Former Valencia High boys basketball coach Greg Hayes and two former players – Stevie Sansone and James Glass – have just experienced something remarkable.  The three were part of a basketball team from the United States that spent two weeks touring China and North Korea as part of a goodwill mission of friendship and peace.

“I found some contacts I had from years ago and I decided to contact one of the guys,” said Hayes, who has decided to step down as Valencia High School’s boys basketball top assistant coach.  “There has been a dream (with friends playing basketball in China and overseas) who said, ‘We want to get into North Korea and sports is the best way.  We want to do it for friendship, peace and breakdown barriers.’  So it’s been a dream of those guys and it just happened to be that I asked at the right time.”

Getting into China to play basketball games may have been unheard of 30 years ago, but today those barriers have been brought down… mostly.  North Korea, however, is a different story.  Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, only an estimated 25 hundred westerners have been allowed in.

“Certainly the Chinese in Beijing are used to athletes from other countries, especially since the Olympics (in 2008),” he said.  “They were very good with us… very friendly.  In North Korea, it started with distance.  But by the end of the trip it was friendship, openness and shared laughter, ideas, stories and communication.”

The group even shared high fives, which the North Koreans had never seen before.

“People smiled and they really enjoyed us and we really enjoyed them. Hayes said.  “We were told by our tour guys that we were different than just about any group they had seen.  Sports broke down those barriers.  So as a result, we had a lot of interaction with people, probably more than any other group that had gone to North Korea, which was really enjoyable.  We loved the kids, and the more we enjoyed the kids the more adults warmed up to us.  They saw how caring and friendly we were.”