Expat Coach In Beijing
Without a doubt, this first week in Beijing will be tough to beat. It was a pretty eventful week to say the least, full of a lot of surprises. Some were good and some bad. I’ll do my best to not focus on the negatives, but they are poised to be challenging during my time here. Cultural differences have taken little to no time to become apparent. Make no mistake, this place is weird.
The last few months of time with family and friends were priceless, and that made it extremely difficult to leave Milwaukee. A lack of sleep made the 15 hour flight and arrival quite a blur. I was fortunate to have a colleague meet me at the airport with a driver. Standing at 6’10 was a young man holding sign which read “Mr. Conigliaro”. The myth of Chinese people was immediately debunked.
First Days in China
We made our way to my apartment in the Chaoyang District, which is the largest in Beijing and popular for expats. I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice the apartment is. The comfort of home is so important.The rest of the day was spent with my fellow coach from Slovenia. Apartment living here is quite different. Utilities are paid at a shop down the street. Here you are given different cards containing credit for separate utilities: water, toilet water, hot water, electricity, etc.
Getting Acquainted For NBA Global Game in Beijing
On Monday morning we made our way to the Mastercard Arena, which would host the NBA Global Game between Brooklyn and Sacramento as well as the clinics leading up to it. My first subway experience was less than enjoyable. Personal space is not a known concept in China. During the rush hours of the day, the subways have a tendency to be packed to twice the normal capacity allowed on any line in America. Better yet, the commute was over an hour. That’s a lot of humping.
Things definitely got better. Our first clinic of the day was with Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins and employees of SAP, the world leader in enterprise software and software-related services. Darryl was incredible. His presence was felt in more ways than just being a towering individual. He was fully engaging and approachable, and his original humor and charm were overwhelming.What a cool experience to interact with a guy that I used to watch shatter backboards. Later that day we did our first clinic with some of the NBA Yao School kids.
NBA Clinics
Tuesday was another full day. The first clinic was an NBA Cares event, involving a large group of deaf children. Sam Perkins and a bunch of Brooklyn Nets rookies helped us out with this one. The second event was with a former Peace Players International colleague of mine who currently works with NBA Asia in Hong Kong. I hadn’t seen him since our trip to France and Morocco a few years ago, so needless to say it was great catching up. Yao Ming, Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojackovic showed up for this one. Pretty solid event. NBA Asia has some young talent in Philippines and Thailand.
Afterwards we had dinner with some other NBA corporate office staff, including Wisconsin’s very own Joe Wolf who was then an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets. Joe is from Kohler, WI. I previously worked at Lakeland University which is just down the road.
The following day was another NBA Asia clinic. I was again pleasantly surprised with the talent on hand. Later that evening was the Brooklyn vs Sacramento game. While waiting to start, we had the pleasure of hanging out with Peja and Vlade again. They are hilarious together. Crazy to think I used to idolize them as a kid. Not gonna lie, it took some discipline to let the kid in me ask for a picture with those guys!
I figured having a credential around my neck would make that a little unprofessional. I also had the pleasure of meeting the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver. Judging from the short encounter, he treats people well. What an incredible experience.
Brooklyn Nets vs. Sacramento Kings in Beijing
As game time approached I watched Brooklyn pre-game workouts. It still baffles my mind how many guys couldn’t consistently knock down shots. Sacramento had some better shooters. Oddly enough, I played high school ball with Carl Landry for a year at Milwaukee Vincent. I guess it’s pretty normal for preseason games, but it was still disappointing that my former teammate didn’t play much that night.
Exploring Beijing
Days later my colleague Vanja and I made our way to Tiananmen Square. I had an interesting exchange with a woman who believed that the massacre at Tiananmen Square didn’t happen. Looking back at our conversation, it makes sense considering the censorship and misinformation that is spread by the government. An eye opening experience and reminder to be grateful to live somewhere that demands accountability.
I moved on to the Forbidden City without Vanja. What an incredible place. Through all of my travels, very few places have made me feel completely unadapted. It was one of those truly overwhelming experiences where you can’t help but feel fortunate to be there. Thousands and thousands of years of history. Couldn’t help but think of the many Bruce Lee movies watched with my brothers as a child.
I made my way to the top Jingshan Hill where one is afforded panoramic views of Beijing. The timing, weather, and lack of pollutants that day were just right. It was a beautiful sunset, which is apparently something not to be taken for granted here.
Things got better when I randomly ran into my Kurdish friend from Rotterdam! I knew he was in town but we had yet to connect on a meeting spot. In a city of over 20 million people it was quite a coincidence. We got reacquainted and made our way to dinner at the local Hooters. Less of a preference, more of a convenience.
Expat Central in Sanlitun
Afterwards, a stroll through the Sanlitun area to find a drink provided nothing more than several aggressive promoters looking to entice us inside their “lady bars”. No thank you. With the advice of a Danish girl, we found a cool spot to hang out for the night, as well as the first six hours of the next day.
First Days Working With The NBA Yao School
A Friday morning meeting with my boss only allowed a few hours of sleep. So much for catching up on that jet lag. Finally, it was time to get a feel for my purpose in China. Preparations were made for the first sessions with the NBA Yao Club. The schedule demands of having sessions every weekend will certainly not become ideal at any point, but it is what it is. Our sessions on Friday nights involve all age groups during one slot. But, Saturday and Sunday sessions are broken up into four two-hour slots throughout the day.
The youngest group at 8am is a recipe for disaster…pretty much herding cats. The next string of children aren’t much better, but the teenagers are a lot of fun. Some of that feeling is related to a smaller class size, but it’s more related to their attentiveness and work ethic. That young group will without a doubt develop my patience as a coach. The talent in general will also be a challenge after spending four years coaching at a high level. Back to the basics. Yikes.
First Impressions and Presumed Challenges During My Year in China
Large groups of elderly people in parking lots synchronized in dance to “Gangnam Style”. The regular occurrence of men relieving themselves on a busy street while all others passed by unaffected. The “hole in the ground” urinals. A man sneezing on my neck in the subway without any remorse for his actions. Chaos of cars, bikes, carts, scooters with no concern for traffic controls and pedestrians. Dozens of packaged “food” items containing extremities of animals sold at the supermarket. Servers at Hooters dancing to country music as entertainment for customers. A self absorbed mentality that plays out in all phases of life.
