Evening everyone.
I couldn't resist one more entry. Been back in Australia for half a day and realised there was some pics of us at Universal Studios, Santa Monica and Venice Beach before we headed to LAX for the 12hrs in the sitting position. We checked out of our Anaheim hotel some 36hrs ago and headed to Universal Studios. We said goodbye to a few of the boys plus Joel - who have headed their separate ways to spend time with family in the US and Canada. Enjoy that time, boys. Universal Studios was great with plenty of cool rides and attractions - Jurassic Park, Transformers, The Mummy, Harry Potter, Simpsons World and the back stage tour which proved to be popular. We left there at 2pm and drove down to Santa Monica beach for a look around and watch the sunset before driving a bit further down the road to Venice Beach and try to hustle some locals on the beachside courts. We also saw the Muscle Beach weight lifting area - famous for the bodybuilders who work out there daily. We missed them today but it was cool to see where the greats such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk) cut their trade in the 70's and 80's. Some great sunset pics here and if you look closely, they resemble the blog title page heading photo. What are the chances! While the boys got some court time with some locals, Brad Dalton took the opportunity to sneak away and get a back rub from one of the many massage experts along the promenade. Two and a half weeks of knots were rubbed away and he slept like an angel on the plane. Not so a couple of boys who had upset tummies during the flight but thankfully they were OK to disembark and get the sniffer dog approval to pass through the gates to waiting mums and dads, brothers and sisters and a couple of girlfriends too. After the initial shock of THOSE haircuts and a couple of unauthorised (and potentially unhygienic) piercings, we shook hands, had a cuddle and made our way back to the beaches for some washing, showering and sleeping. A great tour and one we will all remember for a long time. This blog will stay live forever so come back and visit whenever to jog the memories of a truly great trip. Thanks everyone. Timeout! JS
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Well here it is. The last one. For now at least.
Thankyou to all who have followed us on this amazing journey. A few people to thank: Mr Bataille and Mrs Harris for being great tour companions on and off the court. They both have families too and to be away while the rest of the St Augustine's staff have their feet up is a great acknowledgment to their dedication to the school. Joel Elbag and Brad Dalton - our head coaches who have done an amazing job with the boys. Their knowledge of the game is incredible and their passion for basketball is evident in the clothes they wear and their great chat. Well done guys and thanks for the hard work. The parents who traveled - its hard on the road as you don't have a lot of support in the stands, but to the parents and families who supported the tour on this side - the Bird's, the Nelson's, the Holmes', the McHugh's, Mr Gow, the Richmond's (please don't let me leave someone out...) - thanks for the familiar faces in the bleachers who clap when we do something good. The boys - what an experience you have been given. Look back on it fondly and put all those experiences into your everyday lives - on the court and off it. You'll all be better men from these last 19 days together. Best of luck. And finally, Miss Donnellan who has literally done 3 years of preparation for this tour since the end of the last one and her work doesn't go unnoticed. Thank you Emma for being a great tour leader and ensuring this sort of opportunity is available to St Augustine's basketballers. Not a lot of schools get to do this. We saw some amazing stuff. Thanks heaps, Dozza! Thanks everyone for supporting us at home through this blog. Its been great bringing it to you each night. Over 3,500 views since December 3rd! Wow! We'll be home in a couple of days - tired, stinky and in need of a shave and a haircut, but its been great fun. JS. Out. Our penultimate day in LA today and we started it like we started most other days - buying stuff. Our new bus driver arrived to pick us up and he was one cool dude. Ajay was his name and he was straight outta da hood. What a top guy and a great driver.
