August 19
Thanks everyone for reading! We made it home safe and sound and pretty tired. The trip was a great experience for all of us and I can honestly say we have a unique group of guys and we can’t wait for the season to start!
August 15 - Wow. Lots of things to report! We have been traveling all around this awesome country and I haven’t found a free moment to keep you updated until now!
Not long after we fell asleep, we got a call from the front desk at 5:30 to get up and go whitewater rafting. We crammed into two small buses (Nelms was actually pretty comfortable) and headed to our destination. We ate a huge breakfast, caked on sunscreen, and headed up the mountain to start the rafting adventure. After a brief training session that nobody listened to, we headed right into class 4 rapids. If you don’t know what that is, look it up and marvel at the fact that we all survived.
In my opinion this was the most beautiful part of our trip. We were floating down a rocky freshwater river through a rainforest and enormous canyons. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unless, of course, we go again.
August 14
Today was a day dedicated entirely to our final game. Well, almost. We had a beach morning and left the resort at noon to travel to San Ramon, which is the hometown of our tour guide, Michael. Needless to say, his service was a conflict of interest. We stopped at a sugar cane farm to try some sugar juice and take pictures, and spent the rest of the day traveling to San Ramon to play their professional team.
San Ramon’s gymnasium was much bigger than Liberia’s. They had more stands and even a boxing ring. The court was more of the same, so we tried not to change direction too many times, which is counter to the game of basketball. Nevertheless, we won the game 62-45. Aubrey Rose was the MVP once again for keeping stats for us. She didn’t record turnovers, so I assume there were none. Bryce Dolan and Pat Sodemann both had 9 apiece, Joel Pennington and Andrew Ziemnik had 8 each, Victor Davis and myself had 6 each, Eric Dortch II had 5, Mike Mayberger and Brian Nelms had 3, Dylan Overstreet and Danny Roadman had 2 each, and Brady Zimmer had 1.
Altogether, all of our games were truly a team effort. The scoring was very even between players and positions, and we were 3-0. This is a fun group of guys to play with and an even more fun group to goof around with. That may be our biggest motivation to win: so our shenanigans can be justified.
After the game, we went to our tour guide Michael’s favorite restaurant in town and met his wife and new baby boy. We were very thankful to have Michael with us this whole trip.
We made it back to Aloft Hotel in San Jose about midnight.
August 13
We finally got a day to sleep in; most likely because it was a game day. As far as activities, there was not much new to report since we spent all our time at the beach. We are so tan now!
Our game was in Liberia. We played Liberia’s professional team in their home gym. The floors in Costa Rica basketball gyms are cherry-stained hardwood that would look nice in anyone’s home, but not necessarily the best surface to play on. The rims were about 9’8” so we were all dunking in warm-ups except for Nelms.
In spite of the bizarre conditions, we won 65-45. Thanks to Aubrey Rose, I am able to provide you all with some stats. Thankfully, Aubrey only kept track of the most important statistic: points. Brady Zimmer led the way with 12, followed by Victor Davis with 10, Pat Sodemann and Randy Azuogo with 7 each, Joel Pennington with 6, Andrew Ziemnik, Mike Mayberger, and Brandon Heyen all had 5, Eric Dortch aka E.D. Super Producer had 4, and Dylan Overstreet, Brian Nelms, and myself all had 2.
August 12
Today we left Arenal National Park after breakfast to head to Flamingo Beach Resort. It was time we finally saw whether or not this Costa actually was Rica.
This place was gorgeous! Our resort was basically an open-air hotel with a giant swimming pool a few steps away from the beach. We spent the rest of the day body surfing and playing pool volleyball.
August 11 - Sorry for the delay everyone! We have had quite an adventurous couple days and spotty internet access.
IT’S ZIPLINE TIME!
First thing in the morning, we headed to our canopy zipline adventure. We took our 10 minute ride to the top of the mountain, which was apparently too scary for Coach Rose, because he chickened out immediately after we got our equipment.
Ziplining was a huge rush. We were essentially flying at about 1200 feet going roughly 50 miles an hour. Z was so scared he started crying before each zlipline. We got to do seven different lines. I actually think Coach Rose made the right decision not to go. He would not have represented the Titans well in that situation.
After ziplining, we went into the town of Arenal and explored. We made friends with the stray dogs, ate lunch at a hotel/casino/barbecue/pizzeria in a building the size of a Dairy Queen, and drank about a gallon of water apiece.
When we returned to the resort we spent the rest of the time in the pool as expected.
August 10
We got up quite early for a long bus ride to our next resort at the Arenal National Park. On the way, we stopped at a shop where ox carts and other hand-made and hand-painted wood art were made. The processes to make everything were intricate and the finished products looked incredible. It takes about two weeks to make a table using their process, but it is clearly worth it.
After Danny got his $800 rocking chair packaged to send home and the bill on the way to his parents, we were on our way again. We were making great time until we rounded a corner a bit too fast and broke an axle under the bus. I don’t want to play the blame game, but it was entirely Heyen’s fault. He gained too much weight in the offseason. We were told another bus would be where we were in an hour, but we had to climb the giant hill we were on to a restaurant to wait.
