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 Al's China Adventure
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Biancani Fitness Dynamics spokesman, Val Laolagi, asked Al Biancani about his most recent road trip. Following is the dialoague between the two:
 BFD: Hey Al. Tell me about this roadtrip that started this past Thursday.
Al: On Thursday we flew from Beijing to Nanchang Jiangxi province to play a series of games against Australia. Nanchang is one of the best tourist and historical places in China. The weather is very warm and at this time of year there is allot of rain. We arrived, checked into our hotel which is very nice... like a 4 – 5 star.
BFD: Tell us about the facility of the team you were playing against. I heard it was a real mess.
Al: At 4:00 we went to the place where we are going to have our game. The place is like an old barn, the floor is at least 30 years old. There is no give in the floor.
BFD: I had asked you previously what you were doing over there specifically. You had mentioned that it really isn't much different that what you do here. Working with athletes and rehabilitating injuries. YOu were talking a little about a girl you were working with... Can you ellaborate?
Al: While the girls were practicing, I did some knee rehabilitation with Chen Xiaoli... one of our Olympians. We did some tubing strengthening for her knee, and ran 2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2 on the floor. Due to the fact that most Arenas and hotels over here do not have weight rooms, I carry different size tubing to do our strength work. At the end of practice I divided the 14 girls into 2 groups and we did 3 x 20 second bouts with tubing. Each girl was to get between 30 – 40 reps each set. This givens them some cardio in addition to strength training.
BFD: Man, that sounds tough!
Al: Friday we had a shoot around at 10:00 – 11:00. I did tubing knee rehab and made Xioali run 5 x 5 on the floor while dribbling. I kicked her ass.
Al: Tonight, we will play our first game against Australia. After the game I will condition those girls who did not play 12 minutes in the game.
BFD: How does the next few days look for you?
Al: Today, we will leave our hotel at 8:00 for a 2 hour bus ride to Xinyu. We will follow the same schedule as we did on Thursday. I will have Chen Xiaoli practice with the team a little tomorrow. On Sunday we will follow the same game day schedule as we did on Friday. On Monday we will leave the hotel at 7:00 for a 2 ½ hour bus ride back to Nanchang to fly to Beijing which is a 2 ½ flight. I am sure we will have some sort of practice Monday afternoon... since we have our final game with Australia in Beijing on Tuesday.
BFD: Sounds like a grueling schedule. How are you managing?
Al: One good thing is we are flying Air China which is a star Alliance partner with United Airlines and I get frequent fliers miles.
BFD: Thanks Al for the update!
Al: For sure.
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