We moved along to the Orange County Factory outlets and some great bargains were picked up by all. Last minute shoe purchases, clothing, perfume and those extra suitcase we warned each other we may have to buy, were actually bought. Mr Bataille went nuts in the shops, in fact staying some more hours after we had gone to try on some more clothes. We pushed on nonetheless and made our way to St Margaret’s Episcopal School. St. Margaret's was named to honour the 11th century Queen Margaret of Scotland, Patron Saint of Education. Befitting its namesake, the school carries many Scottish traditions including Highland bagpipers processing in full regalia at formal ceremonies, student teams competing as The Tartans, the Scottie Dog Lower School mascot and the tartan plaid design seen throughout campus. No bagpipes to greet us but we were warmly welcomed by Coach Carmer and soon we were on the court. Just three matches today and we needed at least two wins to tip us over the 50% winning percentage for the tour. Up first were the Freshmen and they didn’t disappoint – pushing out a 53-40 victory to set the tone of the games early. Tayne McCann was handy again, as was Jack Valentino, Tom Stapleton and Dan Morley. The Junior Varsity team found themselves under the pump early and when some composure finally found its way to the team, they picked away at the deficit to record a 44-36 win over the hosts. Two out of three ain’t bad as the song goes. Jai Fisher proved the mainstay. The varsity boys tipped off on time and this was going to be a contest for sure and the boys were pumped for it. Despite skipper Eromon being under the weather, he did take the court for some good energy-sapping minutes. The score crept along and the final quarter of the tour started with scores separated by one solitary point. The pressure was relentless from both teams and in the final seconds we needed a 3 pointer to win it, but the shot didn’t drop and a 43-41 result went the way of the hosts. A great game with a healthy crowd in attendance. We made our way back to the hotel for a quick change before heading down to a local Italian restaurant for our final team dinner. We were luckily placed in a side room to ourselves so we could make some noise, have a laugh and close off the things that needed to be done. Brad made a great comment that the standard of our play since the first games in Dallas compared to todays matches are so vastly improved, despite the winning percentage south of where we wanted it to be. Both Joel and Brad did amazing things with the boys and the need to adapt to the US style of play was managed beautifully by these two. We are lucky to have them. Dinner was yummy (pizza, Chicken Parmy, spaghetti and lots of stuff to wash it down with). We held an impromptu awards ceremony while we were there – some were novelty (ie worst haircut), while the Freshman, Sophomore and Varsity Player of the Tour was announced to much applause. Tonight we must pack everything away, as we check out in the morning, head to Universal Studios for the day, then a few sights to drop in on before we are back at LAX for QF12 in the evening. A few boys are staying on with family while the rest of us head home. I think we are ready. Today we woke to blue skies and the smell of corn dogs in the air as we descended on the happiest place in the world – Disneyland.
There are actually two theme parks there – Disneyland on the right and California Adventure Park on the left as you walk in. Lots of childhood memories flooded back – Cinderella, Snow White, Mickey Mouse. Then lots of young adult memories from my time working at Wonderland Sydney and just what the staff there have to put up with – loud tourists of all shapes and sizes who eat too much and move too slow. Our small groups stayed together as best they could and we spent from 10:30am – 9:30pm in the two parks. Some great rides there including Space Mountain, the California Screamin’ roller coaster, Indiana Jones Adventure, Splash Mountain. Thank God for the ‘single rider’ queue that allows the loners to go in by themselves and fill up the empty seats each time the rides get going. It saves a lot of time, but you don’t get to go on it with your mates most of the time. No harm done. Still, lots to see and do and its easy to see why they go nuts for it over here. Fun Disneyland Facts: - Trash cans are strategically placed so guests are never more than 30 steps from one. - Disneyland staff members never point with one finger. If they are gesturing in a direction, they will either use an open palm or two fingers to point. This is because in some cultures it is considered very rude to point with one finger. I actually saw this today, when a guy asked for directions. - Disneyland purposefully does not sell chewing gum or shelled peanuts, to help keep the grounds clean from litter. - There was a time capsule buried at Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in 1995. It will be unearthed on July 17, 2035, the 80th anniversary of Disneyland. The fireworks display and the Season of Light water jet/light show were pretty awesome to see too. Will have to clarify overnight if Mr Bataille or, at the other end of the size spectrum, Clancy or Banjo or Brad were denied entry on some of the rides due to the length of their lower extremities. Tomorrow we hit one last factory outlet venue close by, then off to face our final test with three big matches v St Margaret's Episcopal School, about 40 mins away. These guys will show up to play. Will be a good contest but our boys did do some miles in their legs today. Preparation is important and boys will be found out in this last game just how their diet, hydration, sleep and energy levels are at this point of the tour. Tune in for the final blog post tomorrow night (US time) along with match results and reports from the second placed cutest student, according to the Providence HS girls basketball team survey. G'night. JS An early start this morning with a 6:30am departure to get to the airport for our flight to Los Angeles. Everyone was on time, so no "Wrath of Donnellan" yet. We assumed not a lot of sleep was had by the boys as there was a bit of noise last night among the Chicago Fire Department sirens that seemed to go off every hour.
