A reflection of Border Beat

Border Sports? Who knew? Going into this class, I certainly didn't.

I was very weary going into Border Beat that I would be very limited in the work I would do. I was mistaken pretty quickly. On top of learning the necessary programs involving audio, video and the common photojournalism camera work, Border Beat turned into one of the more interesting classes I ever took through the University of Arizona Journalism program. I had never been able to cover my passion - sports - in any of my other classes, nor did I get to interview so many interesting people, which in turn followed with writing fun and interesting pieces.

The semester isn't completely over, but I'm glad I took the route of online journalism out of all the capstone courses offered. One, because with my new job as a beat reporter for MLB.com covering the Arizona Diamondbacks, I've already started to incorporate some of the online experience I learned in Border Beat at the national level, such as formatting links in articles, as evidenced in the Diamondbacks story two lines above.

The class also gave me a chance to write stories I had always wanted to write but never got the chance to do. For example, stories I wrote about athletes such as Luis Rivera, Alejandra Llaneza and Albert Subirats were all stories from sports I had never covered in my time as a repoter for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, which gave me some satisfaction of expanding my horizons a little bit.

Then there was the St. Andrew's Children's Clinic at the beginning of April. As several members of Border Beat would tell you, the clinic was an utterly amazing experience and is definitely something you would never think about covering for a class. I'm usually the type of reporter that is more motivated by captivating stories and the St. Andrew's Clinic really motivated me to really dig deep, not just as a reporter, but as a human being.

For someone that spent not just the semester in Border Bear covering sports, but basically nearly every story I've ever written, covering the St. Andrew's Clinic opened my eyes to the idea that it can actually be interesting covering things other than sports. (I never thought I would type those words.)

I will admit I don't know a whole lot about the other capstone classes offered at the university, but it sure seems like Border Beat is one of the more interesting experiences you could have as a college reporter.

Former Israeli soldier has new life in Tucson

Danielle Steinberg had been a competitive tennis player in Israel since she was eight years old. She had always wanted to play at the college level one day and eventually go professional.

But after her high school career was over in Tel Aviv, Steinberg had to do what every other Israeli citizen has to do: serve in the Israeli army. Now she's doing her serving 7,500 miles away on the tennis courts at the University of Arizona campus, where she moved after her two-year army service was up.

She picked Arizona solely based on what she had read about the school and athletic program on the internet and what coaches told her in letters and over the phone.

When Steinberg entered Arizona, she was a 21-year-old freshman, something that is common in Israel, but not in the U.S.

"It's funny," said Steinberg, now a junior. "In Israel my friends are just now starting to think about going to college. When I graduate I'll be 24 or 25, which is old in American terms because here you start at 18, but back home, this is usually around the age that you start college. It was kind of funny for me to be a 21-year-old freshman. I was definitely the oldest freshman there was."

Now at the age of 23, she's established herself as being the team leader. Steinberg comes from a country that doesn't care too much about sports, albeit the occasional Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer and basketball games. Steinberg said the tradition of college sports in America differs greatly from the athletic landscape in Israel.

"The first week I was here, when I saw the facility and the amount of people involved, I was shocked," she said. "As an athlete, I've never been treated with such respect because it's not really a big priority in Israel, especially tennis."

The last time Steinberg was in her home state of Israel was during the summer of 2006 during their war with the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah. Steinberg stayed in Tel Aviv, a beach city which stayed relatively peaceful during the time because all of the bombs were going off in the northern part, mainly Haifa, but she had several family members who were forced to move from that area because it was not safe.

In 2002 Steinberg won the Israeli doubles championship, and in 2004, she was a runner-up at the Israeli Championship.

Playing tennis at St. Andrew's

At the St. Andrew's Clinic in Nogales, Ariz., Grant Alley can be known as the "tennis ball man."

That's because at each clinic, Alley, an avid tennis player, brings about 300 tennis balls for the kids to play with. While it can be seen as merely something to keep the 225 kids or so occupied while they are waiting for treatment in the clinic, Alley sees it another way.

Alley said it brings him great satisfaction to see the kids, who are all at the clinic for critical health treatment, get some exercise and to have fun by being athletic and throwing the balls around.

“They love it,” Alley said. “My favorite part is just seeing the look on the kids’ faces. Each youngster has a little bit different of a look, but it’s always a look of gratitude.”

Alley has volunteered at the clinic since 2004 and helped out with the parking situation in the church's parking lot. In 2005, he had the idea to bring tennis balls for all the children because he had seen them just sitting around with their families in the mornings waiting for the clinic to open.

“The idea came about with all these youngsters here that get here as early as 6:30 in the morning was to bring them some tennis balls that we’re not using and let’s bring them and play with them here,” he said.

Several kids, while waiting outside the church for treatment, entertained themselves by playing catch with one another. Some tested their arm strength by seeing how far they could throw the balls in the parking lot. Others tossed the balls against a wall, while others used the wall as a partial handball court.

“The motivation is to keep the youngsters occupied during the time they’re here and we find that it’s so great because when they see us drive in, they come down. They know what we’re doing,” Alley added.

A day at St. Andrew's Clinic

Normally on this blog I discuss international athletes, but today I thought I would discuss something I experienced last Thursday in Nogales, Ariz. The event was an all-day activity at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, about five miles from the U.S. - Mexico border, aimed to help Mexican children whose parents otherwise couldn't afford health care. The church provides free, specialized health care for the children on the first Thursday of every month (excluding July) at the church.

