*Editor’s Note: The Valparaiso men’s basketball team is taking a foreign tour trip to The Bahamas this summer. Sophomore guard Rakim Chaney is journaling his and the team’s experiences for Mid-Major Madness.
What’s going on, everybody? My name is Rakim Chaney. I am a sophomore on the Valpo men’s basketball team, and I will be updating you guys this week each day throughout our trip here in Nassau, The Bahamas.
Saturday, we left Valpo early around 7 a.m. and got to the O’Hare Airport to check in and begin boarding for our flight. We arrived in Nassau around 3 p.m. and headed to our hotel at the Baha Mar Resort.
We took our first few minutes to check in our bags and into our rooms before meeting each other in our team room to go over the general Baha Mar rules and our team rules for the trip. After the meeting, a few other guys and I checked out the Pizza Pub Restaurant in the resort, and it was pretty good.
We then got a chance to check out some parts of the resort, and I went to go spend some time with my family who drove down the street from their hotel.
On Sunday morning, before we had a good preparation practice for our first game, we all met to go eat breakfast at the Regatta restaurant. Most of the guys rushed to the French toast stand, which was really good, but I think most of our favorites were the fruit stand, which included dragon fruit along with some natural juices as well. It felt good to try some new fruits, juices, and other dishes that we don’t see a lot in our country, let alone in Valpo.
We practiced for about an hour and a half after breakfast and immediately headed over to another gym to begin our community engagement event with the Rev Foundation. This was a phenomenal experience for me personally to be able to interact with kids who are in the same shoes I once was in when I was their age.
As soon as we laced up our shoes, they began checking the ball up and trying to play against every Valpo player 1-on-1. So after Coach [Roger Powell Jr.] taught them a few things about his career experience and different life exposure, we had the opportunity to spend time with them to run them through a few drills for 20 minutes, where we let them compete against each other before wrapping up the event.
We ended our night off with a good catered dinner, which included salmon, grilled chicken, rice, mashed potatoes, veggies, and salad options for our sides.
I will make sure to keep you guys updated and catch you up on Tuesday after our second game against Dalhousie!
