Last August, Franciscan University’s men’s basketball team hit the road for a destination the program had never visited before: Gaming, Austria.
Just about every alum will tell you spending a semester at the idyllic Kartause Maria Thronus Iesu was the highlight of their time at Franciscan. But because of their intense training and game schedule, most members of the Barons basketball team never get a chance to take part in Franciscan’s unique study abroad program there.
“Our guys don’t get that opportunity because our season is extremely long; it goes through both semesters. So, we wanted them to be able to get a taste,” head coach Joe Wallace explains.
“Our goal was to put together a first-class experience for our guys. A trip that would facilitate spiritual growth, give familiarity with a different culture, and offer the time to just be together in mostly a non-basketball setting.”
On August 10, 12 team members, 5 staff, and 1 chaplain—Father Isaac Spinharney, CFR ’98—departed from Pittsburgh on the 10-day trip made possible by a group of generous donors. Wallace says the team will remember it for the rest of their lives.
Approved by the NCAA, this was the first international trip by a Franciscan sports team since the Barons rugby team played in Ireland in 2011.
The trip was jam-packed: Exploring five Austrian cities, museums, and cathedrals; visiting castles and hiking mountains; and topping it all off with the first win of the 2024- 2025 season. But for Wallace, the highlight was all the little moments in between when the basketball team grew closer to each other.
“My expectations before we departed were extremely high, but each day in Austria was absolutely amazing on so many levels,” he says. “Having daily Mass in churches that are older than our country, sharing meals together, and the family moments you can’t replicate. It was a trip filled with joy.”
He adds, “It made our team a lot stronger, and the relationships the guys formed just being able to do a trip like that really kickstarted the season.”
How do the Barons measure up in Austria? The team notched a crushing victory against the Armstetten Falcons, a club team consisting of several semi-professional players. At the end of the game, the scoreboard read 112-58 Barons.
What was the Barons’ advantage? Josh Zimmerman, #12, a graduate student and team captain, says American basketball is much more aggressive on the court.
Zimmerman says he was nervous at first, but the Barons quickly took the lead.
“They’re not as good ball handlers as us in America,” he says. “The big difference in what we did to them was we endlessly had ball pressure on them, and that shook them. So, I don’t think that’s something that they’re used to over there. There’s just more pressure.”
He was impressed by the other team’s sportsmanship and how, despite losing by 50 points, they were welcoming and kind, wanting to get to know the Barons team members after the game.
“They’re honestly awesome people,” says Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, who is currently going through the RCIA process to enter the Catholic Church, says Father Isaac was the perfect priest to travel with the team.
“He just connected with us,” he says. “He made it easy for people to approach him, even for some of the guys who are not Catholic. He just made the faith more open.”
All in all, Zimmerman says the trip reaffirmed him in his faith journey toward the Church, which began after he joined the team.
“It just showed me, no matter where you are in the world or what type of situation we’re in, we can still praise the Lord,” he says.
Nick Allienello, #14, a graduate student, says it was special to “be able to see how basketball is a worldwide sport.”
Allienello, who plays forward and serves as another team captain, says he was surprised when the opportunity arose for the team to go to Austria.
“I honestly never thought I’d be able to go,” he says. “I think we kind of always told ourselves we’re not really missing out on a whole lot, as a way of coping with the fact that we couldn’t go. But this was the perfect experience for the guys on the team to go over there and get a quick crash course and to see Gaming.”
While the team has always been close-knit, he says, traveling together throughout Austria took their camaraderie to another level.
“We’ve always had a close group that’s formed through practices and games. But I think it was something different doing an adventure like this together where we didn’t know what was going to happen next. Whether it was playing against an Austrian team or getting lost in the middle of Vienna or Salzburg, we were all in it together. That really shaped everybody’s sense of brotherhood,” he says.
Laughing, he adds, “It was cool to see everybody’s personality come out in a different culture and a different way of life.”
Through all of that, Allienello says the most memorable part of the trip was attending daily Mass together as a team, whether it was in a grand cathedral, a tiny village church, or a hotel basement where the bikes are kept.
“It was special just being able to grow in faith with all the guys together,” he says.
According to Allienello, that prioritization of the sacraments carried into the rest of the fall semester and the team has enjoyed finding opportunities to attend Mass and explore beautiful churches while on the road here in the U.S.
“Being able go on this trip helped us to recognize and appreciate the beauty the faith has to offer and to really see it as truly an encounter with God, to understand the faith as an adventure with God,” he explains. “It was something that honestly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
