Honz, Nash set to compete in Brazil
INDIANOLA, Iowa -- Simpson College men's basketball rising senior Chris Honz and women's basketball incoming junior Cassie Nash will compete on the USA D-3 National Select Team in Brazil next week.
Honz and Nash begin their trip July 12 with orientation in Orlando, Florida. The teams then depart for Sao Paulo, Brazil and will return home July 21. Aside from playing local teams, the players will have a chance to experience education, cultural and social aspects of Brazilian life through city, school and sports club visits.
The men and women will compete in three games in different cities, including Rio de Janeiro. Bethany Lutheran's Lyle Jones will serve as the head coach of the women and SUNY Polytechnic Institute's David Golembiowski will guide the men.
A product of Omaha, Nebraska, Honz earned first team all-conference honors after a breakout junior season. He averaged 14.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and finished second in the league in both rebounding and blocks per game (1.2). He shot 61.6 percent from the field, good for fourth in the league. Honz's best performance was a 26-point, 11-rebound effort in a loss against league champion Dubuque on Feb. 26. He posted four double-doubles during the season.
A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Nash earned second team all-conference honors after averaging 15.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore. She led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1), and was fourth in both assists per game (3.6) and steals per game (2.9). Nash earned conference athlete of the week honors for the period ending Sunday, March 14 after averaging 21.3 points per game during Simpson's run in the conference tournament. She scored a career-high 31 points in Simpson's 89-84 overtime win against Coe in the American Rivers Conference Championship.
Day One — July 13
Cassie Nash: "We arrived at Sao Paulo around 10 a.m. this morning. From there, we drove from the Sao Paulo Airport to our hotel in Jundiai. The drive took about two hours before we ate breakfast before practice. Practice was cancelled due to COVID-19, so both the men and women decided to get in the pool. Around 6:30 p.m., we had a team meeting to talk about how we would play in our game tomorrow since there was no practice. We then headed to Bandeirantes for dinner. We had steak (which was really good) and some fries. After that, we headed back to the hotel. Both teams hung out and started to get to know each other better before going to bed."
Day Two — July 14
Chris Honz: "Today was the first game day in Brazil. To begin the day, both girls teams ate breakfast together and immediately did a trivia competition afterwards for team bonding. A lot of the trivia was geography based along with famous athlete nicknames. Winners won some unique Brazilian chocolate. Our team reviewed some plays and had some relaxation time to prepare for our game later that afternoon. Girls played a strong team at 4 p.m. while the men followed playing a well-rounded professional club. These games were played at Sesi Gym, about 1.5 hours from our hotel, which had a old but welcoming vibe to It. After the game, we gave shirts that represented our colleges to the opposing team, which they loved. We finished off the night with a team dinner and relaxation to prepare to leave for Rio de Janeiro early in the morning. The women play again Friday while the men play Saturday."
Day Three — July 15
Cassie Nash: "We left from the Sao Paulo Airport to head to Rio de Janeiro. We arrived in Rio around 1:15 p.m. and went straight to the hotel after getting our luggage. Once there, they had lunch waiting for us. Both teams were able to spend a couple hours at the Copacabana Beach, which is right across the street from our hotel. We were greeted by many vendors that were selling a variety of things such as jerseys, scarfs, flags and whole bunch of other items. When we left the beach, we headed to dinner. They walked around with a bunch of dessert pizzas. There was a milk chocolate, a white chocolate with strawberry, a caramel and banana pizza that we were able to try. After dinner, we went to the market place where we able to buy all kinds of souvenirs before heading back to the hotel for the night."
Day Four — July 16
Chris Honz: "Today began with sightseeing as we visited the Statue of Christ in Rio De Janeiro. It was easily one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The statue was huge and our teams took many pictures while admiring the view it provided of Brazil. You traveled up and down the mountain by a train which took around 20-30 minutes. Afterwards, we split off to enjoy some free time for lunch before going to watch the women's game. Cassie and the rest of the team played great today against one of the local clubs. We finished off the day with dinner and sand volleyball among teams afterwards."
Day Five — July 17
Cassie Nash: "The guys had an earlier game this morning. They played at 11 a.m., so we had breakfast at 8:45 a.m. before departing the hotel to leave for their for game. While the guys were warming up, the girls went over to the Adidas store at their facility. Some kids were playing soccer ping pong, which was super cool to watch. We then went back and watched the guys game. This team was a lot more competitive than the first team they played, which made it a lot more fun to watch. After the game, we stopped for lunch then went back to hotel. A group of the girls went to the beach and got in the ocean before leaving for dinner at 6:30 p.m. Dinner was a buffet consisting of sushi, fried shrimp, chicken and lots of dessert pizzas. We then had some free time in which the girls went shopping. When we got back to the hotel, both teams went on the beach and played sand volleyball to finish up the night."
Day Six — July 18
Chris Honz: "We started off the morning visiting the Sunday markets. These markets had a bunch of souvenirs including artwork, jewelry, clothing, food and much more. Afterwards, we had some time to grab food of our choice and relaxed until we headed off for Fluminense Club. Both teams played outstanding and beat both clubs. Pictures and shirts were exchanged again with opposing teams. We then got dinner and explored the shops and restaurants on the beach for the rest of the night."
Day Seven — July 19
Cassie Nash: "Today was our last full day in Rio de Janeiro. We started off by going to a clinic to get a COVID test. Once everyone was tested, we headed to Sugar Loaf Mountains to begin a day of sightseeing. At Sugar Loaf, we had to take cable cars to the top which were super cool. After we left there, we went to the Lapa Steps. These are unique steps that someone covered in tiles, that's also in a music video with Snoop Dogg and Pharrell. We left there and went to the Center Market that is a huge outdoor shopping mall that covers several city blocks. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel where we had a little bit of time to relax before heading to Flamengo Club. There we held a little clinic for some players ranging in age from 12-22 or so. After the clinic, we went to dinner at Carratoa. It's a traditional Brazilian Churrascaria. Some of the workers walked around with different types of meats - ribs, lamb, beef, steak - and would cut it in front of us and put it on our plate. The garlic bread was amazing as well. After dinner, we came back to the hotel and went to the beach to have one last night of sand volleyball."
