Coach Blair Journal Entry I: Helping Athletes Across the Globe
In early November 2022, I had the fortunate opportunity to travel to Surabaya Indonesia. It was a 32+ hour journey door to door which is never easy. Prior to COVID I would travel the globe 1-2 times per year mostly to the Asia-Pacific region of the world. This is not the typical work travel that most trainers are used to but it’s familiar territory by now. Many Healthy Baller clients and followers don’t know the background so I thought I’d share how it all started.
Coach Blair During his most recent trip to Indonesia in the Fall of 2022.
Many years ago, when I was very early in my career, I always had dreams of traveling to another country and helping basketball players that may not ever have the opportunity to work with a coach devoted to their athletic development. At the time I had my sites set on somewhere in South America as I had remembered a few words from high school spanish class, but I was also studying Portuguese at the time just to challenge myself. Please don’t ask me to say anything nowadays as I’d be incredibly rusty.
Anyways, I had a good friend connection at the NIKE basketball grassroots division. I had openly asked if there was any opportunity to travel somewhere, so I could work with a group of youth basketball players. I wasn’t looking to be paid but was hoping for a pretty cool life experience in another part of the world. They said, “funny you ask as we have an opportunity this coming summer in Beijing, China.” It was called the NIKE All-Asia Camp. This camp was a big deal! They hosted all the best basketball talent from several surrounding countries including Taiwan, Philippines, Australia, Korea, Japan, etc. It was mostly high school age athletes but this camp had a history of finding talent. Of course this was an easy YES!
So off I go to Beijing for the 2006 All-Asia Camp. This would be my second flight ever and first time traveling internationally. Prior to this, the bulk of my “worldly” travels had been to Ocean City, MD and sometimes even Dewey Beach (local MD/Delaware beaches 2 hours away). I was slightly nervous, as you might imagine, but the camp was the experience of a lifetime. I was working and hanging with NBA coaches all week, staying in a 5 star hotel and able to see parts of the world I’d never imagined!
Fast forward 10 years of consecutive overseas trips to China and several other countries. These experiences allowed me to develop a ton of relationships, many of which remain strong to this day. I worked that camp 10 consecutive summers and only broke the chain due to a friend's wedding and then getting a job in the NBA shortly afterwards. So I am forever grateful to Goro Nakajima (NIKE) and several folks from the NIKE family for allowing me the opportunity to be a regular face at their camps and training sessions.
So within all these experiences I was offered the opportunity to train the Indonesian Men’s National Basketball Team. The plan was to focus the next two years towards preparation for the SEA games (Southeast Asian Games). Within that time frame (2011-2012), I would visit and work in both Jakarta Indonesia and Perth Australia as we held training camps there for a few weeks at a time. This was a great experience but also challenging at times as was such lengthy travel and resources were limited on some parts of the trip.
On one trip to Australia I connected with an owner of another professional team in Indonesia named the CLS Knights. I was invited to Surabaya to work with their team for training camp in 2015. They won the championship that season for the first time in history and I’ve stayed in touch with them ever since. I’m still connected with several players and staff online as it was such a rewarding opportunity.
Working with the players at a Nike All-Asia Camp.
So here we are now in 2022. I was invited by the same contact to now assist the Women’s National Basketball Team in Surabaya to prepare for the next upcoming SEA games. Every trip I learn something new and I’m hoping to share some of that material within our Hooper's blog over the next several months.
OVERTIME
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all these trips and experiences is that it’s so important for me to be present where I am at the moment and do the best I can with the situation in front of me. There’s no need to be focused on my next potential trip overseas unless I do a great job for the one I’m currently traveling for. I apply this same mentality for our Healthy Baller team. Do the best you can with who is in front of you because if you don’t, you may not give your full focus and attention, and as a result you may lose opportunities to help the next person. It’s so important that we bring our A game every chance we get. It’s not easy and no one is perfect but that intention is what I believe has allowed me the chance to share Healthy Baller all over the world. We are here to serve and help people be the best version of themselves. It’s our mission now and will always be moving forward.
If you are interested in more information about Healthy Baller and training with us, or anything Basketball Sport Performance related please send an email to Blair@HealthyBaller.com