What I love about being a Warrior Girl is that it puts me in a position where I can be a positive role model in my community. When we host WG Dance Clinics, it gives people a chance to not only learn from professional dancers and perform on the NBA court, but it is also an opportunity for them to meet us and learn that we are fun, down-to-earth girls. How exciting was it when we were asked to host two clinics in Japan?
Before our first dance clinic, five girls were chosen to attend an interview about our trip to Japan. It was our moment to express our appreciation for being there as well as explain our intentions and expectations of our visit. We wanted to help promote professional basketball in Japan, but we were also very excited to share with others what we love to do and inspire those who share the same passion.
As we were walked through a building of a newspaper company, I felt slightly intimidated when were finally led to an empty room containing a long table with a row of six empty seats. But, as several other people followed after being seated, the interview had begun and we could not stop expressing our excitement for the trip. It was especially exciting for us to see Yoshimi be a part of this process. She was our prime example of someone pursuing her dreams to become a professional dancer.
The Dance clinics were held in a high school gym. One of the classrooms were set up as mini WG headquarters. It was where we could do our hair, make-up and review a few dances. I loved the group of boys watching us through the windows. They especially had a liking towards Leah. I’m sure a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl doesn’t come around too often.
After Yoshimi was interviewed by one of the most popular anchors in Japan, we all went upstairs to their gym. In Japan, it is custom to have separate indoor and outdoor shoes. This I didn’t figure out until the second dance clinic! Two wet towels were placed on the floor for the Americans to wipe their shoes on because they were told we do not change shoes. But, no one was given direction to do so before entering and when I saw the two towels on the ground, it didn’t occur to me to wipe the bottoms of shoes. It was instinct for me (and everyone else) to step over them! I’m sure they wondered why the towels were so clean after the first clinic.
Everyone looked so excited when we walked into the gym. With a small applause from the group of participants in the middle of the room, each Warrior Girl entered and lined up in the front to welcome all the attendees to the clinic. After a small introduction, we stretched everyone out and performed the dances we were planning to teach. Everyone seemed to want to learn the same routine so we started the clinic off by teaching one large group.
I was so impressed by the talent! While there were a few that had a hard time learning the dance, there were also a few that were amazingly great! I was especially impressed by how well they picked up even after the language barrier! I’m sure a lot of them learned a few english words. I would be surprised if they could not count up to eight after the clinic. Three words I learned in Japanese: “Atsui” meaning “hot”, “kawaii” meaning “cute”, and “muzukashii” meaning “difficult.”
After the whole routine was taught, we split the group into smaller, more intimate groups. This gave me a chance to get the know a few of the participants on a more personal level. A few girls were extremely shy, but I tried my best to help them feel more comfortable around us. How could someone feel intimidated by little ol’ me? I find laughter to be the best tool to loosen up the nerves. Trust me, if you can’t laugh with me, I’m sure it’s easy to laugh at me.
Just like the WG Dance Clinics we host in America, Director, Susan Hovey, recorded the routines and emailed videos to the participants so they could practice on their own time. Boy, did they practice! Maybe it is in the Japanese culture to be very disciplined and diligint because not one girl looked like she didn’t practice.
We held our second dance clinic in the same location the next day. Half of the participants were girls who attended the first clinic. They needed to leave a little early, so we spent a little time cleaning their routine but, there wasn’t much to clean! It’s hard to believe that the participants were able to impress us even more after the first day but they did! Because of their hard work, we were able to teach them a few more shorter routines until it was time for them to leave.
For those who were staying the whole time, we taught a whole new routine that they picked up really fast. I personally stepped aside half way to help those who came to the clinic late. I find teaching very rewarding and as a Warrior Girl, I find myself with many opportunities to be a mentor to others. I love being able to teach those something I love to do and then see their interpretation of it. Sometimes, like in this case, it turns out better than I imagine!
Near the end of our second clinic, Director Hovey recorded the new dance routine in order to e-mail it to the participants later. After seeing how well the first group of girls did after one night’s practice, I was very excited to see the end results of the second group. I knew we had nothing to worry about. Because of their hard-working attitude, the dance clinic participants were sure to put on a great show during the games in the upcoming days. Watch out! Japan’s got talent!
There's no prize for winning... only bragging rights for the upcoming year (look at Miami Heat's webiste). Last year, we made it to Round 3 and would LOVE to not only to do it again this year, but go beyond!
The Voting has already started for previous teams since Monday, March 16th, but the first round for the Warrior Girls begins tomorrow, Friday, March 20th. We are competing against the other Northern California dance team... the Sacramento Kings.
Voting will start approximately around 11am tomorrow and will go all day until Monday morning (excluding the weekend). It's really easy to vote. Just register yourself with NBA.com (free of charge) and vote! Here is the website for voting:
At 7:00pm, all the Warrior Girls were together in the locker room (minus the three who arrived late) to distribute new warm-up jackets and pants and by 7:30pm, the 17 dressed up girls were seated in the back row of section 121 of the Oracle Arena.
"Brett wants us to leave before fourth quarter starts so we don't hit traffic on the way to the airport."
Each girl began to dig in their carry-on bags to search for some comfortable clothes to get changed into for the 16 hours and 50 minutes we would be on a chartered plane.
As we entered the lobby of Kaiser Air, a line was being formed for a security check. After being given our passport and boarding pass, each of our bags were thoroughly checked, followed by being given a little goodie bag before getting into a shuttle that drove us to our plane.
I was amazed by what were given; a china travel book, a survival bag containing wet wipes, hand sanitizer, Alka Seltzer, mints and a nutrition bar, and a special NBA customized "flip" video recorder! Now we had no excuse for not documenting any important memories that will be made during our trip to China.
Girls love taking photos and after being dropped off at the foot of the stairs that led to the cabin of our gigantic plane, we realized we had a good two hours to kill before take-off. Six of us definitely took advantage of this and used this time to take tons of photos in front of the aircraft (with help from a few airline staff members).
After already having so much fun (prior to even boarding the plane!), we all climbed up the stairs to our cabin and chose our row of seats to designate as our bed for the long flight. Some chose the three seats that sat next to a wall/window, but I chose the middle 4-seater, so I could completely extend my body while I slept. Sleep was something I seriously need to catch up on after a long week.
"Help yourselves to the taco bar."
3:59am, Anchorage, Alaska. The 5-hour flight did not feel long at all. It may have been because I slept for at least 4 hours of it. We had ninety minutes before our 11-hour, 50-minutes flight to China, so we decided to spend that time off the plane, in the terminal.
Why did I feel like we skipped Alaska and went straight to China? All the signs were written in Chinese as a second language. Who would ever think that Alaska had such a high Asian population? It didn't occur to me then, that we would be spending time in the China Air Terminal.
After the cabin darkened, the plane was back in the air and I went back to extending my body on my "bed." The next thing I knew, I overheard someone state, "Five hours left until we land inn good old China."
"A few more hours?!?" It was time to watch a movie, read a book, snack some more or go back to sleep to make the time go by faster.
