News

“Playing Basketball in Japan, Argentina, South Africa, and Italy”

Chris Clunie, an Athelites alumnus, travels the world playing basketball. “I enjoy the fact that I’m…being exposed to basketball in different cultures and being a part of how the game influences people culturally, socially, politically, and economically,” Chris says.

He trained with Athelites for four years during high school. “It really helped me to elevate my game, especially from the standpoint of my explosiveness and my shooting form. Athelites was also huge in terms of making me mentally stronger and preparing me for the Division I level,” he says.

Chris earned a spot playing Division I basketball at Davidson College. “I was a walk-on and had to fight for everything that I got, and I take that same outlook in life, never taking anything for granted,” Chris says.

He won a Watson Fellowship after college to study basketball’s influence on global cultures in Japan, Argentina, South Africa, and Italy for one year. While in South Africa, he is also playing professional basketball for the Durban Marlins.

Although he enjoys the adventure, the project challenges him. Chris explains, “This project is based upon taking risk, especially in places where you are culturally different and don’t know the language. You can’t be afraid to take risks and try something new and unexpected, both on and off the court,”

Chris hopes that through his efforts, “people, especially young people, can see the good that people are doing around the world, even in less fortunate and underdeveloped countries."

 

5-6-07

Hey everyone!

Hope all is well. It has once again been some time since my last update, and as usual, a lot has happened and I've been really busy. Here's what I've been up to for the past month or so:

-My dad game to visit for 6 days and it was great. I took him all around Durban and we went to Cape Town as well where we got the chance to go to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was kept for over 25 years. He even got to see me coach in the championship game of the biggest high school basketball tournament here in all of southern Africa. I was coaching players from different disadvantaged areas in our program, an "All-Star team" of sorts, and we won the B division which was awesome for our kids. My dad enjoyed his time here and it was great to see him.

-I went with a couple other American colleagues to Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park, a game reserve where we went on safari for the entire day. We saw tons of animals, like giraffes, zebras, rhinos, elephants and hyenas, and although we didn't catch any lions or leopards, it was still an amazing time.

-Every Saturday, the program that I'm in charge of has bball games and life skills session for kids from 6 different areas. We run workshops at 3 different sites on topics like drugs/alcohol, nutrition, career planning, etc. and then the teams play games as part of the bball league. The program, called the Leadership Development Program (LDP), works with kids in high school and it's great because it brings kids from all different areas (townships, city, rural areas), races (black, whites, coloureds) and backgrounds together to develop them as leaders, challenge them with important issues, and also to play basketball.

The LDP has kept me extremely busy and has taken up a bunch of my free time, but as I mentioned, it has been great to be a part of something like this. As usual, time has flown again and I find myself almost a month away from heading to Europe, my last destination. We have a few more big events and a huge tournament in June to get ready for so I'll definitely stay busy. One of my good friends is coming on Friday to visit me for a week, and my girlfriend is going to visit me in Europe so I'm looking forward to that as well. I've put up a lot of new pictures so I'll leave the website below as usual. Take care, till next time...

http://community.webshots.com/user/chclunie

Best wishes,

Chris Clune

 

Date: 3-23-07

Hey everyone!

Hope all is well. It has been awhile since my last update, but things have been really busy and time has been flying by. The experiences have just been getting better and better, and although the past few weeks have been a lot of work, it has all been tons of fun as well. Here's what I've been up to:

At the end of February, we held a week long basketball training session for our incoming coaches. We hired over 80 new coaches, and I put together a training schedule and a basketball manual for all of them. It was a great time, and the coaches did a great job of better understanding basketball fundamentals and coaching philosophy.

That last weekend in February, the whole staff went to a place called Shongweni for a life skills retreat and team building. I was only able to stay for one day, as I headed up to Johannesburg to play in the championship of the PBL with my team, the Kwazulu Marlins. We played against the undefeated Soweto Panthers who had 8 guys that played on the South African national team, and we ended up losing a heartbreaker at the buzzer by 1. I actually rimmed out a long 3 for the win, so I was really upset about that, butwe played a great game, especially coming in as the overwhelming underdog.

I've been running around in the afternoons, helping out at different clinics and practices within the Leadership Development Program, the division I'm in charge of. The league games start in mid-April, and I'm excited about the progression everyone has made.

