BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
Photos courtesy of Nathan Simon and Chris James
MADISON, Wis. — Friends told Chris James that if he wanted to do something truly life-altering he should study abroad.
James was definitely up for such an adventure, especially when he found out that the Wisconsin Athletic Department would help fund it.
"I wanted to be immersed in a culture," he said. "I want to travel so I can see things. Not just sit on a beach."
But James, a junior tailback for the UW football team, had his concerns.
The three-week, late-spring trip to the Dominican Republic, coordinated through the Office of Student-Athlete Development and University of Wisconsin's International Academic Programs, would conflict with the team's offseason conditioning schedule.
James wondered how his coaches and his teammates would feel about it. After all, he's is projected to be a major contributor to the Badgers in 2017 — fighting fellow veterans Taiwan Deal and Bradrick Shaw — after sitting out last season as a transfer from Pittsburgh.
When James broached the topic with UW coach Paul Chryst and running backs coach John Settle, he received encouragement, not blowback.
"You're going to love it," Chryst told James, a communication arts major.
Chryst and Settle recruited James out of Chicago Notre Dame College Prep to Pittsburgh when Chryst coached there and Settle was on his staff from 2012 to '14.
After Chryst returned to Wisconsin in 2015 and Settle joined him, James transferred in part to be closer to home and the grandmother who raised him after his mother died.
"I was excited to see they were all supporting me," James said of how the UW coaches responded to his trip abroad proposal.
Another concern James had — how his relatively new teammates would react — soon melted away as well.
"Here's this new guy on the team and he's already taking some weeks off, so forget this guy," James said, wondering aloud what other players might think before he left.
On the contrary, "It was cool knowing they were all supportive," James said.
The trip turned out to be as impactful as advertised.
James left Madison with many notions and curiosities about the unfamiliar world he was about to enter.
"When I got there," he said, "all my expectations went out the window."
There were kids playing baseball with rocks instead of balls and using a garbage can lid for home plate.
There were bucket showers.
There were gardens with human waste for compost.
There also was a collective sense of nobility and pride.
"I learned to cherish the little things," James said. "People out there, they struggle. The main thing I took away was how nobody complains there. Not a single person."
The nine other UW student-athletes in the 17-person travel party — including football teammate Aaron Maternowski, a redshirt freshman fullback, and Sydney Rider, a senior on the women's tennis team — had similar awakenings.
"The culture shock was really big, seeing all the poverty," Maternowski said.
A pre-med major from Slinger, Wisconsin, Maternowski said the experience reinforced the notion he wants to pursue a career in the health field.
"Seeing a lot of the kids running around with illnesses and stuff, it was pretty heartbreaking," he said.
Maternowski, whose father Curt played for the Badgers from 1988 to '91, said he'd like to return someday with Doctors Without Borders.
"Some of the kids had sores on them," Aaron said. "You could see their bellies were big; they had worms. Just seeing we could easily help them out if we had a chance to go over there."
Rider, a Life Sciences Communication major from Annapolis, Maryland, said she worked with kids on the trip "that seriously had nothing, but were willing to give up little things for us."
Those in the UW entourage lived with host families in Santo Domingo for the first two weeks before relocating to a modest hotel in Consuelo for the remainder of the stay. The families received a stipend, but made sacrifices as well.
"They only had a couple rooms and they had kids," Rider noted. "The kids would sleep with their parents and give up their rooms so we could stay there."
Rider hesitated.
"It was extremely humbling," she said.
The three-credit history class was taught by Karl Shoemaker, a UW associate professor for history and law.
"He encouraged us to go see the area, to go figure things out," James said of Shoemaker.
So they did.
What did they discover?
James thought he'd be close to a beach so he could run, stay in shape and appreciate the tropical vibe, but they were headquartered miles away from the sand and surf. James said he and Maternowski located a ramshackle gym that charged the equivalent of $1.50 a day.
"They have such a sense of family, such a sense of culture," James said of the locals. "You don't see this back home. People are on their phones. Everybody's out doing their own little things. How much time do we actually have to sit down and take in life for what it's worth?"
James couldn't help but notice the deep, widespread love of baseball. He said had he known in advance he would have stopped at a local sporting goods store and brought a supply of baseballs.
"Everywhere you went they were playing," James said.
Maternowski was making his first trip out of the U.S. and now is smitten with traveling abroad. He wants to try Europe next, with an eye toward Italy and Greece.
"The culture there is crazy and the art is amazing," he said.
The visit to the Dominican Republic has had a profound impact on Maternowski.
"Seeing how happy they are (despite) living in poverty, just showing us that we should be happy for the little things we have in our lives," he said.
"Somebody out there is in a worse position than me and there's always somebody out there who needs extra help. Just knowing that I shouldn't have any excuses for anything. They're putting their head down and working out in the field for $20 working for five days. I shouldn't have any excuse to put my head down and work, too."
Maternowski said Chryst and the other UW coaches "were OK with (his absence) for the most part going into it."
"I just saw it as an opportunity," Maternowski said. "I have a life outside of football, too. I'm trying to build myself up as a person. That's kind of how I saw it. It's the opportunity of a lifetime that you're never going to get again.
"Just knowing that when I'm 45 years old I'm going to look back and I'm going to remember everything from that trip. It was a life-changing experience."
Rider said the daily highlight was spending three hours in class "because the room had AC (air conditioning)." That wasn't the case in the host homes, where small table fans were the only weapon against the ceaseless heat and humidity.
Meals were consistent — meats, cheeses, vegetables, rice, bread, juice and banana-like plantains — along with bottled water.
Rider said everyone lived within a mile of each other in Santo Domingo and bonded as the experience unfolded.
"Both of them, I became really close to," Rider said of James and Maternowski. "They were really awesome. They're two huge guys, so they were nice to walk around with because you always felt protected."
James and Maternowski roomed together and became better acquainted as people and teammates.
"Every day we had a chance to sit back and reflect," James said.
"We're definitely closer after this," Maternowski said.
The first thing James did when he got back home was call his grandmother, Audrey Davis, and thank her.
"I think Coach Chryst liked it when I said I'm not going to complain anymore about anything football-wise because I know the reality," James said.
The experience in the Dominican Republic gave Maternowski an enduring reference point when he gets out of bed in the morning.
"They're waking up and going to the sugar cane fields and I'm just waking up and going to football," he said. "I'm waking up in a nice house with air conditioning and they're still waking up with the mosquitos biting them. It's crazy."
James said the trip put him in touch with fellow UW students he would never have spoken to otherwise.
"They're going to be good friends for life," he said.
The journey also made James more aware.
"Just how lucky I am," he said.