The airport trip was great for that time of the morning and check-in was the best process we've had so far at all airports. There was no in-depth searches at security either. Perhaps they don't care who leaves Chicago or what they have in their bags? The flight time of 4hrs was tough. Just enough time for a movie and a sleep. One happy Brad Dalton who sweet talked himself into another exit row. Well played, Sir. Well played. Upon arrival at LAX, we saw another President of the United States - were met by none other than Donald Trump himself. Check out the pics below and judge for yourself. He wasn't too talkative, but did carry the bags for some other travelers. Perhaps he Ubers on the weekends? We packed our bus and drove out to UCLA for the game between them and Cincinnati. We were pushing our luck to make tip-off. We should have known it was going to be tight. We missed the start of the game and in some over the top UCLA security process, no bags bigger than a lunchbox were allowed into the arena, so we had to check all these into a tent outside. All the mums had to drop off their handbags and my good camera was denied access too. More delays. Cincinnati won by 10 or so points. Was a good experience to be there. The campus itself is great. As we drove in we saw the frat houses and their Greek logos out the front. The sporting facilities are great too. There is even a rugby ground here. Post game, we visited the UCLA Shop and a few boys bought some things to curb their spending addiction. That shop is huge and the amount of people in there was too many to count. They would have done a roaring trade in that hour alone. After a pic with the Uni mascot - a huge bear - we boarded the bus again for a bit of a city tour hosted by Saints coach Joel Elbag who once lived in this city. His expert commentary on all the sights - who lived in this house, who died in that night club, what this building is famous for, which actor was discovered there, what scene from a movie that place was in, what band was discovered in that bar - was informative and comical. Well played, Joel. Well played. We stopped off by Hollywood Blvd and walked along looking at all the movie stars and rock stars' names on the footpath. Some names the boys had no idea of and either did I. Who the heck is Elizabeth Taylor? Uber driver Donald Trump has a star there and its the dirtiest one there - people put their cigarette butts out on it, leave rubbish on it. Not sure why. Along this strip there were lots of people dressed up as all sorts of famous people and actors, ready to have a photo with you for a few bucks tip. So much to see along there, we could have easily had another hour there just looking. It was starting to get dark so we jumped back on the bus for the drive to our hotel in Anaheim - 2 hrs away in the LA traffic and that was a punishing trip. We got here after 7:30pm, checked in (awesome rooms by the way), had a bite to eat and straight to bed. Tomorrow we make our assault on DisneyLand as soon as it opens and will try and stay till the end when they have a fireworks display. We'll knock up 10k steps easily. Only a few sleeps to go, till we are home. Been a great trip so far. Feels like we've been away for months - some boys will need a haircut. A proper haircut... Wish us luck on the rides. Hope there are no height restrictions on any of them... Our slam dunk coach Mr Bataille might be in trouble. A bit of a sleep in this morning following yesterdays great day at Providence HS. The boys are still talking about it and all over Instagram.
