Nothing says team bonding like being served pigeon feet for dinner.

“It was nothing like American Chinese food,” senior Terren Frank said. “No orange chicken and stuff. Just the way the food looked was a turn off.”

If it wasn’t the feet of a wild bird, it was the tongue of another. Duck tongue.

“The food was weird. I didn’t eat most of the time. Every chance I had, I stuffed myself with ramen noodles and oatmeal,” sophomore Amari Bailey said with a chuckle.

After a two-week trip to China, the Sierra Canyon boys basketball team only wanted to talk about the food of the far east, but the experience was much more than that. A team full of new faces dealt with obscure cuisine, daunting travel, culture shock and crazy basketball fandom that takes ‘team bonding’ to a whole new level.

“That was really my first time out of the country as a young adult,” Frank said. “I went with my parents to Italy once, but I was little.”

Most of Sierra Canyon’s players are new, most notably Bronny James — son of NBA superstar LeBron James — and Zaire Wade — son of recently retired Dwyane Wade.

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team traveled to China to play basketball and bond as a team. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team traveled to China to play basketball and bond as a team. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

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Sierra Canyon boys basketball coach Andre Chevalier during a game in China. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team traveled to China to play basketball and bond as a team. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

BJ Boston, a Kentucky commit, posing for photos with fans in China. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)



The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team traveled to China to play basketball and bond as a team. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

Sierra Canyon boys basketball coach Andre Chevalier takes a picture with Harold Yu’s parents before a game in China. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team traveled to China to play basketball and bond as a team. (Cortney Holman/Sierra Canyon Athletics)

“We clicked right away and China helped that because it’s not like we could go out and talk to anyone else,” Zaire Wade said. “It was really just us building a new culture off the court.”

The team did a basketball tour, playing in front of thousands each night, bouncing from city to city. Head coach Andre Chevalier said it was somewhat of a logistical nightmare, but somehow they pulled it off. The team was bouncing from hotel to hotel, except for one stop in Hong Kong, where the group was able to stay in a hotel for two nights — the longest stretch in one place for the entire trip.

New addition BJ Boston from Georgia, a 6-foot-9 Kentucky commit, barely knew anyone on the team. Within days of touching down in Los Angeles – his new home – he was thrown onto a plane with new teammates to endure a 14-hour flight.

“Right when I got here I noticed this was a different team. No jealousy. I felt accepted right away,” Boston said.

The team also boasts super sophomore Amari Bailey, 5-star senior Ziaire Williams and incoming sophomore from Massachusetts Shy Odom. Any basketball enthusiast could search the names and find out about each players’ talents – watch some highlights online – but the reception in the U.S. for these teenagers wouldn’t be how they were received in China.

“There was so much love from the fans. We saw kids crying,” Boston recollected. “They were everywhere. At our hotel, when we got off the bus. It was crazy.”

Wade made a young fan cry — in a good way.

“This girl made a poster for me and was wearing my dad’s jersey,” he said. “Someone pointed her out, so I went over to sign the poster, give her a hug and take a photo with her. She started weeping.”

The trip was similar to how the Harlem Globetrotters would schedule a tour, bouncing from one city to another taking on the same team.

“Everyone was rooting for us, and that was good because when we get into season (here in California), nobody really roots for us,” Bailey said. “It was refreshing to feel that. We put on a show for them.”

The trip was particularly special for 7-foot-3 junior Harold Yu, who arrived last season from China. Yu’s father was the coach and program director of the team Sierra Canyon faced each night. For two weeks, Yu was able to witness his teammates deal with a different culture, like he’s had to since moving to Los Angeles.

“It was funny to see the guys try and eat with no fork and knife,” Yu said laughing. “I don’t like pigeon feet or duck tongue either, but it’s normal in China.”

The trip was certainly a culture shock. Not just for the Trailblazers, but for some of the Chinese locals. Other than Hong Kong, the cities Sierra Canyon played in were not notable stopping points: Jiaxing, Jinhua, Lishui, Suichang and Shangyu.

The school’s assistant athletic director David Sobel put it in more understandable terms.

“It would be like flying into Los Angeles, then playing in Fresno, Bakersfield and Antelope Valley or something,” Sobel said.

Yet, thousands of screaming fans in these rural cities came to witness a dose of high-level prep basketball. The gyms were at capacity each night, holding roughly 5,000, according to the athletic staff from Sierra Canyon.

For Zaire Wade, who’s been by his dad’s side for a majority of his Hall of Fame career, the experience was different for a change.

“Usually the attention is for my dad and I’ve been with him for a lot of it and I can feel the crowd,” he said. “But it was cool and different to see that crowd there for me.”

Wade’s name is big in China. Dwyane has made a specific effort to tap into the large basketball interest that’s in China and Zaire knew all about it.

“My family has built a name for itself in China. I knew it was bigger than me, so I knew there were a lot of eyes on me. I didn’t feel pressure – it actually made me play better.”

The Trailblazers won each game, of course, but the trip wasn’t about basketball. The team got a heavy dose of education that no other teenager would get in any classroom.

While in the Hong Kong airport, the team walked through crowds of people demonstrating and protesting the governments’ proposed Fugitive Offenders amendment bill, which has been headlining mainstream news networks for months.

For some, it was hard to grasp what exactly was going on.

“I really wasn’t sure what was going on,” Bailey said honestly.

For others, it sunk in a little more.

“We see that stuff on the news all the time or online, but to be there when it was happening was eye opening,” Zaire Wade said. “I’m not going to say I was happy to be there while it was going on, but it was definitely educational.”

Sierra Canyon’s basketball program is known nationwide for its dominance of California. The boys team has won the last two CIF State Open Division titles. The girls’ team also won last year’s CIF State Open Division crown.

The Trailblazers aren’t just known for having sons of NBA royalty on the team, but its pedigree of talent, too. Since Scotty Pippen Jr. – son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen – and KJ Martin – son of former No. 1 overall pick Kenyon Martin – arrived two seasons ago (and have since graduated), people forget that now-Sacramento Kings standout Marvin Bagley III went to Sierra Canyon before playing at Duke and being picked No. 2 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft . Arizona State point guard Remy Martin and UCLA forward Cody Riley also are former Trailblazers. The 2019 Daily News Player of the Year, Cassius Stanley, could start for coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke this season.

The list of accolades and notable basketball alumni is long, and it’s only going to grow. But what’s truly remarkable about the program – despite the scrutiny it receives for ‘recruiting’ – is its willingness to push the envelope of more than just basketball or records, but show the young eyes in their program that basketball is worldwide.