On the basketball front, also great advances: found this place La Canasta through another American guy: www.lacanasta.com.pe
This place is the greatest homage to the game of basketball in which I have ever set foot. It is a shrine to the sport and needs to be featured in tomorrow's Tribune or Sun-Times. It is run by Erasmo Roca, a legend of basketball in Peru. He regularly goes to the US to attend coaches camps. Back in the day when the NCAA began to promote the game internationally, they started coaches camps and he was the Peruvian delegate chosen by Peruvian authorities to represent. He has since trained all the subsequent major Peruvian basketball coaches and countless players. His "Salon de la Fama" (Hall of Fame) has been considered in the press as perhaps the only facility of its kind in all of Latin America. Erasmo's gym is very humble to be sure, despite the paraphernalia, but it is the heart of the basketball world in Peru (which isn't huge I must say). Why? There is no professional league where players earn a living. Instead there are "superior leagues" in which various clubs play against each other.
When I showed up last week to Erasmo's La Canasta for the first time my jaw hit the floor first in awe of the memorabilia he has hanging all around the gym and small office and in the corridor - oh and above the urinals. Aside from the thousands(?) of posters, let me just say he has a replica of the Jordan statue that graces the entrance to the United Center in Chicago. And wait, I just looked it up online and read on the UC's website that the same couple from Highland Park, IL that sculpted the original MJ statue that was set in place in 1994, crafted 123 replicas that were sold to benefit the Charitabulls. Could his be one of these? The dimensions seem about right. And who else would take the time to craft those? Moving on...
Aside from being awed and playing ball for the first time in three months, I talked with "El Profesor" about my interests in playing. He said he'd take a look at me that day and then he's talk around. Well I played last Tuesday and didn't see him, then returned today for more ball, followed by the ever-quenching combo of Ceviche and Cerveza Negra with a few of the guys, and while playing he pulled me off the court to put me on the phone with a coach, Cesar. Cesar coaches one of the top 4 teams in Peru's top league and is picking me up at 8:30 Monday night for practice. I think I finally found my fill until I get back to Graham's Balance Gym in DC. (www.balancegym.com).
