UPPER LAKE >> One of the best athletes in Upper Lake High School history and certainly one of its top basketball players is busier now than she’s ever been.
Katherine Edmonds, 24, better known as Kat during her playing days with the Cougars, is a director and organizer along with fiancee Michael Escobedo for ESCO Sports International, which recently conducted a group of high school and college basketball players, five of them from Lake County, on a five-day trip to Foshan, Guangdong, China.
Edmonds, a 2012 Upper Lake High graduate and the Lake County Record-Bee’s female Athlete of the Year for the 2011-12 sports season, went on to play basketball at Mendocino College in Ukiah and Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon. Both Edmonds and Escobedo graduated from Multnomah in May of 2017, each with bachelor degrees in business administration and biblical studies.
One of the goals of ESCO Sports International, according to Edmonds, is to give students from the United States the opportunity to see other parts of the world and show them the endless opportunities that are available outside of the areas where they grew up.
“We see far too many people never leave the area they grew up and we want to change that,” Edmonds said. “It is our hope that from this trip they learned about the Chinese culture, the world, and most importantly about themselves.”
Accompanying Edmonds and Escobedo to China were high school athletes Niklas Helms and Robert Chavez of Kelseyville, Ray Moran and Xavier Poe of Upper Lake, Donavin Valadez of Lakeport, Quincy Hayes of Ukiah, Liam Maizner of Laytonville, Jalen Castro of Arroyo Grande, Allanah Maddox of Tracy, and college players Sadie Jenks of Multnomah University and Charnice Nelson from Baltimore.
Athletes paid $2,500 to participate.
Coaches included Escobedo, men’s assistant coach at Mendocino College, and Miles Hayes of the As1 AAU team in Ukiah.
The team played five games against different opponents — FoshanDisability Academy, Foshan Number 1 High School, WSE Basketball Academy, Foshan Sports University, and Foshan All-Star Select.
In addition to game play, team members participated in an hour-long yoga class taught by guru Mohit Kumur from India on day three of their trip.
Team members also learned about Chinese cuisine. On the first day of their trip the breakfast menu included cereal with warm milk, boiled eggs, chowmein, toast, rice, watermelon and a type of Chinese pastry that looks something like a cinnamon roll only more gooey, according to Edmonds. After a training session, team members walked around downtown Foshan before playing their first game against a team of deaf adults.
“This team was strong and played very physical,” Edmonds said. “Our players were very surprised by the physicality of the Chinese players.”
On day two, the players went to the WSE Basketball Academy where they were greeted by all 50 employees.
“They welcomed us in Chinese and our English translator interpreted for us,” Edmonds said. “Coach Escobedo introduced our group and thanked the company for co-hosting our trip. Each American player got to the mic to introduce themselves and said hello. We were all acknowledged with huge applause.”
After playing a game against the WSE coaches, team members had lunch at a local eatery.
“They tried their best to make some French fries and chicken wings for us,” Edmonds said. “We weren’t used to the hot water they served or the chop sticks.”
Later that same day team members played Foshan Number 1 High School, a team Escobedo trained twice a week while living in China.
Among the highlights of day three of the trip was a yoga session that allowed the athletes to stretch in ways they never had before, according to Edmonds. After that, it was off to Guangzhou, the third-largest city in China behind only Beijing and Shanghai, for a tour of some of the best fake shopping items in the country. Many merchants there offer knock-off products of many famous designer brands of clothes, shoes and watches.
“We got a good laugh when one fake Gucci shop sign read ‘Cucci’ and a wannabe Starbucks was name ‘Sorrbucks’ with the exact same log and lettering,” Edmonds said.
Then it was to back work as the touring players played games against Foshan Sports University, a college designated for Chinese students who want to pursue careers in sports.
“They had some huge guys and in warm-ups it was a little intimidating. They were coached by an ex-national team player and now the national team coach,” Edmonds said.
The touring American men came away winners while the touring American women took on a talented high school team.
“We just weren’t deep enough on the bench to keep up with the Chinese girls team, which had about 20 girls on one team,” Edmonds said.
Day four was reserved for rest and sightseeing. The ESCO Sports International group visited Xiqiao Mountain, a 40- to 50-million-year-old extinct volcano in the Nanhai District of Foshan, Guangdong.
“There is a gigantic statue of Buddha that we took an endless amount of photos with,” Edmonds said.
The group had dinner at Pizza Hut before renting a karaoke booth.
“In China karaoke is called K-TV. We were pleasantly surprised by how many of the students go on the mic and sang,” Edmonds said. “But it was Charnice Nelson who blew us all away with her amazing voice. She sang so well that I asked her if she would sing the U.S. national anthem before our last game. She obliged. We were out the latest of any night singing and laughing.”
The touring Americans began the final day of their trip gathered with more than 1 million people to walk from point A to point B.
“The purpose of the event was to show people that driving is not a necessity,” Edmonds said. With over-population and a pollution crisis, China is doing what they can to keep driving to a minimum.”
The men played an All-Star team later in the day while the women played a three-on-three game, which is extremely popular in China.
“After the game we had a closing celebration/dinner in the upstairs room of the gymnasium,” Edmonds said. “We discussed our favorite parts of the trip, least favorite parts of the trip and what we learned about life, basketball, each other and ourselves.”
ESCO Sports International will be organizing more global trips in the near future, including a trip to Hungary on Aug. 6-13. If interested in taking part, call Michael Escobedo at (707) 349-3255. You can learn more on Instagram at EscoSportsInternational or on Facebook at Esco Sports International.
