HB girlsvhoop senior Anna ODonnell and Cavs coach Heidi Moore were off to Spain this past August on a basketball/culture trip. (Courtesy photo)

HOLLIS – Basketball can be a cultural experience, especially overseas.

That’s what Hollis Brookline senior standout Anna O’Donnell discovered when she was selected to be on a team of U.S. Players to compete and take part in a 10-day tour of Spain this past August.

O’Donnell was nominated by Cavaliers coach Heidi Moore for the trip conducted by a sports travel company, Beyond Sports, that offers tours and trips for student-athletes and teams.

The application, besides the athlete info, included leadership, academics, etc., things both on and off the court. Moore said she had a meeting with O’Donnell and let her know if she was granted the opportunity, she was going to go with her for the basketball and coach-key player bonding opportunity, as it would help prepare both for the season that began this past weekend.

It was also emotional for Moore, whose late Mom she said had always wanted to perform a generous act so the coach donated to O’Donnell’s trip in her mother’s name.

“It was very special she choose me,” O’Donnell said. “And that she felt my leadership was good enough to nominate me for something that is leadership-based.”

Player and coach were often separated during the trip, Moore with the “fans” and O’Donnell, of course, with the players. They only saw each other certain times, but Moore being a coach was allowed to go to practices, so she got to see O’Donnell a little more.

“You go in and you don’t know anyone you’re going to be with the next 10 days,” Moore said, “and then all of a sudden you’re with each other day-in and day-out.”

The U.S.played a total of three games, and in between had practice time and time for sightseeing. They played a team in each place they visited: Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona. The team from Madrid was full of 14-15-year-old six-footers and above.

“It was the best basketball I’ve ever seen,” O’Donnell said. “They were all taller than every one of us. They were huge.”

“I’ve never saw a team play like they played,” Moore said. “Basketball in Spain is very different. Even for her and the other players on the team it was adjusting to the different rules and regulations. International rules, but the other thing is the referees are very for their country.”

But within the 10 days the sightseeing was the cherry on top. “There were times when I could sign her out and we would go (sightseeing). It was awesome. Once in a lifetime.”

O’Donnell had never been outside the country before. “It was an eye-opening experience seeing how good people are overseas,” she said, regarding the game. “I had never seen basketball like that in my life. I had never seen girls that skilled. It was a different style of play. They were passing faster, it was more of passing, passing, passing instead of driving to the hoop as much. That they were so much faster. Bigger and faster than I had ever seen.”

“Fast paced,” Moore said. “We thought high school here was fast paced? No comparison at all. Physical, physical, physical. They didn’t like to blow their whistles too much for the Americans, I can tell you that. She did great.”

Moore feels the basketball experience will help O’Donnell this year, as “She’s the fastest kid we have in the gym. … I have a lot of quick kids, but she’ll beat anyone down the floor.”

The other adjustment for O’Donnell was playing with nine new teammates she had just met off the court, let alone on it. She alternated playing guard or inside. “It was what was better for the competition we were playing against.”

Once she arrived – the trip began in Madrid – O’Donnell went straight to the hotel and then went immediately to dinner, which is basically where everyone met.”

There were simply different ways things were done. Dinner was served differently, O’Donnell said; they would serve food for the table in smaller portions and everyone just took what they could from the middle. Even the desserts. “They would just order the food for us and everyone would just pick at it,” she said.

And a little thing like no ice cubes. Anywhere. “Little things like that just shocked me,” she said.

As for basketball, the courts were bigger, and the 3-point line was further out, so that was an adjustment. O’Donnell said she made “one or two” 3-pointers. The U.S.team won one of the three games and practiced three or four.

But that left plenty of time for sightseeing. O’Donnell’s favorite spot was Barcelona, when they were able to go on a catamaran boat and swim in the ocean. “The water was so warm, and very salty, too,” she said, “and very different.”

Barcelona provided the most beach time. Valencia, she said, was more modern with shops and museums, and the group went on an arranged bike tour through the entire city, seeing both the older historic part and then the more modern areas. “That was great, one of my favorite parts,” she said.

The best interesting sight was a castle tour/museum that showed incredible art, and Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona. It’s still under construction with an expected 2026 completion. The work began in 1882.

O’Donnell’s U.S.team lost to Madrid and Valencia, but won in Barcelona. She made friends with her U.S. Teammates, who were from Texas, Ohio, Wyoming, New York, New Orleans and Hawaii.

And the trip was designed for that concept. Each player had a roommate, and when they changed locations, they changed roommates as well.

“It was interesting how they did it,” Moore said. “She got along with everyone, but gravitated to some of the other stronger players on the team.”

There were gatherings after games for photos but the language barrier was an issue. O’Donnell had taken Spanish for five years but “I still froze up when somebody would speak to me.”

But it was still an atmosphere of friendly interaction.

“The Spanish culture and the players were so welcoming,” Moore said. “And they grew so much.”

Moore feels O’Donnell got out exactly what her coach had hoped with the trip, basketball and cultural.

“Absolutely,” Moore said. “I think at first it was a big adjustment for her. If they went to the store, they had to go with a friend. They had to tell the coaches, it was not on your own, there were no phones at dinner, things like that. It was ‘Oh wow, I’m independent, but I’m not independent here.’

“It helped with maturity.”

The coach got a lot out of the trip, too.

“Really cool,” she said. “When we went there, I was thinking my mother would be so proud. If she was alive, I would have taken her with us because she was always on the sidelines.”

Culturally, Moore said “there wasn’t one bad thing”. “They did such a great job of keeping us busy, yet not killing us, finding the best point of every city we were in,” Moore said.

The food, Moore said, “was wild” and that game type food (deer, oxtail, etc.) was prevalent. And one night when everyone made paella. Awesome. Just a fun experience. I’m still in awe of how well run it was.”

Players from the U.S. and Spain gather for a combined team photo this past August. (Courtesy photo)

But the atmosphere was friendly. “People were very very friendly, they were excited to see Americans,” Moore said. “It was funny, when we first got there and it was a Tuesday night. They eat dinner late. At nine or 10 o’clock, and that’s a work night, they’re out sitting on the streets with kids.”

So Moore asked what was going on. The explanation? “We don’t take our friends to our homes, that’s not how we do it,” she was told. “We meet out.”

“It’s very common (in Spain),”: Moore said, “to be out any night of the week, having drinks, and you bring people to restaurants. Your home is your sacred place. You meet people out. And here (in the U.S.) it’s different, it’s ‘C’mon over’.”

But not there.

Meanwhile, besides basketball and sightseeing, the players had other activities, team bonding related but off the court.

“It was more than just basketball,” Moore said. “They had times when they would meet and do leadership stuff. And they all had to keep a journal. That was really cool.”

Moore wasn’t involved, but the players would meet and go over their entries.

O’Donnell said she would definitely take the trip again.

“Definitely,” she said. “It was so great.”