We held a huge court launch at Merry Hill Primary School, a school in Chatsworth, one of the Indian townships. It was a great time, and we had schools froma coloured township, as well as from a black township attend the court launch and take part in the festivities.

That's just a few highlights from the past few weeks. I was able to listen to/watchonline the NCAA tourney gameour boys played in, big shout out to the squad and the coaches for their amazing season, and hopefully they can get in done in the tourney next year. My dad is coming to visit in another week or so, so I'm excited about that, I'm sure he's gonna love this place when hegets to see the work that we are doing. I put up a few new pics, but my camera has been broken for awhile and I just got it back...I'll get some more as soon as get some fromsome co-workers.Once again, hope all is well with everyone and take care. Till next time...

Oh yeah, here's the website for the pics...

http://community.webshots.com/user/chclunie

Best wishes,

Chris Clune

 

Date: 2-27-07

Here's what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks:

We played and won our last regular season game against the Petermaritzburg Tuskers. I played pretty well (23 pts, 7 rbs) and our team qualified to go to Johannesburg for the championship game.

This past weekend, we played the Soweto Panthers, an undefeated team from Johannesburg for the PBL championship. The game was back and forth and it came down to the final seconds. I unfortunately missed the game-winner (a 30-footer that rimmed out with .8 seconds left in the game)and we lost by 1 point. I ended up playing well after a miserable first half (22 pts, 4 asts) and the trial season of this new professional league ended. The new season kicks off in May with a full backing from Sprite, so I should be able to play another month-and-a-half before heading to Europe in June.

Hope all is well,

Chris Clune

 

Date: 2-19-07

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that I uploaded a bunch of pictures from this past weekend. We have 2 clinics, a huge court launch and ceremony, and I had another pro game as well. The link is below, hope you enjoy!

http://community.webshots.com/user/chclunie

Moja,

Chris Clune

 

Date: 2-14-07

Hey everyone,

Hope all is well. Things have been going great here, and I've already been in South Africa for over a month now. Work has been busy, setting up meeting and tons of office stuff during the morning but in the afternoons, I usually find myself out in one of the townships areas, running tryouts or doing clinics.

Last week, I ran 4 tryouts in different areas to find players for an all-star team that I'm putting together to participate in a high school tournament at the end of March. The tryouts went really well, and I have 2 more this week before I start choosing players and setting up practice times.

This past weekend, I went to Cape Town with my team, the Kwazulu Marlins,to play 2 games there. We won both games and I ended up playing pretty well. We won out our division and qualified for the championship game againstthe Soweto Panthers, an undefeated team, which we will be playing in 2 weeks. The championship game will bein Johannesburg so it should be fun.

This coming Friday, Peace Players International will be holding a court launch in Umlazi, one of the township areas. We built a court there last year at a primary school and we are having a huge ceremonyto celebrate the court, as well asour name change (the organization I'm with was Playing for Peace). There will be tons of kids there from other schools in different townships, as well as media, government officials and sponsorsso it should be a great time.

Other than than, I'm trying to stay cool in this African heat and enjoying every minute of this amazing project. I've put up only a few pictures from last time, but we have a busy rest of the week so I'll let you know when i update the website some time early next week.Once again, hopeall is well with everyone, till next time...

Thanks, Chris Clune

 

Date: 1-29-07

Hey everyone,

Played in Cape Town last weekend where my team, the Kwazulu Marlins went 1-1. We lost the 1st game (18 pts, 6 rbs) and won the 2nd game (11 pts, 5 ast) with me moving from small forward to point guard in the 2nd game (showing that versatility I learned from athelites!!).

Played in Durban this weekend where we went 2-0. We won the 1st game (22 pts) and the second as well (15 pts, 4 ast), and now we are tied for 1st place in our division at 4-2.

Helped to run a basketball clinic in a place called Umlazi with over 50 kids...the clinic was run by Peace Players International (the organization I'm working with), several players from the Marlins (the team I'm playing with), and it was all sponsored by Sprite.

Thanks, Chris Clune

 

Date: 1-23-07

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I have uploaded some pics from South Africa on my website so feel free to check them out. I have been going through program training this past week, learning about the organization and visiting the schools and township areas in which we will be working. I also fortunately will be playing on a pro team down here in the South African Premier Basketball League. We actually traveled to Cape Town and played 2 games there this past weekend so that was really fun as well (we lost one and won one). I hope everyone is well and best wishes.

Thanks, Chris Clune

Back to Top
News & Events Home