Hosting a team from JAPAN.

I've been hosting the Shizuoka Gymrats for a few years. The Gymrats, from Shizuoka, Japan, are Asia's only ABA team. Every year around February they make their annual trek here to the US to tour and play ABA teams across the country from Akron to Texas. (Honestly, they'll go wherever they can get some rec).

It's a huge honor to host them and I hope everyone else sees it that way. As someone who's made a few trips to Asia for tours (music) I can attest to the travel strains and I wasn't running and jumping.

This is the 3rd time in our 5 years that the Akron Aviators (Akron, OH) have hosted them. Of course we provide thier hotel rooms but I wanted this to be more than just another game. I love playing the defending North Central division champion Burning River Buckets, but I'm sure their players aren't that excited to come down to Akron. Shoot, my players probably aren't either. But the Gymrats appreciate every city they come to. I'm also well aware of how we as Americans are perceived in some other countries. As an owner, I'm not just representing myself, I'm a US ambassador to foreign players wanting to play in basketball's international mecca, the US. I'm representing the ABA. I'm representing Latino and immigrant owners and minor league sports. It's likely I'm hyping this up to myself but I remember all the great (and terrible) experiences I've had in other countries and cities.

So when we host, I try to do something different and make memories for them. They usually travel with about 7-8 guys from Japan and pick up 1 or 2 bigs here for each game.

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Last time they came I worked it out with the then Canton Charge (Now Cleveland Charge) NBA G-League team to give them a tour of their facilities and give them an hour to shoot around, meet staff, and warm up on an NBA court.

This year I reached out to every Japanese and Asian organization from Akron to Cleveland to invite them out. I thought they deserved a crowd. The first to answer was Kent State University's Japanese Cultural Exchange Circle, a student group comprised of international students for the purpose of sharing culture. They were thrilled to come. I wanted to get the local Asian Festival involved and they were interested but wanted more time to plan for next season.

We livestreamed the game and included my students from the Ohio Media School in Cleveland, OH where I teach sports media. We had a special guest PA announcer, owner of Redline Radio, Dave Wallencheck. The Aviators official DJ, DJ CalTech held us down during the game as well.

What I'd like to do is plan a trip for next summer to do a Japanese tour, or maybe have a few US teams go over and have a tournament in Japan against the Gymrats and some other local teams.

The Gymrats' tour this year included a few non-ABA stops, including a WV university to play against a team with a Japanese player they trained and also a trip to the NBA All-Star game in Salt Lake city, Utah where another highly ranked FIBA player, Takuya's son Taiga, was playing in a Basketball Without Borders event.

Sports, like music, is one of those things that brings eveyrone together. Whether you're from Honduras, Akron, Huntsville, or Shizuoka. Basketball allows us to make new friends, learn new skills, and compete on a higher level as both players and men.

It's an honor to have a team like that come all the way here to play basketball. And it's pretty cool to be able to share my experiences with it. I'm already preparing for next year's game and more international exhibitions for the ABA.

Thanks to everyone who participated. We'll be sharing more stories soon both here and in the newsletter.