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Costa Rica Diary Day Five
9/20/2006 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Dartmouth Men's Basketball
Costa Rica Day Five
Originally our team was supposed to visit a local orphanage, to take part in the grand opening of their new gymnasium. However, these plans changed at the last minute. Instead of visiting the orphanage, we traveled, along with Douglas College, to the Barrio Cristo Rey, a pretty rough part of town. Today was Dia Del Nino, or Costa Rica's Day for the Children. There was a large block party taking place in Cristo Rey, at the Association Obras del Espiritu Santo to celebrate the day for the children. When we arrived we led a few games for the kids and gave away various prizes to the ones who made a basket. After the games, the MC of the celebration had a member from each team address the crowd, and I was fortunate enough to be one of the speakers. I told the MC that I knew a little Spanish so he obviously thought it would be a good idea for me to give a small speech to the kids. All I could muster was "me gusta Costa Rica, y me gusta la gente de Costa Rica." (I like Costa Rica, and I like the people of Costa Rica). Pretty basic, but I got a good reaction.
After the speech the kids were allowed five minutes to get our autographs. These five minutes turned into a 45-minute mob scene. We were signing papers, shirts, arms, hands, pants, basically anything on which a pen could leave a mark. 15 minutes into the session Leon and Reggie were being hounded for their Dartmouth Basketball t-shirts; then they gave into the pressure. Once their shirts were in the hands of the kids, the rest of us followed suit. The kids not only wanted our shirts, but they wanted our bracelets, our watches and our shorts. Coach Hurd tried to give them his shirt, but they told him to put it back on. We were eventually able to get some space from the hundreds of kids to get our picture taken with the Mayor, or "Alcalde" of San Jose, Jonny Araya. We had to make our way back through the crowd on our way back to the bus. The many kids wanted to shake our hands, and some parents desperately wanted us to shake the hands of their young babies before we left. It's hard to put into words the experience we had today, but we were definitely seen as celebrities in this small community. Bringing a little excitement to their neighborhood was a one-of-a kind experience and it definitely left a very special mark on all of us.
Brian McMillan wasn't able to make this activity, however, because he was hard at work beating the coaches in a round of golf. Supposedly Coach Dunn had a little trouble remembering how many strokes he had accumulated and Brian wasn't hesitant in bringing this to his and the rest of our team's attention. Brian's reduction in minutes during our evening game was a direct consequence of making sure Coach played by the rules.
After our morning activities, we prepared to take on The University of Costa Rica. Being our fifth game in four days, we were pretty tired, but we managed to put UCR away, 68-51. It was especially tough for me to focus because I was very conscious of the fact that if our game didn't get over in time, I wouldn't be able to see the Ohio State - Texas football game. Thankfully we got back in time to see the Buckeyes put on an impressive performance, and I wasn't too distracted because I was able to hit a few threes as well. We also were graced with the presence of Mr. McPhaul, '78 once again at our game but this time he brought
along another Dartmouth grad. Connie Jones, '01 was in attendance at our game along with her husband Stephen Gonzalez. She is currently working at a local business school conducting research on political and economic issues in Costa Rica. Like I said before, it's always a great pleasure whenever Dartmouth alums are able to come see one of our games.
We had another very productive and exciting day and we look forward to another great day Costa Rica has to offer us tomorrow.
Costa Rica Day Five
Originally our team was supposed to visit a local orphanage, to take part in the grand opening of their new gymnasium. However, these plans changed at the last minute. Instead of visiting the orphanage, we traveled, along with Douglas College, to the Barrio Cristo Rey, a pretty rough part of town. Today was Dia Del Nino, or Costa Rica's Day for the Children. There was a large block party taking place in Cristo Rey, at the Association Obras del Espiritu Santo to celebrate the day for the children. When we arrived we led a few games for the kids and gave away various prizes to the ones who made a basket. After the games, the MC of the celebration had a member from each team address the crowd, and I was fortunate enough to be one of the speakers. I told the MC that I knew a little Spanish so he obviously thought it would be a good idea for me to give a small speech to the kids. All I could muster was "me gusta Costa Rica, y me gusta la gente de Costa Rica." (I like Costa Rica, and I like the people of Costa Rica). Pretty basic, but I got a good reaction.
After the speech the kids were allowed five minutes to get our autographs. These five minutes turned into a 45-minute mob scene. We were signing papers, shirts, arms, hands, pants, basically anything on which a pen could leave a mark. 15 minutes into the session Leon and Reggie were being hounded for their Dartmouth Basketball t-shirts; then they gave into the pressure. Once their shirts were in the hands of the kids, the rest of us followed suit. The kids not only wanted our shirts, but they wanted our bracelets, our watches and our shorts. Coach Hurd tried to give them his shirt, but they told him to put it back on. We were eventually able to get some space from the hundreds of kids to get our picture taken with the Mayor, or "Alcalde" of San Jose, Jonny Araya. We had to make our way back through the crowd on our way back to the bus. The many kids wanted to shake our hands, and some parents desperately wanted us to shake the hands of their young babies before we left. It's hard to put into words the experience we had today, but we were definitely seen as celebrities in this small community. Bringing a little excitement to their neighborhood was a one-of-a kind experience and it definitely left a very special mark on all of us.
Brian McMillan wasn't able to make this activity, however, because he was hard at work beating the coaches in a round of golf. Supposedly Coach Dunn had a little trouble remembering how many strokes he had accumulated and Brian wasn't hesitant in bringing this to his and the rest of our team's attention. Brian's reduction in minutes during our evening game was a direct consequence of making sure Coach played by the rules.
After our morning activities, we prepared to take on The University of Costa Rica. Being our fifth game in four days, we were pretty tired, but we managed to put UCR away, 68-51. It was especially tough for me to focus because I was very conscious of the fact that if our game didn't get over in time, I wouldn't be able to see the Ohio State - Texas football game. Thankfully we got back in time to see the Buckeyes put on an impressive performance, and I wasn't too distracted because I was able to hit a few threes as well. We also were graced with the presence of Mr. McPhaul, '78 once again at our game but this time he brought
along another Dartmouth grad. Connie Jones, '01 was in attendance at our game along with her husband Stephen Gonzalez. She is currently working at a local business school conducting research on political and economic issues in Costa Rica. Like I said before, it's always a great pleasure whenever Dartmouth alums are able to come see one of our games.We had another very productive and exciting day and we look forward to another great day Costa Rica has to offer us tomorrow.
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