Once a year most Division 1 basketball programs get invited to play in a 4 day tournament in another country or in a popular state. My freshmen year we went to Italy and Arizona, sophomore year it was just florida, then my Junior year it was Cancun, Mexico. I have never been to Mexico and I always wanted to take a visit to Cancun during spring break but even better, I got to go to lay the sport I love. The moment we landed in Mexico I was expecting to feel an unusual vibe that indicates I am in another country. Instead, I just felt as if I was in San francisco California, or Orlando Florida. Only difference was there were all Mexican people. As we walked from the luggage to the bus it was pretty cool to have the Mexicans think we were an NBA team and so excited to take pictures with my team and I. A small Mexican lady walked up to me extremely happy and just started rambling on in the Spanish language. I literally just stared at her with a smile on my face pretending I knew exactly what she was talking about until she just stopped and it seemed as if she had just asked a question waiting for my response. I was very confused so I just replied "si" the she went right back to rambling on in Spanish again. Luckily my assistant coach played overseas professional basketball for 10 years in Spain and was able to get what she was saying. He walked over and said something in Spanish then the lady turned to him and had a full conversation with him as I slowly walked away.
When we finally got to the hotel I immediately threw my bags down and went to the balcony to lay on the Hammock and look at the beautiful view of the pools, ocean, and people having a good time at the bars. It was an all inclusive resort which was pretty cool. After about an hour my roommate and I took a walk to just explore the resort and walk on the beach. It was very relaxing and it almost felt as if I were there for an actual vacation not basketball games. As we walk we see other programs such as Iowa state, University of Maryland, TCU, Duke etc. I made friends with some of them and they turned out to be some really cool people.
Our first game was against the TCU horned frogs and it was a very intense game. During the warm-ups and stretch I quickly realized how hot the gym was and thought to myself "I might pass out on this court". It was wicked hot and the gym was small and of course the 90 degree weather outside did not help. About 10 minutes into the warm-up I was sweating as if I just came out of a sauna which is really bad if the game hasn't even started. When the game finally starts, for the first four minutes I was doing really well and had already scored 8 points. we were on a 12-2 run and that forced them to call a time out. When I get back on the court after the time out I ran up and down twice and became extremely exhausted out of no where. Unfortunately I could not get substituted out because most of my team was already in foul trouble. I could not wait until half time. Eventually we ended up winning in a very close game by two points and advanced to the second round. We finished second place in the tournament and I must say my experience in Mexico was definitely a success.
When we finally got to the hotel I immediately threw my bags down and went to the balcony to lay on the Hammock and look at the beautiful view of the pools, ocean, and people having a good time at the bars. It was an all inclusive resort which was pretty cool. After about an hour my roommate and I took a walk to just explore the resort and walk on the beach. It was very relaxing and it almost felt as if I were there for an actual vacation not basketball games. As we walk we see other programs such as Iowa state, University of Maryland, TCU, Duke etc. I made friends with some of them and they turned out to be some really cool people.
Our first game was against the TCU horned frogs and it was a very intense game. During the warm-ups and stretch I quickly realized how hot the gym was and thought to myself "I might pass out on this court". It was wicked hot and the gym was small and of course the 90 degree weather outside did not help. About 10 minutes into the warm-up I was sweating as if I just came out of a sauna which is really bad if the game hasn't even started. When the game finally starts, for the first four minutes I was doing really well and had already scored 8 points. we were on a 12-2 run and that forced them to call a time out. When I get back on the court after the time out I ran up and down twice and became extremely exhausted out of no where. Unfortunately I could not get substituted out because most of my team was already in foul trouble. I could not wait until half time. Eventually we ended up winning in a very close game by two points and advanced to the second round. We finished second place in the tournament and I must say my experience in Mexico was definitely a success.
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