Kennedy Chronicles Goodwill Tour to Bosnia, Croatia

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following piece is written by sophomore guard Brandon Kennedy of the Concord University men's basketball team. Kennedy traveled with the USA Goodwill Tour to Bosnia and Croatia during the first week of August. The group of predominately small college basketball players toured the two countries while playing against professional teams from Bosnia and Croatia.

My trip to Croatia and Bosnia was honestly the best trip of my life so far and is something that I will never forget. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect going into the trip considering this was my first time traveling overseas, but what I saw was truly amazing. Every city we visited was so beautiful and clean, with views like I had never seen before. In total we visited six different cities: Dubrovnik, Split, Makarska, Torgir, Zadar, and Mostar. The first five were all located in Croatia along the Adriatic Sea and Mostar was the lone city in Bosnia that we visited. We spent the majority of our trip staying in Split and traveled to the other cities during the day, but if I had to pick a favorite it would have to be either Dubrovnik or Makarska. Our first tour was in Dubrovnik, which is where we flew in to, and we got to see where they filmed Kings Landing in the show Game of Thrones. About halfway through the trip we visited Makarska, on our way back from the Mostar tour, and we got to play on one of the professional teams' outdoor courts which was really fun. The best part about the trip for me, though, had to be the friendships I made. I still talk to the guys on from the trip every day and I am sure that will continue for a long time which I am very grateful for.
 
As for the basketball games, we got to play against four different professional teams from Croatia. The way that they play is way different than anything I have ever played against. The style wasn't as fast as college games, but every single player is so fundamentally sound. They all played physical and smart, which made guarding them tough at times. They also passed and shot extremely well which is something that I wasn't used to. For the most part the rules were similar except for a few, so adapting to their game wasn't too difficult. The two biggest differences I noticed would be that the teams we played shot a lot of three-pointers, and the officials allowed us to defend with our bodies a lot more than the college game does.
 
Overall, my experience was great, and I would recommend taking this opportunity to anyone is given the chance to do so. Experiencing a completely different culture is something that you can't really imagine, you just have to do it. Being able to see everything I did while also playing the game I love was something I didn't think I would ever be able to do, but I am beyond thankful that I was wrong.