The conclusion of another stellar season for the Wittenberg men’s and women’s basketball teams is another for the record books. The next games these teams play will be documented by another sort of record-keeping book — a passport. The teams, both of which won the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season championships in the recently completed 2001-02 season, will be making an 11-day trip to China this May.

The trip is being funded by the East Asian Studies (EAS) program through a $1.9 million grant awarded to it by the Freeman Foundation late last year. With the grant, the EAS program aims to ensure that all students, regardless of their course of study, have an encounter with Asia as part of their undergraduate experience.

That’s where the basketball trip comes in. According to Stan Mickel, professor of languages and organizer of the excursion, the plan is to take different groups of students to China in each of the next four years. The basketball teams were chosen in part because “we were looking for an already cohesive group on campus to go on the first trip,” Mickel said.

A total of 29 players, 15 men and 14 women, are making the trip along with assistant men’s coach J.J. Searls, head women’s coach Pam Smith, assistant women’s coach Jen Parsons and Mickel. They are tentatively scheduled to play three games each, but the mission of the trip, which includes stops in Shanghai, Beijing and Xian, is to provide a unique educational experience of which playing games is just a small part.

“It’s a two-pronged approach. We want to introduce the students to high culture,” said Mickel, referring to the Great Wall of China, the Jade Buddha Temple, museums and shows, among other things.“We also want to introduce them to regular Chinese people. Part of that will be accomplished by playing basketball games, but much of it will be in their interactions with the Chinese people on their own,” Mickel added.

Bill Brown, men’s basketball head coach, and Smith are grateful for this opportunity.“Both from an educational standpoint and from a basketball standpoint, this is something to really look forward to,” Smith said. “We will be traveling to a different country, and I hope we make the most of a wonderful experience and unique opportunity.” “This is not a basketball adventure; this is a Wittenberg student adventure,” Brown added. “It’s something they’ll always remember.”