Wilson: 'Everyday Was My Favorite Day'

Farmington Senior Guard Has Life-Changing Trip To South Africa

SUBMITTED PHOTO Farmington’s Matt Wilson gives high-5s while celebrating with one of the many youths he worked with during a 10-day trip to Capetown, South Africa.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Farmington’s Matt Wilson gives high-5s while celebrating with one of the many youths he worked with during a 10-day trip to Capetown, South Africa.

A tour of Nelson Mandela's prison was among countless eye-opening experiences for Matt Wilson during a trip to South Africa with Point Guard College earlier this year.

The 10-day "Zebra Crossing Adventure," as it was described to Wilson before the trip, included only four days of basketball. The 6-2 Farmington senior guard was one of only 15 players, including only five high-schoolers, selected for the trip after he had impressed during two PGC camps.

"For PGC to extend the offer to him, he obviously performed very well both on the floor and off it," said Farmington coach Beau Thompson. "It was a life-changer for him. He got to see the way some other people live, and it'll give him a greater appreciation for where he lives, his parents and the community that he's been raised in.

"He's a great player and he's obviously been working and growing, and I think he's going to be an even greater person one day."

Wilson worked as an instructor at a local "Hoops for Hope" facility, petted a cheetah and, among other things, played in front of the wildest atmosphere of his life.

"That was probably the loudest gym and best game I've ever played in," Wilson said. "Even counting when our arena was pretty much filled, this was louder. Just an unbelievably awesome atmosphere to play in. So loud. So crazy.

"I'll never forget that."

At least 100 kids from the surrounding area of Cape Town crammed into the facility to watch the pick-up game. They crowded bleachers that were only three rows high and lined the court.

"They saw us going in there, so they came in to see what was going on," Wilson said. "And before long, I think every kid from the township was in there, cheering and clapping."

Wilson said the experience was "one of his favorite days," of the trip, although he said "everyday was my favorite day." He said it wasn't a "mission trip," although he worked in a soup kitchen for the homeless and got to visit Sophiatown, a district that was leveled by bulldozers during apartheid in 1955.

One of Wilson's local guides, Ricky, grew up in Sophiatown and also was held captive at Robben Island, the prison where Mandela spent 27 years.

"It's still kind of bad, but it's gotten a lot better," Wilson said.

It was one of several townships Wilson got to walk through. He witnessed families cramped together into 10x10-foot shacks with "hundreds" of power cords running throughout.

"That was one of the greatest things I learned," Wilson said. "At first, I felt pity for them. But they were all waving and there were kids outside playing and adults outside talking and stuff like that. And the more I saw that, I didn't have that feeling anymore because they were so happy, even though they had so little.

"You hear stories about that from people who go, but once you actually go over there and experience it, you really don't understand it fully.

"That made me appreciate the things I have here. It was humbling, very humbling."

Wilson had too many experiences to list during the 10 days there. The group hiked two mountains, with the longest being a six-hour trek up Table Mountain, a flat-topped mountain overlooking Cape Town that actually looks like a huge table.

Perhaps the wisest move of the trip was when PGC's director had all the campers turn in their smart phones at the start of the adventure. That way, they would actually communicate with one another instead of texting girlfriends or tweeting.

"On the hike, I made sure I had a conversation with every single person there," Wilson said. "And the most incredible thing was how open everybody was about what they do in life, politics and their beliefs. It was a great thing.

"I feel like I made some best friends for life on the trip."

While working as a camp instructor, Wilson was even called "Coach" after helping a struggling camper "who was my age, so that was cool to hear," with a drill. Once he's in college, Wilson said he hopes to become an instructor with Point Guard College, which hosts dozens of clinics all over the country and at various parts of the world.

In the meantime, he's looking at ways to help those less fortunate in his own community and even considering a return trip to South Africa.

"I am thinking that after college, maybe I can go back to Cape Town and live there for a while to help out, because help is needed there," Wilson said. "That's how much it impacted me. I mean, for me to be wanting to go back there and live for a time, I never would have imagined that before the trip."

Sports on 05/25/2016