High school students from China and the United States competed in a friendly basketball game in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Monday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"It's a lifetime experience that some of them may never get to do again. We think it's going to be great because it's going to establish friendship," said Bryan Cantwell, coach of the Chaminade team.

"The thing I like most was when we went into the clay classroom with some of the students, immediately all the kids just started talking to each other", he said.