Men's Basketball Concludes Final Day in Sydney
August 24, 2016 | Men's Basketball
One day after the team's first exhibition game during the foreign trip, Wednesday provided the Bruins with some down time, colder weather and consistent rain.
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During the UCLA men's basketball program's fourth day of their 11-day foreign trip to Australia, players used free time on Wednesday to visit nearby restaurants, museums and shops while staying within walking distance of the hotel. The weather outside was reminiscent of a cold, dreary and wet Los Angeles afternoon in January.
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The team reconvened in the early evening for a trip to the world-famous Bondi Beach, a beautiful stretch of coastline in Sydney. The travel party enjoyed dinner at the Bondi Icebergs Club.
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Next up on the team's travel itinerary will be a Wednesday morning flight from Sydney to Melbourne. The next city on the schedule will provide more opportunities for discovery as well as the team's second exhibition game.
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For several players, coaches and staff members with this year's team, foreign travel in the world of basketball is nothing new to them.
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Head coach Steve Alford knows the value that players gain from seeing the world. Not only did he bring his Iowa basketball team to Australia in the summer of 2003, but he took part in a five-country tour that lasted over one month in the summer of 1985 before his junior season at Indiana. That foreign trip included stops in Canada, Japan, China, Yugoslavia and Finland.
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More than 30 years later, now as UCLA's head coach, he has stressed to his players the importance of taking advantage of this time away from Los Angeles.
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"This is part of the process of going to college," Coach Alford said. "It's an exciting time for them. They know that, and we're hopeful that they're getting something very worthwhile from this experience."
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Assistant coach Ed Schilling, who attended the University of Miami in Ohio in the mid-1980s, had a similar experience while in college. Since graduating, however, his coaching career has included basketball-related visits all over the globe. Work with various U.S. teams and junior national programs have included stops in France, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel, the Philippines, China and portions of South America.
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"It's rewarding to see our guys be able to take a trip like this, because my experiences have taught me that basketball really is an international game," Schilling said. "It's not bound by language or location. That's truly great. There are so many things that these young men will be able to experience, globally, because of basketball."
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Global connections already extend to the team's current roster.
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G.G. Goloman (Hungary) and Ikenna Okwarabizie (Nigeria) both came to the United States while in high school. In addition, Thomas Welsh spent over one week in Crete, Greece, on the island of Cyprus last summer with the United States' under-19 team.
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Goloman arrived to the U.S. from his native country of Hungary in 2013. He attended The Sagemont School in Weston, Fla., as a senior before earning a scholarship to play basketball at UCLA. He moved to Westwood in the summer of 2014 and admits that his comfort level has substantially improved.
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"First of all, my English and ability to communicate has gotten so much better," said Goloman, who hails from Körmend, a Hungarian city near the border of Austria. "It's that much easier for me to get along with people now. I've become more familiar with Los Angeles, whether that's finding restaurants or other places to go in the city."
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His time away from home has also given him a changing perspective and increased gratitude for his native country.
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"I've really learned to appreciate where I'm from," Goloman said. "It has made me realize that I'm from a really nice place that has a lot more value than I thought it had when I was living there before."
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Welsh's involvement with the U-19 team last summer not only helped the 7-foot center earn a gold medal with the U.S. team, but he also developed an appreciation for the team bonding associated with such an overseas trip. Now entering his junior season, he expects this week will help bring this team closer.
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"It's such a great experience when you bring together a bunch of guys who have different backgrounds," said Welsh, a resident of Redondo Beach, Calif. "That's what you're going to see with our team here. We have a great freshman class coming in, and we have a lot of returners back. Time away from home like this is important for us. It will form bonds, on and off the court, that will help our team's chemistry."
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Schilling believes that this trip clearly will help the Bruins in the here and now, but the players will find increasing value in their Australia trip as they grow older. As a guard on the basketball team at Miami of Ohio in the 1980s, Schilling and his teammates spent time in Europe one summer.
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"Each year after the trip was done, it became a greater experience," Schilling said. "For these guys right now, they are doing their thing. But the experience will be so much more valuable for them as years go by. They'll look back and enjoy the camaraderie they developed on a trip like this."
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Tyus Edney echoed Schilling's sentiments.
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A standout guard for the Bruins from 1992-95, Edney returned as UCLA's Director of Operations in the fall of 2010 after four years in the NBA and over one decade playing pro basketball in Europe. Heading into his sophomore season at UCLA โ in the summer of 1992 โ Edney and the Bruins traveled to Italy on a foreign trip for about 10 days.
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"That trip really brought our team together," Edney said. "When you are in a place like that, and it's new for everybody, you're all hanging out together and you just have fun. There's a lot of bonding, a lot of jokes, different funny things that come out of the trip and it's just great for a team to do that."
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Now serving as the team's director of operations, Edney has twice had the chance to travel with the Bruins overseas โ China in 2012 and Australia in 2016. He's noticed parallels between all three trips.
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"I see some similarities in the way that they are bonding," Edney said. "I mean, you can't tell them that they're bonding, but you can see it. These guys are just touring the city, going out and exploring, that's all a great time that you wouldn't get in the States. It's a different feel when you are at home and you're back around everything that you know."
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Fans can keep track of the team's travels in Australia by following the team's social media channels in addition to uclabruins.com. Follow "UCLAMBB" on Twitter (@UCLAMBB), Instagram (UCLAMBB), Facebook (facebook.com/uclamensbasketball) and Snapchat (uclambb).
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