Senior Bailey Rucker is one of the players who asked coach Wendie Auston about possibly playing in Hawaii like the Colonels will be doing now in December. (Chris Zollner Photo)
The timing might not be the best but the opportunity was too enticing for Centre College women’s basketball coach Wendie Austin to pass up.
That’s why her Colonels will be playing two games in the Hoops in Hawaii Classic in Honolulu Dec. 21-22. The players will finish semester exams Dec. 17, fly to Hawaii Dec. 18 and be back in Kentucky Dec. 23.
“A couple of the girls had mentioned doing this and I have a cousin in the military there (at Hickam Air Base) and it is going to be an educational trip for us,” said Austin. “We are going to go to some different memorials and see some different sites at Pearl Harbor.”
Austin said her cousin will be able to provide access for the team to see World War II memorials and some areas on the base at Pearl Harbor visitors normally do not get to see.
“We will go to see the USS Arizona and hopefully see the USS Missouri and USS Utah (all ships sunk during the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor in World War II). Hopefully my cousin will get us on base so we can see some of the buildings that have not been repaired to let the players know what that was like,” Austin said.
“I think it will be a very cool experience for our players and help visualize what it used to be and look like. I am excited about my cousin helping us put this together.”
The coach said all the players know about the trip because the team has started the background check process to be able to gain access to the base.
“We are still early in the planning stages but the players, including the incoming first-year players, are really excited,” Austin said.
Balancing basketball and educational opportunities is something Centre College athletes do daily.
“We try to compete at the highest level possible and win. But we want to learn a lot and have a great experience,” the coach said. “We take these trips to see things they may never see again and learn lessons but when we have time on the court we compete. That is our focus and our leaders will teach the younger ones that.
“I think we have an advantage because we travel so much in our conference that our returners are used to that. A couple of our players have studied abroad. We are used to traveling, getting off buses and playing. This is the longest trip we have taken but it is a once in a lifetime trip and is about more than just basketball.”
