June 23, 2008

Rising junior Dave Buchberger recently had the experience of a lifetime. The Lehigh guard was able to play basketball in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic for 16 days as a part of the Athletes in Action organization. Buchberger was one of 12 current and former collegiate basketball players chosen from across the United States to participate in the program.

"It was an awesome experience. I definitely don't regret it at all and would recommend it to a lot of people," he said. "I think the thing about Athletes in Action that makes it special is I don't think anywhere else you're going to get the athletic, the cultural and the spiritual aspect of an experience all in one package."

Buchberger admits that he hasn't done much traveling prior to this trip, so when the opportunity did present itself, he had to take it. The Ohio native first heard of this experience back in January when the pastor from his church in Cincinnati had mentioned it to him. Buchberger did a bit a research on the organization's website and filled out the online application.

"You submit your application and then they review it and match you up with a tour based on the level you play at, where you're at spiritually and all kinds of different factors," he said.

In April, Buchberger received an email that said he would be going to Europe. Because Athletes in Action is a non-profit organization, his next task was to raise support and fundraise money that would allow him to go. He compiled a list of 50-100 names of people and sent out support letters that explained the purpose of the trip and his reasons for going. Luckily, he was able to raise $3400, which paid for his plane ticket, food, clothes and everything else while overseas.

From May 24 to June 7, Buchberger was immersed in an experience he will never forget. His team was originally scheduled to play 11 games against professional and national teams, but due to cancellations and other factors, they were only able to play eight.

"If you're in Spain, I think that's comparable to playing pretty close to the NBA level," he said. "But if you're in Bulgaria or the Czech Republic, their professional basketball over there is like Division I college basketball over here."

A typical game day overseas was action-packed. "Everyday on average we would have two-to-three meetings where Athletes in Action takes your spirituality or your faith and they funnel it through the contents of sport. We would basically have a Bible study but it was related and geared toward athletes," he said. "Also, in those meetings, people would share their stories and what their lives were like."

Prior to the game, they would put on a clinic for the local kids, demonstrating drills for about 40 minutes. "After that they would round everybody up and somebody would share their testimony and talk about their faith a little bit more to the kids."

The game would then take place and afterwards, they would go out to eat with the opposing team. Buchberger said it was hard because of the language barrier. Even though a lot of the players did speak some English, there were translators that allowed them to communicate.

The team also visited an orphanage in the Czech Republic where they just hung out with the kids for a day. Buchberger recalls someone telling him that 11 of the kids there were brothers and sisters, belonging to one mother. "I think things like that open up your eyes to see how privileged you are."

Despite the busy schedule, they were able to do some sightseeing. Out of the two places he went to, Buchberger liked Bulgaria better simply because they were immersed in the culture, he said. But in terms of sight-seeing, he leaned in favor of the Czech Republic, especially the city of Prague.

"I would say the most interesting or the most special, the most unforgettable aspect of the tour was the people, especially the people that were on my team; my teammates and coaches," he said. "Just hearing about their stories and their testimonies and their lives was really interesting because you have people from a variety of different backgrounds and different maturity levels. You form pretty close bonds with these guys in a two week time period."

Buchberger said he continues to keep in touch with many guys from the team via Facebook and just talking to each other on the phone.

"I think the biggest thing I've learned is how important relationships are in life. And I think ultimately a lot of time, whether it's in the workplace or on the basketball court or wherever you are, it's about the people and the relationships that you have and those bonds. I think those kinds of memories last longer than the wins and losses."

Lehigh University is privileged to have such a young personality not only on its basketball court, but on its campus as well. Buchberger brings back an eye-opening perspective that when shared, it will truly be inspiring.

Story written by Kristen Dalton `10