MADRID – The Bruins’ overseas trip to Spain began mid-day Sunday, as the UCLA men’s basketball team bused through steady rains down the 405 freeway to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in the afternoon, lifting off just around 7 p.m. for Madrid. Just over 10 hours later, the men’s basketball program’s travel party landed on Monday at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport in Madrid and headed to the team’s hotel by 4 p.m. The Bruins’ itinerary will include stays in three prominent Spanish cities – Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona – with three games on the team’s schedule. The first leg of UCLA’s trip to Spain will include three nights and two full days in Spain before the Bruins will bus to the country’s eastern coast and the city of Valencia, located along the Gulf of Valencia.
UCLA’s first two games will take place within the first four days of the trip. First up, the Bruins will take on the Madrid All-Stars on Tuesday, Aug. 22. Game time is 7 p.m. in Madrid (that’s 10 a.m., back in Los Angeles). “It’s great for people to learn a different part of the world, a different way of life,” said Mick Cronin, who is entering his fifth year as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach. “I think this trip is going to be great for the guys. I mean, we’d like to play well in each of our games … I do need to learn something about these guys. Our coaching staff, we have so much work to do. And for us defensively, we will be able to figure it out. Defensively, that’s the one area a coach can impact the most in college basketball.”
Seven of the Bruins’ players on the 15-person roster this season were born outside of the United States – including five from Europe. For incoming freshman Jan Vide, UCLA’s stay in Madrid represents a mini-homecoming of sorts. Vide, a talented 6-foot-6 guard, grew up in Slovenia and moved to Madrid at the age of 14 to pursue his basketball dreams. He says the move to Madrid was a calculated decision he made with his family. He has spent the last four years in Madrid playing basketball and attending the SEK-El Castillo International School.
“I left Slovenia when I was 14, but this was a long process,” Vide said. “When I was 13, I already knew that this would be an option. And so my family and I, we had prepared mentally for that jump when I was like 13. Then when I was 14, it was just a big jump.” Regarding a potential language barrier, Vide has learned how to speak Spanish. In fact, he can now speak four languages. His first language? Slovenian. His second language? English.
“When I was growing up, we learned English,” Vide said. “Actually, I watched a lot of cartoons where they do speak English, so that helped me pick it up at a young age. My first language was Slovenian, then English, and then I learned how to speak Serbian. And after that, Spanish. I definitely understand Spanish, but I still probably have a few classic errors when I speak. During that one year when I was 13, adjusting for the move, I was seeing a Spanish teacher so that I could learn how to communicate and get a bit more comfortable with the language. When I came to Spain for the first time, some people didn’t speak English well, and our coaches and teachers at school would like for us to speak Spanish. It took me about three months to really understand everything, and then probably in about six months, I spoke a bit better.”
As for sightseeing recommendations, a few of Vide’s top choices may be on the Bruins’ team itinerary. UCLA will be staying within walking distance of Retiro Park, giving the players, coaches and staff members an opportunity to check out the City Center, Museum Mile and the Botanic Gardens. The Bruins will also have a visit to the Royal Palace in Madrid on the schedule for Wednesday afternoon. Vide is all smiles when asked to provide a few of his culinary favorites, or suggestions. At the top of the list? The jamón ibérico (cured leg of pork) and the gambas al ajillo (shrimp in garlic)
“Dining in Madrid, and really in all of Spain, you’ve got everything – seafood, meat,” Vide said. “The most typical food you’ll find in Madrid is probably jamon, jamon Iberico. This is one of the best things that Spain created. You’ve got some food called tapas. It’s not really a food, but it’s smaller portions. When you go out to a dinner, you’ll take tapas, many different foods in smaller portions and you can mix things, like some seafood with the meat. One of my favorites is the gambas al ahilo, shrimp with garlic. And when we go over to Valencia, we should try the paella valenciana, which is one of their most typical foods.”
Earlier this summer, Vide ranked No. 3 among all basketball players in scoring at the FIBA U19 World Cup, playing for his home country of Slovenia in the tournament in Debrecen, Hungary. He averaged 17.9 points per game with Slovenia, just two months after having been named the MVP at the Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania. Vide has now set his sights on UCLA. He moved to Los Angeles during the first week of August, enrolled in summer session classes, and says it’s been an adjustment.
“It’s been amazing,” Vide said about his first impressions of UCLA. “I’ve had the chance to travel around the area a little bit – around Westwood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills. Certainly the culture here is a bit different. You have a mix of everything. It’s been the first time that I’ve tried things like Korean food or Japanese food, and then Greek food. You have a mix of everything, and that’s really nice. And then the second thing I’ve noticed, like so many people here, I am not adjusted to things like going on a highway with six or seven lanes, so many cars, up and down. So that’s just a big change for me.”
Source: UCLA
