By JAMIE SHANKS, of the Weyburn Review
Among the many souvenirs Nicole Glab has of her trip to Cuba last month with the Weyburn Sr. Girls basketball team, one thing stands out from the rest.
It's a faded red crest torn from a school uniform - and it's probably worth more than anything else she brought back with her.
"It sure meant a lot," Glab said of the memento from one of the Cuban students who offered their visitors from Weyburn the only gift they were able to give. It came after the Eagles had presented their hosts with grab-bags of gifts from Canada following a basketball game at IPVC, a Havana-area high school.
"They were just so happy," Glab said, recalling how the Cubans expressed their gratitude moments later with an impromptu presentation of their own.
"They had ripped the school crests off their uniforms it was really special that they gave that to us."
Glab, eight of her teammates, four parents and coach Len Williams returned from their week-long trip on Feb. 24 with rave reviews about the experience.
"It was a fantastic trip," Williams said, describing his team's exemplary behaviour and the quality of the accommodations and their translator guide as well.
The team's first day in Cuba found them on the court in the Cuban Centre for Sport, a facility Williams described as "a huge basketball stadium with a great big picture of Che Guevara." While there, the Eagles participated in a practice session with the 18-member Cuban Junior National Olympic team which trains six days a week for three hours a day.
While running a variety of scrimmages and swapping players for games, the Eagles also met with the under-19 Havana Provincial Junior Team before eventually arranging an unscheduled game at IPVC.
Although a comprehensive school comprised of Grade 10-12 students, IPVC and its enrolment of several thousand students proved considerably larger than its Weyburn counterpart. Even so, the school's old and unkempt gym was equipped with only a single usable basketball, Williams said, and the official score sheet for their game was simply a looseleaf page torn from a notebook.
Despite the toll the Cuban economy has taken on such facilities, great value is placed on sport and athletics there.
"Sport is very important, but they obviously have a real elite system where they bring the best athletes from around the country and train them in Havana at schools for sport," Williams said, adding that his players developed a new appreciation for fundamentals, fitness and conditioning during their playing sessions with the Jr. Nationals and provincial teams.
"We had to work at 100 per cent to look like we were into it at all because they were very talented."
By picking up hitchhikers while they travelled cross-country in their tour bus, they also learned something about Cuban life outside of the arena, where doctors earn $14 U.S. a month and teachers make $10-$12 a month.
Glab, one of several players who kept a journal during the trip, was struck by many things about Cuba: the beautiful architecture of Old Havana, the blue-green waves at the beach, and the relaxed, outdoor atmosphere.
"I was really impressed when we first got there with the pace of their lives," she said - although playing basketball proved quite different.
"They would keep saying we had to 'speed up, speed up' because we were too slow for them."
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