time every day to be still and enjoy the world around you. It will take your breath away. The earth gives you breath, and it has the beauty to take it away.

Belated New Year's Post

The year 2011 was the best one yet

Even though I thought 2010 was as good as it gets

So now I look back on a wonderful year

To see where Im going, where Im at, and how I got here

January is a month to reminisce

About the year before and the things you will miss

But its also a month to look forward and see

What you want to become and who you want to be

Last year began in the land of Turkey

Hittin up the sights with me and my family

Then back to the kank to teach little kids

Atleast I had basketball to overcome it

I started out soaring with the Eagles at Trinity

I look up to those guys as much as they do me

Then I became a Soldier by way of Example in K3

And it felt like every weekend there was another wedding

Seven newlyweds all in one summer, we lost some good men

But I must say the best of all was KK and Ben

So now the Kearney’s can add one more

Then I hit up Wootten’s in the state with Baltimore

Only to finish the summer with a wedding encore.

And now Im in the DRC fulfilling my dream

Thanks to everyone who has supported our PJB team.

During these 365 I was glad to be alive

For I got to witness the Arab spring arise

Power to the people seems to now be reality

But freedom had to come through the darkest side of humanity

We had to occupy to fight to have our voice heard

Anarchy and revolution were the only ways to put in a word

But the words that ring out are those of the one’s we lost

Too many had to die, freedom comes at much to high a cost

Who could forget about the hurricane scare in NYC

Or the tragic devistation of the Japanese tsunami

We pray for those who suffered from the disaster in Japan

And we don’t forget those in New Zealand and Van

But the sadness is too great to list in a poem

The list of problems goes on and on and on

But 2011 showed us that we can overcome

For through all the struggle of the year the human spirit remains strong

So for this upcoming year I plan many things

And I cant even imagine what the year brings

But I know that everyday I can strive to do my best

This way 2012 will win when compared to all the rest

So if I have two cents for your new year

I suggest you never take for granted what to you is really dear

Don’t miss a moment because they go way to fast

Remember to only be looking forward but also learn from your past

“No days off, make memories, and love with all your heart”