The University of Dayton men's basketball team is three days into its 11-day, four-game European exhibition tour.
Today the Flyers posted a video of Luke Fabrizius' comments after UD's win over the Dutch U23 team:
Additionally, members of the team are writing
player diaries during the team's trip to Europe. Here are three
entries that have been written so far:
BRIAN VONDERHAAR (Aug 9)
We arrived in Amsterdam around 11:45 pm, which would have been 5:45 AM
our time back in Ohio. We then hopped on a bus and immediately stopped
off to see a small town / village to see the windmills. The weather
here in the Netherlands is surprisingly chilly and windy, which helps to
power the windmills for various tasks (sewing, churning cheese, etc.).
After that, we checked into our hotel and we all took a nap because of
the lack of sleep on the plane. I am rooming with Matt Kavanaugh. For
dinner, Kav, Mitch, Fab, Alex, JP, CJ and I walked to a pizza / pasta
bar. We learned very quickly that it is not cheap here! The average
price for an entrée is about 10 Euros (just over $14). After dinner we
walked around downtown Amsterdam to see the city and the canals. It is a
nice city, however it is a little dangerous walking around due to the
bike paths. They blend in with the sidewalks and the people use bikes
as a major source of transportation. These bikes stop for nothing and
have frequently hollered at us to get out of their way.
MATT KAVANAUGH (Aug 9-10)
Upon landing in Amsterdam, I immediately recognized several cultural
differences while being in the airport alone! Walking around on the
first day was definitely fun. Day two was another very fulfilling day
starting with the Anne Frank House. It was amazing to actually be in
the same rooms where those eight people had to cram together and hide
for over two years. I could not imagine anything that horrid happening
during my lifetime. My teen years were some of the best years of my
life so far and I just cannot imagine what Anne Frank and her family had
to go through. From there we walked back to the hotel to rest up for
the game. We started out slow in the first half, but picked up the
intensity in the second and won 70 to 66. Now it is dinner time and
then we will walk around to take in Amsterdam for awhile, then it is to
bed.
JOSH PARKER (Aug 10)
This has been a very exciting day for us…well I know for me it has! To
start it off, we went to the Anne Frank House. Having read the Diary of
Anne Frank, it was very interesting to me to actually see the house
they lived in and hid inside for over 700 days. It was amazing and sad
to see the way they lived and how they survived for the amount of time
they did. My favorite part of the house was seeing Anne’s room. Her
room was extremely small and she tried to decorate it to make it feel
more home-like even though it was truly a hiding space. All of the
pictures she clipped and put on the wall were still there and it was
interesting to see. I really enjoyed my visit. Additionally, our first
game here was fun and interesting. There are many different rules
compared to our rules in the U.S. including timeouts, calls…everything
seemed different! I really enjoyed playing with the guys.
Sounds like the team is taking in the sites and having a great time- any recommendations of places they should visit in Amsterdam, Belgium or France?
Be sure to follow the team as they continue their trip on
www.daytonflyers.com
