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9/17/02 Coach JD Walsh: 'I recently returned from China and I wanted to share a bit about the trip. First off there were countless number of basketball coaches and people in the community who gave me much love and help, I am not certain who would like their name mentioned so I will refrain but you know who you are. Thank you, and we could not have done this without you. I would like to thank Bobby Hulford and Hospos CC , St. Johns U for gym time and the China Institute for the culture class. My partner, Ted Oberg (Girls coach SJB HS) recently selected to groups to tour China and compete against the China National, Jr. Team. I will urge Ted to write about the girls National Elite Team and the St. John the Baptist Girls team we brought over.
The Boys team competed against the China National Jr. Team in three cities continued on to play the Jinin Provence team and were honored to be the first foreign team ever to compete in the China National, Jr. Finals in Beijing. In all we traveled to 5 major cities in China; Beijing, Chengde City, Tangshan, Hengshui, Jinin.
I would like to thank the kids for their effort as they played like warriors and represented our country, teams and family's well. National Elite All-Star Team included: Darryl 'Showtime' Hill, SJU, Donald Copeland, Seton Hall, Ed Turner, UPITT, Frank Russell, Hampton U, Juan Diego Palacious, Oumar Sylla, Konimba Diarra (Our Savior New American), Donald Brown SJB-St Thomas More, Kevin Spaan, SJB and Dante Milligan, Trinity Pawing School. I was the head coach of the team, and my assistants were, my father Greg Walsh, Frank Tirico, and Ron Stelzer (Our Saviour). Also special thanks to team team manager Marat Kogat (SJU) and team moms, Pat Tirico, and Patricia Walsh.
There are not enough good thing things I can say about each kid however, the standout player was Darryl Hill, as most of the games were nationally televised to an audience of over 100 million people on CCTV, he became a big star. Every reporter would ask me about 'num- ba 1 sho tyme' he lit the Chinese with dazzling dunks and scored at will for about 30 game. The CBA actually wanted to offer him a contract to stay. All the guys on our team were great kids and they played great together, Beijing TV put a 5 minute hi lite film together that was replayed on the news several times. The team went 5-3, losing 2 of the games to the China National, Jr. Team (questionable officiating first two --we then came back to beat them by 29 a day later) and one to the Iran national team. Big Xu, a famous TV reporter (Like Marv Albert of China) who attended 2 games and the New Star Camp, he had nothing but compliments about our players claiming how much the Chinese people enjoyed watching the 'American Style' of basketball. The basketball atmosphere in China was great we played to big sell out crowds who were very friendly and cheered both teams. The youth of China was especially very receptive to our team as we put on a clinic for the orphan kids in Jilin and in Tangshan.Outside of playing the kids really bonded and did a lot of sightseeing including; the Emperors Palace, the Great Wall, Black Markets in Beijing, Tienamen Square and the Hengshui Earthquake museum. Although I think they would agree, one of the best pictures was of the guys smiling when we finally found a McDonalds. All and all it was a wonderful experience for everybody.
After the kids returned back to the states, my company SAIS (Sino-American International Sports) conducted a basketball camp with the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) for Chinese kids and coaches clinic at the Beijing University of Physical Education and the Capital University of Sports in Beijing. The New Star camp was a great success becuase of the efforts of all our coaches. A special thanks to Speedy Claxton (Spurs) for making an appearance and Jim Todd (Former Head Coach, LA Clippers). I had never met Jim before, but his reputation as a great guy and tireless worker is well earned. He worked much longer and harder than we asked him to. The success of the 5 day camp and coaches clinic can be attributed to the daily energy and enthusiasm by the staff members. All the coaches did a great job! The coaching class clinic was visited by the top coaches in China and interpreted by Wang Pei, former Olympic and National team coach, an amazing guy who is the TV broadcaster for China television NBA finals past 6 years. Coaches included: Cliff Warren (G-Tech), Mark Calzonetti (Monmouth U), Debbie Bradjevich (Silver Bullets), Tim Maloney (U. Florida) Sandra VanEmbricqs (LA Sparks), Adam Ginsburg (Northeastern U) Tony Parker (Illinois), Head Camp Coach, Sonny Parker (Fmr. GS Warriors, Sonny Parker Foundation, Chicago), Jerry Smith (Fmr. West Islip) and Jane Smith,(Camp Nurse). Also thank you to Ira Miller (former CK) for helping out.
We are hoping to continue this exchange for years to come.
Lastly, in our travels we met various HS in China who had interest in coming to the US to play exhibition games and sightsee, etc., if any coaches, teams or programs are interested, please feel free to email me and we can try to arrange something. My email address is jdwalsh@sinoamericanintl.com.'
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