With the semester winding down, students, faculty and staff are getting ready for finals and preparing for summer break. The UW-Platteville mens basketball team is doing the opposite. The team had their first practice Sunday night.

Jeff Skemp, center, said the team will have 10 practices before the Pioneers head to Ireland for a team tour.

“We are just trying to get our legs back,” Skemp said.

The practices are to help the team prepare for the Ireland trip, Charlie Lohoff, forward, said.

The team only lost one senior, Berent Froiland, but the team is ready to go for the next season, Skemp said.

Coach Paul Combs said the team still has its top nine players healthy and returning for the 2008-09 season.

UW-P men’s basketball went 19-7 during their past season and 12-4 in the WIAC and is looking forward to showing the teams in Ireland what the Pioneers are capable of, Combs said.

The Pioneers will be in Ireland from May 18 – 28 where they will be in Dublin, Killarney and Galway, Combs said.

“Every three years the team gets to go travel to a country to play basketball and learn about the culture there,” Lohoff said.

“The trip gives the team basketball experience and the Pioneers get to play against very talented players,” Combs said. “The venues themselves are unique and not like what players see in Wisconsin.”

“Everyone is excited to go across the pond,” Lohoff said. “We’re not really nervous. We’re excited more than anything and looking forward to the trip.”

The team is preparing for the trip by taking an Irish history class before they leave, Lohoff said.

The Pioneers will have only one practice while in Ireland, Lohoff said.

According to the tentative schedule, the rest of the time will be spent seeing places such as the Guinness Brewery in Dublin with friends and family that accompany the team on the trip. The schedule is to help people on the trip see the sites of Ireland.

“[The schedule is] one that allows us to take full advantage of the opportunities Ireland has to offer,” Combs said.

Combs said not only will the men’s basketball team be traveling to Ireland but also the women’s team will be on the trip playing games and following the same tentative schedule.

Combs said funding for the trip came from team fundraisers and individual fundraising that the athletes did in their hometowns.

There will be 113 people going on the trip including coaches, players, administration, alumni, parents and family, Combs said.

“Everyone is very fortunate to go on the trip,” Combs said.

The Pioneers will be starting a new season in mid- October with high energy and looking to build off of the excitement from last season.