This restaurant was very happy to have us, but quite unprepared. After an hour of waiting for my fish, I settled for the chicken parmesan they brought out by mistake. We scarfed everything down as fast as possible so we could finally get to a pool.
Eventually, we made it! The Arenal volcano is exactly what you picture in your mind as what a volcano looks like and every place in the resort had a beautiful up close view. If it were to explode, we would have just enough time to do absolutely nothing.
We spent the rest of the day in the many pools at our resort, all filled with natural hot spring water. I took a moment to relish the fact that I will never be back to a place as nice as this again.
August 9
Hello friends, family, and NBA scouts,
Today we awoke bright and early to get ready for our adventure to the Poas volcano. We enjoyed a traditional hotel breakfast complete with gallo pinto, Costa Rica’s famous delicious rice and beans dish.
In order to pass the time on the bus drive up the mountain, Vic plugged in his techno playlist and we had our first ever moving dance party. Joel has the liveliest attitude and best moves on the team by far.
We made several stops on the way up the mountain, sampling strawberries, coffee and other Costa Rican staple crops. Don’t worry everyone, there is 100% pure coffee coming your way.
The volcano was absolutely humbling. We didn’t realize how big the crater was until we spotted some volcanologists at the bottom, who looked like ants from our perspective. The crater was full of a milky acidic liquid and constantly spewing smoke. Our view was often obscured by clouds that literally passed through us. I can’t even make any jokes about the experience; that is how beautiful it was. Of course, things became a little scary when Pat got reckless and fell in the volcano.
Next we went to a crater lake on the same mountain that was created by rainwater. We were too far away to swim, but it looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. The couple mile journey it took to get everywhere on the mountain was even more exhausting because of the altitude. Altogether, the experience was awesome.
Several of the locals were quite impressed with our height, and we graciously offered to take pictures with them. It’s not every day you get the chance to meet a Division III basketball player—excuse me; “student athlete.”
Our game was at 8 at night. Good thing we left at 6, because we were traveling in a bus through town for over an hour, weaving through traffic like a video game. The bus barely fit on the road.
Fortunately, we made it to the gym in time. I don’t even know where to begin to describe this place. It was essentially a tin barn with a concrete floor. There was a pickup soccer game going on until our tip-off time. During warm ups, Randy was actually attacked by a bat at half court. Yes, folks, our game was basically outside.
We were clearly out of our element in this setting, but we ended up winning the game 88-53. If our math is correct, we hit 17 3-pointers. The Costa Rican team was a great group of guys that were extremely fast.
After the game, we stayed in uniform and walked to the bar next door to the gym-barn and started dancing. The crowd loved us, especially Brady, who edged his way in with a couple toward the end of the dance session.
Tomorrow, we are taking the bus to the coast where we will check in to our next destination.
August 8
Hello everyone and thanks for reading! It is with great pleasure that I will be reporting the daily activities, facts, and inside information as the Titans spend the next week in Costa Rica.
We arrived at Chicago’s lovely O’Hare Airport at about four in the morning. Our physical bodies were present, but mentally we were nowhere to be found. However, it was no surprise seeing Coach Rose wide awake and chipper as if we were about to have practice. What is his secret? Tons of caffeine? An ancient meditative art to ensure around the clock vigilance? I like to think it’s simply the thought of spending any given second with our charming personalities.
The flights went smoothly. Our first flight landed in Miami, the home of the NBA Champion Heat and LeBron James. I couldn’t help but realize that spending time in a city of champions may be foreshadowing for our season, and LeBron agreed with me. He’s just another example of our Titan followers around the world. He politely picked up the tab at Chili’s-to-go and wished us luck.
Our next flight was from Miami to San Jose. Brian Nelms once claimed that 97% of Earth is covered by water. Looking out the window and seeing only the Atlantic Ocean, I thought to myself, “Wow. Brian might actually be right for the first time in his life.” Then I quickly came to my senses and realized he was still wrong as usual.
We made camp at our first destination, Aloft Hotel, in Santa Anna, just a few miles away from the heart of San Jose. We went out to look for some local food, and naturally stumbled upon a 1950’s style American diner for burgers and milkshakes.
As we wandered the streets looking for friends and mostly for trouble, we were thankful to have Rob “Pablo” Mahlke to translate for us. Rob’s South American heritage came in handy as we walked through local stores. Don’t worry; Santa Anna has all of the fast food amenities to which we have become accustomed. KFC even has a statue of Colonel Sanders, may he rest in peace.
Dinner was at the hotel’s brand new restaurant. The grand opening, in fact. We enjoyed salad, potatoes, pasta, rice, chicken, and beef with strawberry juice to drink. It was essentially liquid Starburst. After dinner, the owner of the restaurant popped a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate the restaurant’s first customers.
We spent the rest of the night in the hotel resting up for the 6:30 wake up call.
Check back here from August 8-16 to read senior Nick Anderson's reports from the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball trip to Costa Rica.
