Click here to see a photo of the participants.

Bucks Head Coach Terry Stotts was among the players and coaches that made the trip to Africa for the week-long program. Stotts agreed to keep a blog here on Bucks.com to provide fans across the globe some insight on the camp and life in Africa.

Photos contained in Terry Stotts' blog courtesy of Tom Marchesi, NBA Europe

Well, we played in the championship game today and won. Our guys were extremely happy afterwards. They were jumping up and down (and yes, they were singing, too). We came from behind to win. We were down 11 in the fourth quarter and came back to win by four. It was like our guys had won a series championship – they were really excited. One player, after we were done celebrating, got down on his knees and kissed the floor. Another guy jumped up, grabbed the rim and was swinging a little bit and doing a little singing. It was cool.

Then we had lunch. Afterwards, we had the All-Star game. The team I coached lost. We had 10 players and basically platooned them the entire game. I think we lost by about six or so. It was a good experience. They had a three-point contest at halftime. The winner was given the opportunity to have a shootout with Kyle Korver. They actually tied the first time around, so they had to do it again. Kyle made a whole bunch of shots the second time around and won.

After the games, we had a barbeque outside. They roasted a lamb on a spit for us. It was very good. They also had some salad, corn, rice and potatoes. They had a little band out there, too. This was all at the American International School of Johannesburg. They gave out some awards (MVP, Most Improved, Most Promising …) during dinner.

Looking back on the camp, the one thing I’m struck with the most is that the kids, even though they come from different cultures and speak different languages, really come together as a group. It’s impressive to see how the game of basketball can do that. They all compete and want to win. It even transcends into the teaching aspect. Even though there are so many differences among the athletes, there are so many similarities when dealing with 14-, 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds and trying to teach them how to play basketball.

I asked one of the representatives what he thought the ratio would be of time spent playing basketball and time spent learning life skills at the camp. My guess is that it’s at least 50/50. The athletes get a lot of basketball knowledge out of this camp, but the life experience that all of these kids get by coming here is invaluable to them as well. Some of these kids may end up in high school in the States this year or next year. There is a lot of talent here. Raw talent. With work, they can achieve great things. You see a lot of hard times here and, for some of them, basketball is a way for them to improve their life. For others, it’s just a good outlet to have.

This will be my last entry. I’ve enjoyed my time here. I enjoyed going to Africa and seeing the different cultures and being given an opportunity to see a different part of the world. But as is with all my travels, I always enjoy coming home. I appreciate the United States for what we have. It’s always good to expand your horizons, but it’s always good to come home. I’m looking forward to returning to Milwaukee and I’m thankful for the experience here.

Thanks for reading!

Hello, everyone. I’m back at my hotel and about to go get some dinner, but I wanted to blog about today before I go.

Today was very similar to yesterday. We had stations in the morning and a game after that. We won our game again! It was a good win. Our team is now 3-1. I’m enjoying all of the players. It’s fun to watch the players from all of these different countries come together and become a team. They’re all cheering for each other and being competitive – all of those great things that sports do.

After the morning sessions, we went to a place called Kliptown. It’s kind of a suburb of Soweto. The area we went to is very impoverished. There is no running water and no electricity. Last year, a lot of the players (Dikembe Mutombo, Jimmy Jackson, Jerome Williams, Darvin Ham, Marcus Camby and some others) donated money to build a dining hall for the kids in the area. We dedicated that hall today. It was at the Kliptown Community Youth Center. Like the other dining hall dedication, there was a lot of singing and dancing by the kids.

I’m really struck by the community and the kids and the families. You can see in the kid’s faces that they don’t have a lot, but that they just have a good spirit about them. I mentioned that yesterday. They rely on the community and they want to improve their situations.

One of the leaders in the community told us not to come in and pity them. He said that they appreciated that we were there, and that they’re all good people that rely on one another. It was a pretty impressive thing, to say the least.