On April 21 on the Border Beat website, I will be doing a few interesting stories about some of the things I encountered at the clinic. The first story will be about a handful of University of Arizona medical students that volunteer each month not only to assist in the children's medical care, but to experience some hands-on learning about medical treatment. Allison Castro, one of the coordinators of the program spoke to me for a while about some of the amazing experiences she has encountered in her five-plus years volunteering at the clinic, along with other medical students.

I will also be working on a few feature stories on some of the volunteers at the clinic. Some of the volunteers really have a great story, like 83-year-old Robert Mankel, whose mainstay volunteer job for five years has been to lift small children that need to be weighed. Some of the children have very severe medical conditions and are unable to walk, so Mankel helps out both the clinic and the children by assisting them. He weighs 160 pounds, and always adds the children's weight to the scales.

Another piece I will be working on is about the bus driver, Ray Turner, who goes down to the border dozens of times a day to pick up the patients and brings them back to the clinic in his bus, which is about a five mile ride.

Finally, one of the more extensive pieces I will be doing will be about the program's future. St. Andrew's will be selecting a new board of directors in the very imminent future, and there are talks of expanding the clinic to a bigger space for easier, more efficient care. The program has mainly been done the last 34 years at the church (in the early years it took place in Nogales, Mexico).

There were a lot of interesting people I talked to, and I'm sure the other nine people in the Border Beat class will be putting together some very interesting things as well. Be sure to check the website on April 21 for a very extensive look into the St. Andrew's Clinic.

UA swim team wins national championship with international flavor

Finally, the drought is over. The Arizona men's swim team won the 2008 NCAA Championship over the weekend in Federal Way, Wash., the first UA men's championship since the 1997 basketball team went all the way. It comes just a week after the women counterpart won an NCAA Championship in Ohio.

But unlike the women's squad, the men's team features a bit of an international flair. Of the team's 25 members, seven of them (28 percent) hail from foreign countries. The team's two standout performers were both Olympians in 2004 - for other countries. Senior Albert Subirats comes from Venezuela, whom he participated in the Olympics for in Athens, Greece, and then there is senior Darian Townsend, who was a gold medalist in the 400-meter relay in the 2004 Olympics for South Africa. Subirats and Townsend made up the leaders of the Wildcats' 13 NCAA representatives in Washington this past weekend.

Joining the list of foreigners on the National Champion swim roster are South African sophomore Jean Basson, English freshman Robert Iddiols, Brazilian junior Nicolas Nilo, and Canadian sophomores Joel Greenshields and Jake Tapp. Nilo and Greenshields both played key parts in the championship. Greenshields was on the last leg of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay, while Nilo finished third in the 100 freestyle. Among the other internationals, Subirats won the 100 butterfly and Townsend won the 200 individual medley on Friday.

Nilo told the Arizona Daily Wildcat over the weekend: "I came from Brazil and I had no idea what 'a team' meant. My freshman year I was kind of confused and I was learning a little bit about everything. Now I think I finally got the definition of the word 'team,' and this is it."

Check the Border Beat website as early as Wednesday for a feature story on the international swimmers and all their recent endeavors.

'America's Pastime' expands to communist country

Tomorrow Major League Baseball will make its first-ever attempt to expand its horizons to another foreign country. This time, though, MLB will send two teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres to the communist country of China.

The two teams will depart from their respective Spring Training sites, the Padres in Peoria, Ariz. and the Dodgers in Dodgertown, Fla., tomorrow to embark on a one-week trip. The trip is more than about baseball, though. It's about public relations, and expanding the sport to a country that otherwise only cares about basketball.

The two teams will visit the Great Wall and sign autographs there for fans as well as at shopping centers. They will also hold youth clinics in an effort to teach young kids the ins and outs of baseball.

Then, on Sunday, or Monday, by China's time code, the two teams will play two exhibition games in Beijing at the Wukesong Baseball Field, which holds approximately 12,000 fans. The stadium will also host the 2008 Olympic baseball tournament this August.

But after that, the stadium will be bulldozed to the ground in order to make way for high-rises like a hotel or condominium in a typical Chinese effort that makes sure commerce comes first in a country with the highest population in the world.

There is also a basketball arena close to Wukesong Baseball Field, but it won't be bulldozed, as the sport is the country's biggest, particularly due to the Yao Ming following, the 7-foot-6 Chinese basketball player who joined the NBA's Houston Rockets in 2002.

It is estimated that 300 million Chinese people play basketball across the world, and that fewer than 500 kids under the age of 18 in China play competitive baseball.

Major League Baseball is adamantly trying to expand its borders, and some even think that somewhere down the road the league will be expanded past just the U.S. and Canada. But for now, the Padres and Dodgers will do their best just to get some attendance. At a typical game at Wukesong stadium, teams are lucky to reel in more than just a few hundred fans a game.

Former Wildcat Ochoa turning heads in LPGA tour

Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa is turning into the female equivalent of Tiger Woods. After dominating this past weekend's LGPA tournament, winning by 11 strokes over another former Wildcat, Annika Sorenstam, the former Arizona Wildcat is being noticed for more than just her efforts on the women's side of the golf world. An article posted by Fox Sports examines the possibility that Woods may finally have a challenger in the golf world, and it may be Ochoa.

Ochoa grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, started golfing at the age of five, and won her first state event at the age of six, first national event by age seven and had won 22 events by her junior year of high school, winning five consecutive Junior World Golf Championships. In 2000, she enrolled at the University of Arizona, and was the national player of the year for her first two years of college. 

Now, the equivalent to Ochoa on the Arizona women's golf team is Alejanda Llaneza, who I will be writing about this week for Border Beat.