JR Holden Site
Category:
Action/Thriller
Type: Non-Fiction
ISBN-13: 9780615372877
The remarkable voyage of how a young American’s passion takes him from the inner city playgrounds, to the rural settings of West Virginia; pushing him to pursue an education, and a successful career in Europe; but not before landing him a place in history in the Beijing Summer Olympics.... playing for the Russian Men’s National Basketball Team! The memoirs of JR Holden is an amazing testament to how perseverance and belief can lead you on a journey, that one can only imagine. Regardless of what walk of life you are from.
Excerpt
It was a hot summer day. As I took my seat on the aircraft, I began to anticipate our next destination. The flight wasn’t going to be long, so as soon as I strapped myself in, I closed my eyes and drifted into deep thought about the tough opposition that had brought us to this point.
My first thought was of the intense competition my comrades and I had just faced. They were considered to be the greatest spectacle the world had seen. They were viewed as giants and known simply as the “Redeem Team.” They were a group of elites assembled to erase all doubt that they were superior at their craft. As the floor general, I was expected to take my team into battle and give some form of hope that we could stand our ground against such an amazing force. Through life’s many battles, I learned not to fear competition, and I had prepared myself to be in the best shape humanly possible. Facing these so-called giants was just another obstacle for me—another hurdle I needed to get over to reach my destination—to be considered one of the best at what I do. In spite of my personal outlook on this group of elites, I could see the fear in the eyes of some of my team. Some, I could tell were in awe at the mere presence of such phenomenal opposition; but the mere thought of clashing with these elites excited me to a point that I could hear my heart racing. I wanted to make my presence felt from the beginning —and so I did.
While anticipating the start of this contest, my mind would often drift to the biblical story of how the boy, David, defeated the giant Goliath. I asked myself-would it be written that I could possibly achieve as colossal a victory as David? Would my name be placed in history as the one who took down the unstoppable and done the unthinkable? Could we REALLY do this? COULD WE? No, we couldn’t! The giants defeated us—but it wasn’t an easy task for them—because we refused to go down without a fight. We, as a unit, found no victory; there was no real comfort in my knowing that I had made a valiant effort to overthrow the unbeatable. I found no relief in losing a tough battle but knew that I had but a short time to dwell on defeat. Lurking in the midst was another fierce competitor—one that wasn’t as powerful as our previous adversary, but just as potent. Our next game was against China’s finest. We were to take our competitive edge on their soil. Fueled by the spoils handed to us previously, we were determined not to suffer another defeat. We battled privately, where no wandering eyes could witness our victory or vanquish. We readily defeated our opponents, but it was a battle all the same. I could see the positive effects of going against a force as powerful as the “Redeem Team”, and how it had strengthened our outfit. I felt as though we were ready to accomplish the goals waiting to be achieved by us.
My recollection of these events was abruptly interrupted—I noticed that it was time to exit the aircraft. As the doors to the plane opened, an extreme heat greeted me— a hot and muggy heat—one that can only be experienced in the southern-most parts of the United States at the height of summer—the type of heat and humidity that takes your breath away. After gathering my belongings (and breath), I was shocked by what looked to be a sea of people. They were all dressed in uniforms of light blue tops— directing, escorting, assisting, and guiding any and everyone who didn’t have on the same color uniform. I was amazed at the scale of this organized chaos. The amount of energy and level of excitement with which these people assisted us was nothing I had seen before. Everyone seemed to have a position and a role to play, and they were playing it with precision.
Once we had our luggage we then traveled to what looked to be some type of check point. We all had to get clearance and accreditations to travel further. It was a very thorough procedure and once we all had been cleared, we were put on another bus to take us to our final destination. We had not traveled far before we arrived at some towering brick structures. There had to be at least 150 of these buildings. One of the first things that caught my attention were the flags—flags of every imaginable color. Each of these flags represented 1 of the 203 countries present. I suddenly saw my flag, but I only noticed one of them. My eyes began to search feverishly for the other flag. I then asked why there wasn’t a flag representing my birthplace? Since the beginning of my travels abroad, seeing the USA flag or meeting people from my birthplace always made me feel safer. It was as if I had a little piece of home with me no matter where I was at. So not seeing the USA flag startled me and left me wondering why it wasn’t represented. And even though initially I wasn’t provided an explanation, I later found out that it wasn’t there for safety reasons. No other explanation was provided, and I was left feeling very disappointed. In any case, the flags signified where everyone was staying. So, for the protection and safety of my US family, their dwelling place had to be kept somewhat private. This left me with a funny feeling inside, but, I was here to do a job!
Upon arrival at the building where we were to stay, I was ushered inside and quickly shown our sleeping quarters. Prior to our arrival, I learned that I would be sharing my room with someone else, and I could choose my roommate. I chose a guy by the name of Victor and he was of mixed descent— half African and half Russian. Victor spoke English quite well, and I was very comfortable sharing a room with him. Our living arrangement was designed efficiently; there were 20 of us confined to each floor. When I opened the door to my room, I saw twin beds, a cupboard that we were to share, a window, and a bathroom that would be used by me as well as 3 others. This was no luxury hotel by any stretch of the imagination, but it would suffice. I had seen and experienced much worse.
As I began to look around the colorless room, I experienced a moment of confusion—WHERE was I? WHAT was I doing here? And finally, HOW did I get here? I lay down on my bed hoping for a moment of clarity, when I heard commotion in the distance. I walked to the window and looked out over the expanse below. I saw a vast landscape occupied by a massive amount of people. People of all races, colors, ethnicities, sizes, and shapes were walking around feverishly, as if they had somewhere important to be. It was at that point I remembered my purpose for being here. I was in Beijing, China—at the 2008 Summer Olympics. I was here to lead my team, the Russian Men’s National Basketball Team, to win a medal in Men’s Basketball in front of the entire world! I was a proud black AMERICAN-who had received RUSSIAN citizenship a few years before with the belief and trust that one day I would be here-representing my other country in the Beijing Olympics!
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