My Big Greek Trip By Mike Adras

Northern Arizona men’s basketball coach Mike Adras participated in the first International Basketball Coaches Clinic hosted by ACS (American Community Schools) Athens in Halandri Athens, Greece Oct. 2-3. Adras joined former NAU women’s assistant and current UC-Riverside Head Coach John Margaritis and Cheryl Burnett (former Head coach of Southwest Missouri State and Michigan) as the guest speakers at the International Basketball Coaches Clinic at ACS Athens. Guest speakers representing Greece, included Kostas Missas, the head coach of the Greek National Women’s team and the National Junior Men’s team.

We arrived Wednesday morning after leaving Phoenix at 7 a.m. Tuesday. It took us over a day to get there. We decided that we were going to try to stay with the time zone we were in. We went at it the first day even though we were exhausted.

We immediately went to the Olympic Stadium from the first modern Olympic Games. Then we went over to Parliament. They have similar to in London the changing of the guard where they stay motionless. It was cool. From there, we went to the old downtown area called the Plaka. We had our first Greek meal and sat at an outdoor café and watched the people go by. People were trying to sell us stuff and I almost bought a copy of the movie “The Hangover”. It was huge plaza of fun and people.

From there we walked from the Acropolis to the Parthenon. There is a hill right outside there where St. Paul converted the Greeks. It helped having Coach John Margaritis there. He was born there and was the one explaining everything. He was very good on the Greek history.

We spent an hour walking around the Parthenon and the museum built right next to it. As soon as we sat down at the video, the time change caught up to me and I dozed off and missed most of the video. I just wanted to go back to the hotel but we went to this fabulous outdoor restaurant. We did more that first day than I ever would have imagined.

The next day John decided we needed to swim in the Mediterranean. We took a cab ride 45 minutes away and there I am swimming in the Mediterranean. My assistants arranged to meet some basketball people as contacts for future recruits. I spent the afternoon with them. We then went to dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. A tourist would never find his way to this restaurant. I ate things I never even knew what I was eating half the time. There were a lot of olives, a lot of feta cheese and tomatoes. The cuisine was amazing.

Friday was the first day of the clinic. I did my first clinic at 2 p.m. and second at 6 p.m. John did his clinic in Greek so I was not going to understand his clinic so I went with a couple of people and saw a professional basketball game in the Olympic Arena with two teams playing for the right to go to the Euro Championship. I saw one of Jamie Dixon’s players Lavon Kendall was playing that night. His team won. It was very encouraging for me regarding our guys to look at potential opportunities to play over there. We ended the night at women’s professional basketball game.

Saturday was another clinic day. I went out with one of the coaches to dinner. When I came back to the hotel, I was headed to my room when I heard a lot of music coming from behind the elevator. I found two Greek wedding receptions going on. I went into both and took photos of them doing that Greek circle dance. It was fun to watch. I think it was indicative of the culture. I felt so welcome. They were so willing to share their culture.

The only thing I had a hard time with was the cabs and the cab drivers. They seemed to have the right of way. Pedestrians have no right of way in Greece. You better get out of the way. The roads are narrow and it just seems to be a go-cart race on every street. I only saw one accident the entire time I was there. But I felt like we were going to get into an accident every time. My back needs some physical therapy from the start-stop jolt of the various taxi cab drivers.

After that I tried to gather myself for the journey home. It took me about 27 hours to get back. I left at 8 p.m. Flagstaff time Sunday night which was 6 a.m. Athens time the next morning. We went to Paris and then took a 12-hour flight to Salt Lake City. I highly recommend business or first class. I was sitting with my knees in my throat.

The trip was well worth the experience. The clinics were fabulous. They put a lot of thought into the clinic. I think they were very happy with the turnout with coaches from all over Greece. Watching the Greek coaches putting on the clinics it helped me understand the European game more. It was good to hear different ways of doing things. It was a great way to exchange ideas, concepts and philosophies.

It was a little over a 100 years since my grandfather immigrated to the United States. It meant a lot to me that I was able to bring the “family” back to Greece. It was a fabulous experience.