Our day today started at 8:45 AM with a walk to CQ university for our first lecture of the day from Dr. Glen Deakin on the Australian Aborigines and the importance of taking care of your body as an athlete. The Australian Aborigines have a lower life expectancy due to the remote nature of their culture, which included being further away from modern medicine. Australians prioritize physical health and exercise for people of all ages, while in the US sports mostly stop after the youth level. Some of the difficult living conditions for the Aborigines include the distance between populous areas. Whereas in the US you can drive between towns, the Aborigines have to fly helicopters to travel similar distances. Australia is also similar in size to the US, but the terrain is much more difficult, creating the population discrepancy. Similar to the major US sports teams, the major Australian leagues set up Aboriginal camps to try and find the next big athlete and face of the league.
The next presentation from Dr. Deakin was on the importance of cooling down after intense workouts. What you put into your body and how you treat it is as important as the training athletes do. The type of temperature you put your body in after a workout is extremely important. Athletes should try to be in the AC or cold baths after an intense workout. Dr. Deakin wrapped up the presentation by talking about how most workouts should be different and tailored to the specific athlete, weather, and altitude. Our next presenter was a motivational speaker, Mr. Paul Hockey. Mr. Hockey lost his right arm as a newborn and never let it stop him from achieving whatever he wanted. Whether it was karate, riding his motorcycle, or climbing Mount Everest he accomplished it all with only one arm. Mr. Hockey preached the importance of understanding the importance of one's perception and attitude. If Mr. Hockey had just accepted what other people thought or their attitudes towards him; he would have let his disability stop him from accomplishing his goals.
After the lectures, we had what was one of the highlights of the trip for me, visiting the Cairns Taipans basketball team’s practice facility. We started by walking through a hallway with pictures of the team award winners of the past 20 years consisting of many popular American college basketball players. Next, we had a presentation from media marketing manager Jasmine Amis. The presentation started with a background of the team and the players that have played for the program, most notably NBA champion Torrey Craig. The most recent signing for the Taipans is Miami's Sam Waardenburg, an enemy of Syracuse’s basketball team, and someone most of us have seen play live multiple times. The Taipans are the only professional sports team in all of Cairns, which is a warmer climate and a tourist hot spot. The entire front office department of the Taipans consists of only 7 people and they mostly work with the players. This is the complete opposite of the NBA where the front office staff completely outnumber the player staff. Each member of the Taipans front office has to be extremely versatile and take on multiple tasks simultaneously. Next, we had a presentation from Kerry Willaims on his career and hearing about all the giving back the Taipans do to the community. Kerry Williams is a former Taipans player that grew up in the Cairns area and understood the team's community and fans better than almost anyone. The Aboriginal Australian culture is extremely important to the Taipans and their surrounding community, one specific item is the custom Aboriginal jerseys. These jerseys incorporated original Aboriginal artwork and are used to raise awareness. After the presentations, I got the chance to watch some of the Taipans practice with coach Adam Forde and even got to participate in some of the drills. We then had our mini scrimmage after the players were done with the court. As a long-time former basketball player, I had a really good time getting to play on the NBL practice court. Professor Burton and Kerry Williams led one team with the girls and the guys were on the other team. Scoring on Professor Burton and Kerry was fun and the game got competitive even with the skill not being up to that of the NBL. Once we were all too tired from the game we went back upstairs to watch a documentary on Nathan Jawai, the first Aboriginal Australian to play in the NBA. We had exciting dinner plans, having booked a dinner cruise in the Cairns harbor. It was a calm ending to a fun and interesting day.
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