Noche de Basquet

On Friday night we planned a crazy event.... For our monthly outreach, Randy invited all of his basketball teams to an entire night of Basketball! The festivities were to began around 8pm and last until 6am the next morning. The night was full of fun and adventure, but of course many things did not go as planned. First, when we arrived at the gym to set up we realized that the gym had been double booked and we wouldn't have the court until 10pm. This wouldn't have posed much of a problem because there was another court outside that we could use to keep ourselves occupied until the indoor court was available. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived, the rain began. It was raining harder than I've ever seen it rain in Bolivia. The roof of the gym just happened to be made out of tin as well, so... as you can imagine, the rain created an incredibly loud racket in the facility. The players slowly began to arrive and the rain let up soon enough. We began our first round of b-ball games around 10pm. There were 43 athletes, ranging in age from 8-24, that made up 8 teams. Also, all players, coaches, and volunteers were put onto two major teams - Green or White. All of the events of the night were assigned a certain point value. All night it would be a point battle between the white and green teams. Also, a captain was assigned to represent the two teams. At the end of the night, the captain of the losing team would be forced to completely shave their head. Ross represented the white team and a Bolivian volunteer Kavil would represent the green team. I was on the white team and coached a young team of shoe shiner guys. They were totally fun, but not fantastic b-ball players... it also didn't help that their coach knew less than they did about the game. We were the first team to play... and we lost pretty severely to a younger, but more experienced team of guys. This seemed to be a common pattern for the white team... and it was not looking good for the future of Ross' locks. My team was more into playing futsol (which is a small-scale version of soccer). So, between games we would sneak out to the outdoor court to play some good ol' futsol. It was super sweet! Around midnight we reconvined in the gym for a game of old school dodgeball - green vs. white. Again, the green team dominated! Next, we all gathered around to watch a homemade film, featuring our own Randy Davis. It was an awesome video that told about his love for basketball and how it has affected his life and his spiritual journey. It also invited anyone interested to lunch with any one of the YFC volunteers to discuss what they believe and what we believe. Some of the kids seemed a little to young and immature for the video, but 3 of the shoe shiner guys (William Wallace, Ronald, and Oliver) accepted the invitation and plan to meet with Randy soon. After the short film and a little talk from Randy's dad, the Parillada comensed. (Parillada means BBQ) We grilled up 50 sausages, and had a great feast. After the BBQ, the second round of games began. This time my team of guys faced an eclectic team of female athletes. Incredibly, we finished on top with a pretty decent lead, thanks to the amazing shooting skills of a little guy named Wanka (Juan Carlos). It was a great victory. The last game of the night featured the two youngest teams of the crew... and just to keep things interesting, both captains played for their teams and the point value was upped! The winner of this game would be the ultimate champion of the night! It was a very tough match, within one basket most of the game but... in the end, Kavil and his little green team pulled out the victory. So, as promised, Ross was subject to a very public head shaving! Man it was funny... but Ross looks alright without any hair. To close the crazy night, we started a movie, "The Incredibles" around 430am. Almost everyone slept through the flick... but what would you expect? The movie ended a little after 6am and we had everyone out of there and the place cleaned up by 7am. It was a crazy adventure, but so fun!