Through Athletes in Action, Holyfield Brings Basketball Talents to East Asia
9/21/2017 7:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Holyfield joined nine other NCAA Division I players from around the nation on overseas trip in August of 2017
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Well-schooled in the art of packing his bags and preparing for any number of road trips around the United States through his years as a basketball player both at Stephen F. Austin and at the high school, AAU and prep school levels, rising junior TJ Holyfield had never faced the challenge of gathering up items that would aid him in an overseas odyssey prior to this past August.
Under the Athletes in Action banner and along with nine other men's basketball players from NCAA Division I institutions around the nation, Holyfield embarked on a two-week journey to East Asia to showcase his basketball talents on another continent.
Holyfield's affiliation with Athletes in Action marks the second-straight year in which an SFA men's basketball player has taken off on an intercontinental journey with the organization. In the summer of 2016, then-rising senior Dallas Cameron traveled to New Zealand with AIA and initially it appeared as though Holyfield would join him.
"Originally I was going to go with Dallas [Cameron] last year, but I did not have the time to fundraise and get everything together," Holyfield said. "When he came back, he told me how great his experience was and I was fortunate to receive another opportunity to go this year."
Players from universities such as Longwood, Wake Forest and Wright State comprised the roster of the USA Eagles along with Holyfield who received constant reminders about the opportunity from SFA head men's basketball coach Kyle Keller and Vince Walsh, SFA's campus director of Cru.
"I knew it would be coming up, but I wasn't thinking about it until people like Vince [Walsh] and coach Keller brought it up and I'm glad they did," "They didn't let it go, but it was good that they kept me on top of it because it was a really good experience for me."
Before boarding a plane for an intercontinental flight, however, Holyfield headed north to Xenia, Ohio, where he would meet his coaches and teammates in person for the first time. In addition to the standard meet-and-greet protocol, Holyfield and the AIA team hit the basketball court for a battery of practices that revealed playing basketball together for the first time would not be all that challenging.
"Initially I thought playing together would have been difficult, but when there are nine other unselfish people just trying to get the same outcome it was a pretty easy transition," stated Holyfield. "We started gelling from day one and it wasn't that hard of a transition. On the court it was like we had been playing together for months. We were all just showing our talents and playing position-less basketball."
After getting acclimated with his new, temporary teammates, Holyfield and company stepped on a plane and got comfortable for a 16-hour flight to their destination. Upon arrival, a few of the differences between East Asia and the United States were immediately apparent.
"I could not believe how crowded it was there," Holyfield commented. "I did not see a single house, there were just 30 and 40-story apartment buildings that people lived in and for all of the people that live there, there were that many cars and bicycles."
Another big change - this one of the culinary variety - was not lost on Holyfield or his teammates almost as soon as they arrived.
"Rice," answered the Albuquerque, N.M., native when asked what he ate during his time abroad. "I had rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food was certainly different and nothing like we're used to in the United States. They have fast food - we saw a lot of fast food restaurants - but their more traditional meals consisted of a lot of rice-based dishes.
"There were signs everywhere warning us not to drink the water, too. We didn't really get water in restaurants. Everywhere we went the only thing we drank was soda. Even during our games we would ask for water and the training staff just came back with Sprite."
Once the Eagles did start playing, they competed in seven exhibition games against teams with players standing as tall as 7'3.
"Arguing with the officials was out of the question because we didn't understand each other," explained Holyfield. "The competition was good - we played the best professional league in that part of the country - and the officials let us play."
In order to break up the constant travel and games, Holyfield and the rest of his Eagle teammates received the opportunity to touch people's lives in other ways. The team held a kids camp at an orphanage and took part in a charity game that helped benefit victims of a recent earthquake.
"We used basketball and our talents as a tool to help others and to help the needy," continued Holyfield. "It really showed how much the people in that part of the world love the sport and my perspective of the sport and of myself changed after coming back to the United States."
As one of six upperclassmen among SFA's ranks entering the 2017-18 season, Holyfield hopes to use his experiences from the trip to enhance both his play on the court and his leadership abilities on and off it.
"To any college athlete who is thinking about making a trip like this, I'd absolutely recommend it," Holyfield commented. "It's a life-changing experience. Here in the United States we put a lot of emphasis on basketball as entertainment and while it can change peoples lives here, in East Asia it's a tool that can change people's lives in a different way."
For more information about Athletes in Action, visit the organization's website at the link below.
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