Tomorrow, I think I might be coaching one of the teams in the All-Star game. Our team, the Bucks, will either be playing in the Championship game or we’ll be playing for third and fourth. There are ten teams, so there will be five classification games tomorrow

Okay. Off to dinner! More to come tomorrow!

We got up this morning and went to the camp. As I wrote yesterday, the stations today were cut in half. We worked with five of the ten teams and we’ll work with the other five tomorrow. After that, I worked with my team. Each of the ten teams has been given a name, so I’m coaching the Bucks. Because I went to that ceremony yesterday, I missed two of our team’s games. Coming into today we were 1-1.

My team is pretty mixed. We have three players from Nigeria, one from Swaziland, two from Cameroon, one from Congo, one from Egypt, one from Mali and one from Tunisia.

We were outdoors all morning. We had a controlled scrimmage against the Rockets and then the Suns. Each were about 15 minutes long, so 30 minutes total. Then we played the Bulls in an actual game. We played four 10 minute quarters with five of the guys playing five minutes and the other five playing the next five minutes, then back to the first five, and so on.

And we won! I think the final was 33-32. We played the Bulls, who were coached by Chris Duhon, Luol Deng and Randy Ayers. It was very windy outside today, so our strategy was to stay away from three-point shots and to take the ball to the basket. And the rules are set up so that if you get fouled in the act of shooting and you make the shot, you automatically get three points. If you miss, then you shoot one free throw that’s worth two points.

The guys played hard today. They compete and they really want to win and play well. Even after one day, you can tell that they’re coming together as a group. What we try to do is work on the fundamentals and have them just work hard and play good defense. We don’t really have the time to put in an offense or any set plays. When they drive, we teach them to go to the basket or find someone.

Just a little bit of background on how the teams were picked … The very first night here, there was a reception and a draft. They do this with all of the Basketball Without Borders camps. Basically, we come in and watch the athletes play for three hours on that first day. All of the kids have numbers on their jerseys. After the evaluation period, there’s a draft. All 100 numbers are put onto a sheet and are divided into the positions that they play. Our team had the 10th pick in the first round, but the even numbered rounds go backwards, so we had the 11th pick, as well. Then we had the 30th pick and the 31st pick, and so on. That’s how the teams are selected. And they make it so that you have to pick a point guard in the first round. That was great, because when we made our first pick of the second round, we had all of the non-point guards to choose from.

Another interesting thing to point out – and they do a good job of explaining this on NBA.com’s main Basketball Without Borders page – is that these athletes are doing more than just playing together. They’re living together and learning together. The teams are put together regardless of race or nationality. They even take part in life-skills seminars that aim to make them better people. So it’s not just about becoming a better athlete … it’s about becoming a better person, too.

After our basketball duties for the day were completed, we went to the Apartheid Museum (near Johannesburg). It was a very enlightening experience. The conflict that went on … with the oppression and the rules of Apartheid and the struggles involved … is comparable to the Civil Rights movement we had in America during the 1960’s, but on a grander scale. They give you a history of South Africa and how important gold and the diamond mines were to Johannesburg. It shows the conflict between the different classes in South Africa at the time of the Apartheid. And they show how the country’s majority worked to overthrow their oppressors.

We were there for probably close to three hours and it was almost not enough time because they do a very thorough job of explaining everything. It was very well done and very detailed.

For me personally, the trip was a very sobering experience. It’s always a sobering experience to see the injustice that people have inflicted on other people throughout history. You just kind of shake your head at how things like that could ever happen.

After the museum visit, we had enough time to head back to the hotel before dinner. Dinner tonight was at a place called “Moyo”. The motif, decor and menu were African. It was a very entertaining evening and the food was awesome. Like last night, there were about 100 of us.

We have another game tomorrow and then another community event. I’m really enjoying my team here. It’s a great program with youth from across the continent. Talk to you again soon!

