June 21, 2007

By Charlene Curtis
TheACC.com

Okay, college hoop season doesn't officially get started again until the middle of October, but for some of us it never ends. As such, I am writing a few articles this summer to help keep you abreast of the "off-season" world of ACC basketball.

While naysayers claim that collegiate athletics is looking more like "big business," ACC schools continue to prove that college athletics is still an extension of the higher educational experience. Our society has become more global in its reach, and ACC women's basketball is doing its part to connect its student-athletes to that global community. Here is a sampling of the "Global ACC."

Travel Abroad
ACC teams often spend part of their summer vacations visiting and competing abroad. Maryland won the 2006 NCAA Championship then traveled that summer to four European countries. The Virginia Tech Hokies went "down under" during the summer of 2004 and will tour Italy in the summer of 2008. Florida State spent time in Italy during the summer of 2005.

Most recently, Virginia's team completed a 10-day tour of Senegal and the Canary Islands last month. Before the trip, Cavalier head coach Debbie Ryan said, "This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience." After the trip, Ryan described it as "life-changing."

The Cavaliers had a choice - visit the popular tourist spots of Italy or one of the most depressed regions of Africa - Dakar, Senegal. Ryan made the decision. It would be Dakar, Senegal. She chose the experience. She chose the region of Africa that is not on most tourist stops. The team's plane to Dakar was continuing on to Johannesburg. As Ryan prepared to depart in Dakar, a passenger asked her if she was mistakenly getting off at the wrong stop. The only people to depart the plane in Dakar were with the Virginia travel party.

Dakar, the capital of Senegal and one of the chief seaports on the western African coast, is a place where farm animals roam the streets. "Goats were on top of buses," Ryan said. "The players enjoyed the people - happy people who had very little."

Is it "big business" or is it higher education? Virginia's Sharnee Zoll unknowingly answered that question in her daily journal. "This trip has been an amazing one for me... We got to see how fortunate we all are and how we complain about the small things. We think they're big in our life, but they're really miniscule in the game of life."

The "House of Slaves," located on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal, was a holding area and transfer point for human cargo during the slave trade. In a video on the Virginia Website, junior Lyndra Littles spoke from the heart when talking about her experience at the House of Slaves. "As an African-American, you have to get back to your roots. You have to get back to your culture. It's something you have to know. (The experience of visiting Goree Island) was very eye-opening. You can't help but get emotional... It's very different from reading the book or having a professor or teacher talk to you about it than actually being there."

Watch the complete video coverage from Virginia's summer trip at www.virginiasportstv.com.

International Players
Look at the team rosters. Boston College led the way during the 2006-07 season with four players whose hometowns are outside the United States. The most recognizable name is All-ACC performer Kathrin Ress from Salorno, Italy. Drafted by the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, Ress is now teammates with Duke's Lindsey Harding and NC State's Tiffany Stansbury. Eagles' head coach Cathy Inglese says that her international players like Ress have all been very conscientious about doing well on the court and in the classroom. They bring a certain level of maturity and experience to the collegiate environment because most "have already lived away from home and have traveled extensively."

Another international player on the Eagles' roster is Kaydia Kentish, a native of Kingston, Jamaica. Inglese recruited Kentish from Tallahassee Community College and had not had the opportunity to meet Kaydia's family and conduct a "home visit" during the recruiting process. So, Inglese is traveling to Kingston, Jamaica this summer to visit with the Kentish family.

I caught up with Inglese during a layover of one of her flights to Jamaica. She said that it is important for her to see and know the community that raised her players. To know the families, to know the community, to know the environment in which her players grew up helps her to be able to "coach the whole person."

International Competition

Abby Waner/Duke, Coach Joanne P. McCallie/Duke, Laura Harper/Maryland, and Crystal Langhorne/Maryland

Note the number of ACC players who have competed for or against the United States in international competition. Virginia's Aisha Mohammed played for Nigeria in the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championships. Unfortunately, a knee injury in the World Championships kept Mohammed off the court for her inaugural season in a Cavalier uniform. We'll all have to wait for fall practices to see Mohammed in action.

Go to the USA Basketball Website (www.usabasketball.com/women/) and check out the rosters for the USA Basketball summer teams. The ACC is well-represented with finalists on rosters for the U19 and the U21 World Championship teams in addition to the Pan American Games team.

National Team Coaching
ACC coaches even take time out of their busy summer schedules to coach USA teams competing in international competition. Virginia's Debbie Ryan, North Carolina's Sylvia Hatchell, Boston College's Cathy Inglese, and NC State's Kay Yow have all spent time in previous summers coaching USA Basketball teams.

This summer, Duke's new coach, Joanne P. McCallie, will be at the helm of the U21 World Championship Team that will compete in Moscow, Russia, June 29-July 8. McCallie coached the U20 team to a 5-0 record and a Gold medal during the 2006 FIBA Americas U20 Championship. Duke junior guard, Abby Waner, is a finalist on the U21 team and could get a head start playing for her new coach this summer.

The pride of representing the USA in international competition heads the list of why coaches and players choose to spend their summers wearing the red, white & blue. McCallie explained, "It's always been a childhood dream to represent our country. I am very taken with the concept of international competition and coaching the best of the best against the best internationally."

The adversities often faced when traveling and competing on the international stage help players and coaches alike to grow. McCallie said, "The challenges faced on these trips are often humorous, yet to overcome them is the greatest reward." And she is "amazed at the excitement and sophistication" of how players not yet 21 years of age handle the challenges of global travel and competition. Hopefully, coach McCallie and the U21 Team will successfully navigate the international waters and bring home the Gold.

To hear Virginia forward Lyndra Littles get philosophical and emotional when discussing the slave trade of Goree Island is what "Global ACC" is all about. Whether it is international players participating on ACC rosters, ACC players competing and traveling with USA Basketball teams, ACC coaches sharing their time and expertise to lead USA Basketball teams, or teams like Virginia traveling outside their comfort zones to learn, explore, share, and compete, this is ACC Basketball.

Charlene Curtis is a women's basketball analyst for Fox Sports Net and ESPNU. She is a former head coach at Wake Forest, Temple, and Radford and was an assistant at Virginia, Georgetown, and Connecticut. She also served as an assistant with the WNBA's Charlotte Sting and several USA Basketball Teams. When not analyzing the game, Curtis can be found instructing future collegiate players on the hardwood.

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