Netherlands- On Thursday morning, the Peacebuilders 2000 delegation held an off-site peace workshop and an instructional basketball clinic for 150 Den Haag youths at the De Houtzagerij Sports Stadium.

The Dutch Junior national Basketball head coach, Ben Ponsioen, and team members joined AUP to jointly conduct the Hague Appeal for Peace event, on the day that they would conclude their three-day goodwill exhibition basketball series. The workshop gave me an opportunity to share with the youth participants our primary purpose for coming to Den Haag, the peace conference youth program. At the conclusion of the workshop, I had to travel to the Netherlands Conference Center to pick up my laptop computer and make final preparations for the Friday morning "Peace in our Cities" workshop. While walking through the lobby, I ran into two people from Berkeley who were attending the conference. It was an extremely good feeling to know that there were others from our town experiencing this once-in-a-lifetime event.

I also was stopped by Olara Otunnu, under secretary-general of the United Nations, who expressed his appreciation for AUP's participation in the conference's youth program. Otunnu insisted that I remain in contact with him after the conference and stated that he wanted to continue working with AUP on innovative ways that sports could be used to promote peace, education, friendship and understanding for young people. After finishing my business at the conference, I looked at the clock and noticed that it was 3:15 p.m. and that I had to return to the De Houtzagerij to prepare for our final game against the Dutch Junior Nationals.

When I returned to the gym, I noticed that a group of attractive teen-age girls had befriended some of our players. As a concerned coach, I wondered what psychological effect this might have on the performance of our guys. I had made the decision earlier in the day that I would let all members of the second string get an opportunity to start a game. This allowed me to live up to my promise of letting each player get a change to experience starting an international basketball game.

Our star players, Andrew Gooden, Larry Guess and Kaylin Thornton felt that they were being punished for some strange reason. I explained to each of them individually that I felt each team member deserved at least one chance to start the game. When coaching an all-star team, distributing the playing time (minutes) evenly never sits well with some. You have to remember that playing time is the single most important commodity to most varsity level high school athletes. Three minutes into the first half, I was swarmed on the bench my members of the starting lineup asking when they would be able to check into the game. I informed them that nothing was wrong but that I felt obligated to let everyone have at least one chance. The game was another rout by the Peacebuilders 2000 team.

Immediately after the game, Aart Dekker, program organizer, prepared the lineup for the event's slam dunk contest. El Cerrito High's Andrew Gooden was considered by many of the fans to already have a lock on the award plaque. Gooden started off the competition by slamming home a powerful windmill dunk, immediately looking like the contestant to beat. Berkeley High's Kaylin Thornton got the crowd excited when he bounced the ball high, performed a cart-wheel and caught the ball before slamming it home from well above the rim's cylinder. But that amazing feat was not enough to top Castlemont High's Paul Marigney, who stole the show - and first place. He impressed the crowd and the judges by sending a high bounce pass to himself off the floor, pulling off his shirt while in stride to the basket, then catching the high lob pass before throwing down a one handed thunder dunk. Marigney, a 6'3" guard/forward who averaged 29.7 points per game in the Oakland Athletic League, looks to be one of the premier high school players in the East Bay next season.