Welcome to Shanghai, China

Shanghai is the most populous city in China. They have almost 19 million people. It is a huge city. After a (9) hour direct flight from Doha, we arrived on Sunday afternoon. We are once again, (13) hours ahead of Central Standard Time in the USA. This time around however, it appears that our staff and team have adjusted quickly to the time change. We are staying at the Sports Hotel in Shanghai. They have their own basketball court so we are practicing right here at the hotel. The training table food is outstanding however, most of their staff do not speak English at all or very well so communication is a problem.

We have three games here starting with the Shanghai Sharks on Thursday. There are (16) Division I Club Teams in China and the Sharks are one of them. Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets played for the Shangai Sharks. On Saturday, we bus to the city of Zji where we will play the Jordan National Team. Then on Monday we will play the China National Team to complete a (21) game schedule in (37) days. So far we have completed (48) days of travel, games, and training. It sounds like alot but I feel we could use another (48) days before we enter Japan. We will leave for Japan on July 26th.

I just read on Asia Basketball News that Japan naturalized American JR Henderson that played for UCLA back in the middle 90's. JR has been playing in the Japan Club System for the past (6) years. Japan has now instantly become a contender for an Olympic berth.

http://www.asia-basket.com/qat/qat.asp