Cuba Cultural and Basketball Trip An Amazing Experience
Education can come in many different forms. Every day, it’s a wonderful experience to learn something new. Life lessons can be taught in the classroom, sharing a coffee with a new roommate or in the heat of battle on the basketball court.
The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds have learned an awful lot this year as the squad continues to impress at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport level. A top 10-ranked team since pre-season and a force in the Atlantic University Sport conference has meant enormous learning experiences for a relatively young group of women under the direction of head coach Jeff Speedy.
It was Speedy who opted to explore something completely different when he went in search of a unique opportunity to further enhance this year’s version of the Varsity Reds. The UNB women, as tight knit unit as you’ll find anywhere, enjoyed something totally off the rails just prior to the Christmas break. The Varsity Reds assembled in Cuba for a cultural and educational exchange.
Although basketball was the common theme, there was so much more built into the excursion, a trip of a lifetime for many of the players. And for different reasons. During the trek to Cuba, the UNB contingent visited a local orphanage.
Talk about education.
With the availability of electronics, clothing, water and regular food supply at any given moment that many of us take for granted, some of the Varsity Reds were certainly taken aback during their time with the children.
Need an example? How about Jordanne Holstein? The third-year wing from Calgary was certainly moved by the experience of that visit. It was far from what she expected or anticipated.
“I’m honestly not a huge kid person to start with,” she said matter-of-factly, “but one of my favourite experiences from Cuba was our trip to the orphanage. By spending an afternoon with some amazing underprivileged kids changed me in a way. The kids were so trusting and positive. All they needed were hugs and some attention.”
It was indeed an opportunity to give those children some well deserved attention. “The girls spent time braiding our hair and the boys played baseball, basketball and soccer in the field,” Holstein said. “Saying goodbye to them wasn’t easy by any means. The whole experience just changed me. It’s difficult to exactly say how, but it did affect me.”
See? Education. The UNB crew did play basketball against a Cuban team. The Varsity Reds were paired with a local player to divide up and work on drills. Despite the language barrier, sport speaks a common theme.
“We didn’t speak a common language, but we could speak through basketball and still play the game together,” Holstein said. “I was paired with a girl named Diana and we exchanged e-mail addresses and gifts at the end of the week. I really enjoyed getting to know her and trying to communicate with her.”
As a group, the Varsity Reds were humbled during a visit through Old Havana, awed by the legendary beaches. And more.
“It was just a great basketball experience to be able one day walk through Old Havana, play with kids at an orphanage another and then compete against a foreign team,” said UNB’s Danielle Scime, a 2nd year guard from Hamilton, Ontario. “The experience allowed us to learn a lot about each other and understand our teammates in different ways. We were allowed to get the whole cultural package. A trip back there would be welcomed with open arms.”
It was certainly different coming home from Cuba, getting through the busy and hectic Christmas season and then back on the court to prepare for AUS action. Things obviously clicked. The VReds took a pair of games from Memorial University Seahawks in St. John’s, Nfld., and returned home to down the St. Mary’s University Huskies.
“The trip definitely helped us in some indirect ways to help us on the AUS court,” said Holstein. “We have one of the closest bonding teams I’ve ever been a part of and being together in a foreign country brought us even closer if that’s possible. Each activity allowed us to build even more trust which, in the end, builds a stronger team.”
All part of the learning process. Education comes in many forms, remember.