Kings Road Trip--Day Five

Wednesday

Best day of the trip so far. Early morning wakeup (7:00 am) to load onto a bus for a half-hour trip to Singapore Zoo for Press conference and "Breakfast at the Zoo"...outdoor (shaded) dining room right next to the orangatangs enclosure. I'm not sure who was more interested in who here. It did look like the orangatangs had riper bananas however. Had an hour to stroll so a couple of us headed off the "lions" and I had a great talk with one of the younger players about the story of Daniel in the Lions den.

Back to hotel and off to Australian International School (again) for friendly game with students and staff with ESPN press conference and training following...started in smaller (cooler) gym and ended up on large court. Met Rick Chong--Singaporean Christian worker near end of training and passed on three "Give Me The Rock" videos for his use with the boys and girls he works with in Boy's Brigade. Disappointing that we were not able to nail down an evangelistic meeting but he was very gracious.

Back to hotel by cab to change for special Australia Day reception at the Australian High Commission. Traveled by bus with the Wildcats. Had to loan my long pants to Mark as he hadn't brought a pair. He wore them low enough on his hips (with a belt to take in about eight inches) and they almost fit if he wore his polo shirt (out). The function was really fun. Met quite a few Australians and American military (Coast Guard on three year assignment to Singapore-- if can believe it!).

Great too see jaws drop and questions flow when the conversation eventually turned to my role with the team. One lady thought chaplains were only involved with groups that had a high death rate. I assured her that wasn't the case in basketball and explained that more and more professional sports are concerned about the development of the athlete as a "whole person". At elite levels of competition...where physical and mental condition and skills are pretty much honed to near perfection by competing players...a significant spiritual development in a player's life can give him a slight edge.

Interesting--as I was explaining this, one of the Coast Guard officers kept nodding and agreeing with me as an affirmation to this woman that what I said was true. I found out later that his father was a long time chaplain in the US Navy. Was able to pass on a Knowing God Personally booklet to one of the guests from the Singaporean government who is quite an avid Kings fan.

Returned fairly early to the hotel by bus...after dropping off the Wildcats for an evening practice!!! Went computer shop browsing with Jason and Wheels. Returned to hotel to settle in to bit of junk food (small bag of potatoe crisps--shared) and had a great (informal!!!) question and answer discussion that flowed quite enjoyably for close to two hours. This chat will certainly be a highlight of the week for me. Drifted off to sleep around 12.