Student – Athlete Author – JaVonnie Bickham – JaVonni is heading into his fourth season at DU. Bickham has overcome several major injuries and his on-court effort and resilience make him a team favorite. On his way back to health, he averaged 1.0 points per game, 1.2 rebounds and shot 63.6 percent from the field last season.
Day one in Lyon consisted of a game played against the West Lyon Basketball club. The opposing team honored us with towels from their club and in exchange, we gave them a Denver Basketball shirt. In the end, we took the win on our first night in Lyon, making it 2-0 on our trip. After the game, we all decided to try a pizza spot not too far from our hotel called Pinto’s Pizza. Walking over we notice the bridge lighting up making for a beautiful stroll in the area.
Day two and our last day in Lyon were spectacular. We started off with a great presentation from teammates Drake (Muller) and Ben (Bowen) of their life stories they learned from one another. We then headed to the Lyon Cathedral where we toured the church and its surrounding land. The cathedral was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen containing many paintings and sculptures on the outside and the inside. From there, we split up and walked back to the hotel with some stopping at souvenir shops, a silk art shop where they made silk from scratch with silkworm, places to grab lunch, and the many clothing stores in the area. On my walk back, I noticed that Lyon had a lot of street art which helped make our journeys pleasant. We ended the day with a great surprise from our coaches being a boat dinner. Everyone got dressed up in their best outfits, and I then learned we might be the best-dressed team to ever step foot in France. Before the dinner, Pedro and Justin graced us with another great presentation of their life stories of each other. After the presentation, we headed to the boat. The boat dinner around the city was a memorable experience. On the boat we took tons of photos, laughed, smiled, and enjoyed each other’s company. This experience has made me very grateful for our opportunity to not only be in France but to be here with a great group of men who I can call my family. We now have one more stop on our amazing trip. I can’t wait to see what’s in store next for us.
Next stop Nice!
Note: And, special thanks to JaVonnie for taking the time to tell LetsGoDU readers about the trip.
JaVonnie is one smart resilient young man. Lyon is a city I know little about. Glad Ja gave us a tour. If kids see nice art by young painter, buy if affordable. You will keep it the rest of your life. Dunker is talking from experience.
Nice to read JaVonnie’s account. His DU career has been a struggle with injuries, but he’s stuck with the Pios and always gives his best. Glad he’s enjoying this trip so much, and that DU has been able to get him this opportunity to see these new vistas…When you see all the France trip photos, on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, you can see the team bonds forming before your eyes as well as the excitement of foreign travel…What a gift.
I think these guys are going to have some fun times this season, too.