University of Toronto Athletics

June 3, 2008 - Hello!

So we've been really busy in the past two days. It started Monday morning when we were picked up to attend a puppet show and dance presentation by the Kainan students. It was really interesting to see the hand puppets and some of the North Americans went up and (attempted to) perform.

We then went and had a tour of the university, which is new and very beautiful. Kainan University is only nine years old there are about 10 000 full-time students. All of the buildings are extremely well built and designed of course with Feng Shui in mind.

In the afternoon, we had the tournament's opening ceremonies, which were pretty cool. We all paraded out onto the court, the President of the University and a couple other people spoke, and the crowd gave us all a good cheer. Afterwards, we played National Central University. We took at 17-0 lead off some strong all-around play, and then went on to win by about 25 points.

We were then fed and invited to Basketball Night, which was comprised of some amazing performances put on by the Kainan International Students, among others. Then, at the end of the night, each of the teams took a turn to perform their own act. The Blues were well represented by some wonderful dancing, which, to the crowd, was a highly comical routine.

After Basketball Night, we returned to the hotel and went to the pool/spa, which is absolutely gorgeous. One beautiful pool with a waterfall, two hot tubs, a jacuzzi, "floating baths", a steam room, massage chairs, and a whole lot more. It's one of the most relaxing facilities I've ever used.

The next day, we had an autograph and photo session at the University. There, we were really treated like rock stars! They had a table lined up with a pen and a bottle of water for each player. Crowds of students came and we signed autographs and posed for photos. Varsity Blue Nick Magalas is definitely a favourite amongst the Taiwanese
ladies, as he posed for more pictures then the rest of other basketball players combined! I'm pretty sure he was loving every minute of it, too.

We then were fed again and had our second game, this one against the National Chengchi University. Once again, we were helped by a strong team effort with everyone contributing and playing well. Justin Holmes had a strong shooting performance hitting five three-pointers, some of which were well behind the line. We played a good 40 minutes and ended up winning by about 35.

This evening, we headed to CARREFOUR, which is sort of like a giant department store/Costco combination. There was some pretty cool stuff there, including a Nike Outlet Store, which is always a favourite on our team. Some of the guys got some shirts and shoes and stuff, some of them looked for gifts for their significant others, and everyone left quite happy.

Overall, this has been a great experience so far. All of the Taiwanese have been SO nice to us, it's amazing. All of them are really interested to chat with us and learn about our culture, just as we are with them. It's pretty cool to meet so many new and different people, as well as have all of these unique experiences. Our whole team is very grateful that the Taiwanese have been so nice to us and accommodating as well. I can't begin to say enough nice things about the way they've treated us so far.

Anyways, tomorrow we play the host, Kainan University, in what should be a pretty good game. They've won their first two games and been playing pretty well so far in the tournament. I think it should be a good matchup and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

I'll write more after the game tomorrow. Hello to everyone back home, as well as a couple friends I have in England reading this, and Ni Hao to all of the Taiwanese people who are reading as well. I hope everyone is healthy and happy, and I'll see you all later!

Nick