The Tour, by Tim Shea

Many Americans tend to think that embarking on a European tour would be an amazing, enchanting, glamorous, and thrilling life adventure JUST AS IT was a dream for this young man from a quaint town named Rockaway Beach, NY. You will be traveling to explore Italy, France, and Spain, all expenses covered as you take on the role of the new Head Coach for the Winston All Stars, under Dr. Luciano ""Lucky"" Capicchioni of San Marino and the Interperformance agency for basketball players and coaches. You will engage in your passion, traveling through this new land. Discovering these countries, cultures, people, languages, cuisine, cities, and attractions. Plus, you will be earning a salary! The travel plan is already arranged - In Italy, you will visit Porto San Giorgio, San Remo, and Rimini. You will also spend some time in Paris, France. In Spain, you will go to Madrid, Valencia, and then Galicia. Among other activities, you will participate in exhibition games against the Spanish National Team, led by the renowned Head Coach Antonio Diaz Miguel and his loyal, long-time assistant Josep Lluís i Cortés, along with long list of talented players like Fernando Romay, Fernando Martín, Epi, Solozobal, Sibilio, and others. While in Italy, you will compete against the former Yugoslavian National Team, coached by Božidar ""Boža"" Maljković, featuring players like Aza and younger brother Drazen Petrovic (RIP), Divac, and others. We will also have exhibition matches against the Russian National Team, showcasing talents such as Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marciulionis, and Alexander Volkov on the court. Eventually, we will face club teams like OAR of Ferrol of Juan Fernandez (who extended my very first coaching offer in Spain). Our ""Tour Team"" will include some remarkable American talent, with one of the standout players being Kenny Simpson, who went on to achieve everything possible with FC Barcelona. Yet, the dream occasionally morphed into a nightmare. It wasn't all smooth sailing! It was a relentless cycle of long bus rides, practices, game days, and un-luxurious hotels. Our meal times were often irregular along with the daily schedules. The player list shifted from day to day, sometimes even minute to minute, as some of the anxious players signed contracts after playing with us, only to have a new player arrive in the next town to take their spot—often not one who played the same position as the one dearly departed. It turned out that we would have a ""roster"" consisting of seven shooting guards, one playmaker, no pivots, and three big forwards. And naturally our boss Luciano Capicchioni, better known as ""Lucky"", expected us to win! The case was that everyone was on the hunt for a job and eager to showcase their skills for the entire game of 40 minutes - which resulted in one thing... chaos. (I also needed to secure a job). Our winning games, naturally, would be beneficial, and a method to achieve that HAD TO BE DISCOVERED! I shifted from being a Coach to the role of Sheriff, which led me to one fundamental, golden rule becoming my/the law. I commanded; ""If you put forth the best defense you can, then you will earn your minutes."" It worked. They accepted it, and while we didn't win every game against those impressive National Teams, we represented ourselves admirably. We played with determination. Many of them found employment. Kenny Simpson in Spain, along with the Allen brothers are just a few examples. I did too. So I can in hindsight say. Thank you Winston All Stars. Thank you Lucky Capicchioni . (RIP) There are plenty of stories to share, and I can mention a few here. • The Yugoslavian National Team was quite formidable, and we had some intense and contested matches with them in southern Italy. It was also the first time we encountered a very tall, slender, pimple-faced 17-year-old who traveled with them. His name was Toni Kukoč, and he even played a few minutes against us on occasion. • One scorching summer day in Rimini, while observing one of their practice sessions (learning from Coach Boža), it ended with a long-distance shooting challenge between Drazen Petrovic and his older brother Alexander (Aza). From six different spots on the perimeter, Asa took a total of fifty shots, making 46 of them! Drazen, chatting the whole time and with that special sparkle in his eyes, took the same number of shots and scored 47. Aza remarked that, ""I let you win."" That's how brothers are. • During our numerous games against the Yugoslavian team in and around Italy, we shared the same bus. The backrows were filled with all the American players, while the front was occupied by the Yugoslavian group. We traveled along many winding, backcountry Italian roads after early morning departures. And there was always a persistent, irritating and disturbing sound coming from the back of the bus. Besides the occasionally loud music, every time we hit a curve or changed speed, there was this nerve-wracking noise of empty, glass bottles rolling around and clashing together on the bus floor. Yes, surprise, there were professional American players on tour, looking for jobs, who drank beers for breakfast. •And one fine day we were searching for a restaurant in southern Italy where we had planned to take a lunch break. Our bus driver took some time to look around and retrace our route several times until we eventually arrived at what appeared to be a closed ""restaurant"". After a long wait for the front door to open, we single-filed in through a narrow corridor only to find ourselves in a dim, stuffy, and quite unappetizing room with three long tables covered in paper napkins. It was, and I assure you no exaggeration, swarming with hundreds of large, black, and noisy flies that, as it turned out, seemed to know something we didn't, because as soon as those two elderly waiters began to serve our meals on those long tables, all those flies escaped the room. Unforgettable. In the end there were both good days and bad days. The Winston All Star tour team was never a stable force. As previously mentioned, we experienced departures, such as our top pivot, affectionately known as (Pink)Floyd Allen, who left to join CAI Zaragoza, only to be replaced the following week by a Point Guard! There were moments when we played like a formidable team capable of defeating the Yugoslavian National Team, yet just two days later, we would perform as if we had smoked a pack of Winstons daily or played like a wheelbarrow with a flat wheel. In the end I like to think that it made me a better coach and person and that it taught me everything I need to know about Italian flies.