GALESBURG, Illinois—Men's basketball departed for Costa Rica on August 25 and will return September 2. They will practice, host two basketball clinics, play three games, and participate in team-building activities while traveling throughout Costa Rica.
The team will be visiting San Jose, La Fortuna, and the Pacific Coast during their week-long trip. Their itinerary includes a white water rafting trip, zip-lining, a day at the beach, and a visit to Manuel Antonio National Park.
Stay tuned for updates on the Men's Basketball Costa Rica trip below.
Marko Protic (Niles, IL, Maine East) provides an update from the first few days:
First video update.
The first couple of days in Costa Rica have already been an experience of a lifetime. For some of the guys this is their first time in a tropical country in Central America, and for others this is their first time traveling outside of the U.S. We first got introduced to Costa Rican culture by eating at an authentic, cultural restaurant called Taco Bar. There were a lot of different meat options, such as chicken, beef, shrimp, and fish, because as we have come to realize Costa Ricans eat meat with every meal. The other meals we have had the past couple days have been similar with the meat options but we have also had the chance to try different fruit drinks native to Costa Rica.
Along with trying different and new food options native to Costa Rica, we have also been hosting basketball clinics for kids in elementary through high school. The first clinic we hosted was at a school where almost all the kids spoke English, making it easier to teach and explain some of the fundamentals of the game. The kids worked really hard, incorporating the skills we taught them to their game. The most interesting part for the kids was the end, where a lot of the guys were having a dunk contest. All the screaming and jumping around by the kids when the guys were throwing down dunks really gave us all a good feeling that we were doing something beneficial. The second clinic we hosted was at an actual basketball camp. More kids were involved but the language barrier started to become an issue. A few kids understood English while most of the others did not understand any at all. We had a couple translators there but for the most part we had to do the actual motions to get the campers to understand what we were doing. The drills we showed them included ball handling, shooting, rebounding, and finishing. After they went through all the stations they scrimmaged at the end and impressed us with their skills, talent, and how quickly they took in what we taught them. Overall, hosting these two clinics so far gave us all a good feeling that we were giving back to the game that we love.
Our first game in Costa Rica gave us a measurement of where we were at and how quickly we have been able to come together as a team and play. The first half went well with a lot of positive moments and we even had a two point lead at half, 30-28. The first half of the third quarter was also positive. We came out to a quick start, extending our lead to 5 with a score of 39-34 by pushing the ball up and down the court and forcing a lot of turn overs by the Costa Rican team. The second half of the third quarter caused us to fall behind though with the Costa Rican team outscoring us 23-4. Some of the reasons we fell behind were turnovers, poor shot selection, and not moving the ball around on offense as much as we should have. At the end of the game, the final score was Knox 62 and the Costa Rican team with 79. Marko Protic led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds, Deandre Weathersby with 14 points and 4 assists and D.J. Lewis contributing 11 points. Our assist to turnover ratio at the end of the game was 21 to 13, something we need to improve on and will get better throughout this trip. Our second game is on August 28th where we hope to perform better and clean up our game.
Second update:
On the fourth day of the trip, we had a mix of hard work with relaxation. In the morning we played our make up game from Friday night. We came out strong right from the start, holding a four to five point advantage the entire first half and headed into halftime up 34-30. A struggle that we had last year was closing out games that we were either winning or down by a few points at halftime. We knew we had this problem last year so we challenged ourselves to not play down to the level of our opponents but rather try to push our lead to double digits. Compared to our third quarter from the previous night, this third quarter looked like we were a new, much more experienced team. We pushed the tempo, caused turnovers, and by the end of the third had a comfortable 12 point lead. That same momentum in the third carried us into the fourth and we shut down any runs by the Costa Rican team. The final score of the game was 87-72, with Marko Protic (18 points and 14 rebounds) and Deandre Weathersby (16 points and 3 assists) again leading the way. Robert Suntken and D.J. Lewis also contributed 15 points.
Coming off that win there was no better way to relax than a team bonding trip to the Baldi Hot Springs near La Fortuna. With 32 different places to visit at the Hot Springs and various amounts of pools all heated to over 100 degrees fahrenheit, we got a chance to rest our bodies. It took a couple minutes for our bodies to adjust to the hot water since it was also raining that night giving us a mixture of hot and cold. Our first stop at the hot springs were the slides. These were high speed slides that made you scream at the top of your lungs and would throw you viciously into the water. Everyone went on them including the coaches which was hilarious watching them go through it. Other than the fun on the slides, most of the guys spent their time laying on the water beds or walking from pool to pool trying to find the best spot. After a couple hours in the water we had dinner at the hot springs and went back to the hotel to prepare ourselves for white water rafting and some time at the beach.
Third update:
Video
For the past few days in Costa Rica, we've had a little break to enjoy the country and relax our bodies. We started Monday morning off with white water rafting. It was the first time most of us had gone rafting so we were all a little nervous and didn't know what to expect. When we heard we could fall out of the raft, everyone started to get nervous. Our tour guides assured us we would be okay though and as soon as we got in the river it felt natural. With the tour guides giving us directions of which way to paddle and steer, we were moving down the river at a good speed and clashing with class 2/3 waves. Some guys even jumped into the water when we were smooth sailing, and Deandre and Mike sat on the front of the raft and took the waves to their face. Overall it was a good but tiring experience that took a lot of hard work and teamwork.
The next morning we went zip lining in the forest near the pacific coast. More of us were scared for this because we don't deal well with heights, especially Tyree and Marcellis. After getting our equipment and getting our safety instructions, some guys considered walking back down and not zip lining. Eventually all of us got hooked on and went through it. The scenery of Costa Rica and the forest was breathtaking. Not only could we see the whole forest, we could see past the mountains and get a good view of the ocean. The first couple of rounds of zip lining helped everyone get adjusted and by the end we were all gliding pretty easily and just enjoying the view and the moment. Even Tyre who was scared at the beginning wanted to go again and even called himself a savage for going through all that.
The rest of the day we spent at the beach/ pool by the hotel. The beach was gorgeous with a playground in the water that the whole team swam out to and jumped around and played on. After spending some time on that, we had some beach volleyball games going that were competitive yet fun. The two captains were Marko and Rob but in the end Marko's team ended up winning. After a couple of sets we decided to hang out in the pool. After a long day we finally decided to go home and came back to a power outage which really gave us all the opportunity to bond as a team with no phones and no electricity! With only a couple days left in Costa Rica we really hope to make the most of it!