Today was our first official day working with the athletes at the American International School of Johannesburg. We have 100 players from 25 countries here. They’ve been broken into 10 teams of 10. They are on varying levels of skill and basketball aptitude, for sure. I would say the age range is from 15-18. Most of them do not speak English. The neat thing is that about a third of them speak French, which is a language I would say I’m conversational in. So I was able to communicate with a bunch of them that way. It’s amazing when you start speaking it, how quickly it comes back to you.

We focused on drills today. We had 10 stations that dealt with different aspects of the game, like shooting, ball-handling, rebounding, defense, footwork, shot-blocking, post play, offensive situations, etc. Each station lasted 10 minutes and each team visited each station.

I was positioned at the defense station with Boris Diaw, who I coached in Atlanta for a year, Adam Simon, a scout for the Miami Heat, and Sam Ahmedu, a FIBA coach. We worked with the players on jumping to the ball and moving with the pass, things like that. We’ll work at the same station each day.

Tomorrow, we’re only going to have five stations. Each team will make it through five drills and then we’ll move on to an actual game. The next day, each team will take part in the five stations they didn’t do the previous day, and then we’ll have more games.

As far as the facility goes, we have an indoor court with six baskets. The rest of the camp is outdoors. So basically, half of the camp is inside and half of it is outside.

After we wrapped up this morning’s basketball activities, we went to a community event. It was a very moving and powerful event. It was very emotional. The name of the school we went to is called “Ithuteng Trust” and it’s located in Soweto. This is a school that takes in at-risk children – kids from dysfunctional families … some even orphans – and gives them hope. They have the equivalent of a 100 percent graduation rate.

When we drove in on the bus, hundreds of kids met us. We got off of the bus and they accompanied us for two blocks, cheering and dancing the whole way. It was amazing. They were very happy to see us.

Then they put on a performance that lasted an hour and a half or so. There was a lot of singing and dancing involved. The first part was kind of like choreographed exercise. Each group would do a dance or skit from a different tribe, be it from the Eastern Cape, the Eastern Coast or the Western part of South Africa. They did it in their native garb and each one was unique in its presentation and its message. They did such a good job. It was very enlightening in its diversity and seeing where all of these kids came from. Some of the outfits were very colorful and others were more primitive. It was entertaining. We were in an open-air auditorium and the kids were out in an open field. I would guess they were probably about 30 feet away.

After that part of it, they acted out a drama that dealt with all of South Africa’s troubles. HIV, crime and other tough and tragic issues were portrayed. They showed the battles they were fighting. It was very emotional to watch. The girls in the skit would often times show real tears during the performance. It was so powerful. But it was also amazing to see the hope that these kids represent. I would guess they were between 12 and 18 years old.

On top of all of that, a 16- or 17-year-old kid from this school was killed last week. He was beaten to death. He had just passed what would be the equivalent of high school in America. He had succeeded to improve himself. And the intent of the attack on him was to sabotage the celebration that we had today. It was very emotional for everyone.

The kids were great. They had a tremendous spirit about them. You could see it in their eyes and in their smiles, the joy that was in them. But at the same time, you could tell that they had hard times as well.

A neat side note … the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Eric Boast, was in attendance at the school event. And the woman who runs this school, Momma Jackie (I believe), is very, very determined. Oprah, just to throw a name out there, knows about this woman and this program, and I think she has donated some money to this school in the past.

Once the skits were over, we went over to dedicate a new dining room at the school. We planted some roses in two flowerbeds that were in two separate places. Again, there was a lot of singing and dancing. Then they draped us in zebra fabric and we cut the ribbon to dedicate the dining hall. Then we went in and ate. There were some beans, rice, curry chicken and curry beef.

Dinner tonight was at a wonderful steakhouse called "The Butchershop". The entire NBA contingency was there. I would guess between 100 to 120 people.

And that was pretty much the day. Like I said, tomorrow we start some games with the athletes. I’m looking forward to sharing some more of my experiences with you!