SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Rising junior Eric Garcia of the Wofford men's basketball team will embark on a two-week competitive tour of the Philippines as one of nine Athletes In Action international-touring basketball teams this summer.
 
The team will gather in Dayton, Ohio on July 24 for a four-day training camp before heading overseas on July 29.  Eight games are slated over a 12-day span.  The AIA Team returns home to US soil on August 11.
 
AIA has sent touring teams to the Philippines for over 30 years. Aside from playing basketball, participants partner with in-country staff and other mission organizations to resource compassionate, Christian ministry around the world. AIA champions faith, character and victory beyond competition. Most recently, a March 2014 AIA team went to assist typhoon disaster relief efforts (November 2013) and then followed with an AIA men's basketball-compassion tour August 2014.
 
"It's a great opportunity to go over to the Philippines, play high-level basketball and help out in some of the less fortunate communities," said Garcia, who has won two Southern Conference championships in his two years at Wofford. "A few of my former coaches played for AIA and it's a great opportunity to grow as a person."
 
Among those participating on this team with Garcia will be TK Edogi and D'Andre Wright (Tulsa), Chris Hass (Bucknell), Javis Howard (Charleston Southern), Greg Lewis (Rutgers), Tyler Lewis (Butler), Tyrell Nelson (Gardner-Webb), Winston Shepard (San Diego State), and Andre Yates (Cleveland State). Morris Michalski, veteran AIA Coach, heads the leadership team that includes Phil Bollier (AIA), Phil Gillespie (Michigan State AIA), Donte Hill (NBL Japan), and Claude Pardue (Georgia State).
 
"We fully expect the personal growth and cultural exchange to be rich and life-changing," stated Michalski in an AIA release. "We are looking for victories both in and beyond competition and pray that we will receive them. This will be a whirlwind experience that I believe everyone on our team will embrace with arms wide open. The tour is looking for great battles to fight, great adventures to live, and great opportunities for personal growth, making better men not just better players."
 
The team is slated to play an array of teams that includes the country's top 4 collegiate basketball powerhouses as well as several professional teams from the country's formidable Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Basketball in the Philippines is wildly popular and the sport there holds high prominence throughout Asia. Currently, the Philippines National Team is ranked second in all of Asia. One game is projected with them also.
 
Athletes in Action is the sports branch of CRU. Its people coach life, send teams and host events. Dave Hannah, who desired to capitalize on society's great love of sports and utilize the platform given to athletes to reach the world for Jesus Christ, founded AIA in 1966. AIA's reach includes ministry to high school, college and professional athletes and coaches across a great number of sports globally.
 
For the good of the game, the growth of its people, to the glory of God is their motivation.