NEW YORK CITY – In the midst of a six-day road trip that features two games in the northeast, the Longwood men's basketball team stepped away from the court Friday to visit several prominent sites in New York City.
 
Making their way from this past Tuesday's matchup against Maine in Bangor, Maine, to Manhattan, N.Y., for Saturday's matchup at Columbia, the Lancers took a detour in the boroughs and visited several sites, including the National September 11 Memorial, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Battery Park and South Street Seaport.
 
"Yes, we're here to play a game, but in our program we believe in the commitment to developing the total person and exposing them to experiences beyond basketball," said third-year head coach Jayson Gee. "Being able to come here and see the things we saw is just something we couldn't turn down."
 
Longwood's walking tour of the city began at the National September 11 Memorial, which according to Gee, stuck as the most memorable scene of the day despite the major attractions that followed.
 
"The 9/11 Memorial was quite touching and quite mind-boggling as you look back at what happened years ago," he said. "It forced us to relive that day and remember where we were when that happened. We talked with our players about the impact it had on them. A lot of them were young when it happened, but still old enough to remember it to some degree. That was certainly the most memorable site we saw today."
 
The visit to the memorial preceded a trip to the New York Stock Exchange, where the Lancers received a personal tour from friends of associate head coach Jake Luhn. They watched the daily commotion of the stock market from the trading room floor and were even granted access to an NYSE board room where they held their daily team meeting.
 
"[The NYSE] is something our players have been exposed to their entire lives," Gee said. "Actually being there was intriguing to our guys, and I'm thankful to our hosts for elaborating on what the stock exchange is all about. The tour was first class. I'm grateful to [associate head coach Jake Luhn] and his contacts for setting it up."
 
After the stock exchange, the team moved on to Battery Park and the South Street Seaport where they ate some local fare and took in the scenes of the New York City streetscape.
 
"The street performers were great," said sophomore Kanayo Obi-Rapu. "The people performing, that's their livelihood for some of them, and they're very good at what they do. You don't see that in Farmville.
 
"Overall this was a good experience. I saw a lot of new things...just seeing so many people here, you get to see a lot of things you don't get to back home. There's a level of diversity here, people walking around speaking French, Spanish. It was pretty eye-opening."
 
Longwood's Thanksgiving road trip concludes following Saturday's 7 p.m. showdown at Columbia. The game will be the fifth straight road matchup for the Lancers and their final non-conference bout before the Big South opener at High Point on Dec. 2.



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