Diary Series: Jay Price, Asst. Coach - Illinois

I am very excited to be participating in the College Chalktalk Nat'l Coaches' Diary Series again. It is an honor to be able to give some insight and behind the scenes access to the Fighting Illini basketball team. I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

The actual 2011-12 Fighting Illini basketball season started in the middle of the summer. Once every four years the NCAA allows for a foreign trip and thanks to the great support of our administration we have always be able to take the trip. While it is very helpful for the team, it is also very educational for the players. Most of them have never been out of the country, and most may never get to again. This is what makes it special.

The NCAA allows for 10 practice days. We spread these out over 2 months. Talk about having days off in between! The only problem was that our freshmen thought that we would practice 2 days in a row and then have a week off during the season. We had to inform them that was not the case! (Ha Ha) In all seriousness, these practice lay the foundation for the upcoming season and allow the freshman to get ahead of the game. Our entire team did an outstanding job in these practices and I felt it helped get us off on the right foot.

The trip we took was to Italy. It is such a great bonding experience for our players. To be in a foreign country you have to count on each other to get around and that may be the absolute best part of a foreign tour. The trip gives the players a chance to know each other better, the coaches a chance to know the players better and the players getting to see the coaches in a different light.

One of the best parts of the trip was the bus rides. We took a lot of LONG bus rides. The buses themselves are great. There are a few interesting things about them though. One interesting thing about our bus was the driver-Fabio. He was awesome, but there were a few problems. One, they do not unlock the restrooms... EVER. So you had to wait until a rest stop. And second the bus never went below 80 degrees it seemed. We asked and asked and asked for the air condition to be turned on but it never happened, until of course the tenth day of our trip when we headed to the airport at 5:30 AM and voila the bus was freezing!  It must have been the language barrier.

There were some other interesting things that happened. Like the time when all the players were at the top of the leaning tower of Pisa and they were going to take a picture. Ibby Djimde threw his arms in the air and almost knocked one of our players off the tower. Or the boat ride in Lake Como. We were able to see beautiful houses, such as George Clooney’s, Richard Branson and the late Versace home, but the most interesting part of the ride was when freshman Myke Henry took over driving the boat! I held on as tight as I could.

I do want to thank the NCAA. They approved for us to play West Virginia in a half of basketball on the Aviano NATO base. We were able to put on a clinic for the children of people stationed in Europe. An Illini family flew in all the way from Germany to attend the clinic and the game. The Illini nation stretches worldwide. Former volleyball player Beth Vrdsky is stationed there so we were greeted with a familiar face off the (hot) bus. We then played a quarter against the Base team. That was a special experience for all of us. These men and women protect us every day and it was an honor to play against them and before them.

I look forward to many more of these and I am very excited about our team this year. Please follow me on Twitter @coachjayprice and if you have any questions or suggestions for topics in this blog please send them along.

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