We broke off into our small groups today for a walk up and down Michigan Avenue - the main street of Chicago, not far from our hotel. There are shops and places to eat and places to spend your hard earned. The groups visited Nike Store, the Jordan store and Macy's to name a few. Hopefully they have all bought something nice for all you mum's and dad's back home in Australia as a thank-you for letting them come on this trip. Nike shoes may not be the best present for mum. The Navy Pier is located at the end of the road our hotel is on and its a nice spot too. There is a big ferris wheel there, much like the London Eye, that looks out over Lake Michigan. TODAY'S FUN FACT: Jim Dreyer also known as 'The Shark', is an ultra marathon athlete and he was the first person to swim across Lake Michigan 65 miles (105 km), in 1998. Our next and last shopping opportunity will be at the outlet stores in LA. Get any last requests in soon. We met back at the hotel at 3pm for a bus trip out to St Rita's to watch their varsity team play. St Rita's is also part of the Augustinian order and the school is over 100 years old. We were warmly welcomed and met many staff including the Principal. We were taken down to the magnificent chapel and had a look there. It truly is a lovely building and many former students get married in there. We then had a dinner provided for us by St Rita's and then went in to see the game - St Rita's Mustangs v Loyola Academy Ramblers. The game was pretty quick and the St Rita coach was particularly animated during the match. St Rita's won 33-30 but it could have gone either way in the closing minutes. The cheerleaders did some gravity-defying moves too. We arrived back to the hotel with strict instructions for the boys to pack TONIGHT and set their alarms for 5:30am. We need to be on the bus and driving off by 6:10am. Wish us luck. Any boy that's late will feel the wrath of Miss Donnellan. I've seen that wrath before and its pretty intimidating. In fact I hope one boy does sleep in so I can record the ensuing verbal barrage. Check back here tomorrow night for the potential footage! We head off to LA tomorrow for the last leg of our trip. The 4hr flight could be testing for some of us, but at least we can shed some layers as the temp will go up once we hit California. The shorts can come back out too. Phew. Timing will be tight in LA. We are due to attend the UCLA v Cincinnati college match so lets hope for no delays on the tarmac or no oversize baggage problems. Gotta get packing. See you in Los Angeles. JS Sorry for the missed blog overnight, peeps. Was distracted by the sights and sounds of sweet home, Chicago! Yesterday, after the high of our Chicago Bulls experience, we traveled from the hotel out to Providence Catholic High School - another one of our brother Augustinian Schools and we were looked after very well indeed. There is something about the Schools' values - Truth / Love / Community - that just makes it a very special thing we are a part of. They were very welcoming the minute we set foot off the bus. We met some of the teachers and their players in the cafeteria and each of our boys was buddied up with a Providence student to hang around with for the rest of the day to show around and take to their last two classes of the day, leading up to Mass in the afternoon and then the games. The St Augustine's teachers made use of the gap to head for lunch and a spot of shopping at a local centre. Our visa cards are fast becoming worn out as they have been stuck inside that many EFTPOS machines. We arrived back in time for Mass and met the priests as we entered and what great guys they were. Fr Rich said Mass and the welcoming he gave us was very heart warming. During Mass, Mr Byrne was presented with a gift from Providence HS - a lovely wooden cross depicting the seal of the Augustinian Order representing our Augustinian spirituality. The arrow which pierces the heart represents the Spirit of God piercing our hearts, calling us to continued growth in faith, hope and love. This is the basis of that great restlessness, so typical of St. Augustine, which led him to seek God in all things and above all things. It was a lovely gesture and it will look great on the wall at my house during the rest of the holidays and then on the wall back at school. The games kicked off - the Freshmen and sophomore games simultaneously, then the JV and varsity in the main basketball stadium - which, by the way, is one impressive building. We have been subconsciously dropping hints to Mr Byrne that we need a Brimson Centre upgrade/extension/revamp/refurb/flip to bring it up to speed with our Augustinian friends. Lets hope it works! Below are the photos of the day as well as match report from none other than Tom Douglas who jumped at the chance to write on this blog. Good first up effort, Tommy. Before next game, I'll show you how to use a space bar, turn caps lock off and not have every third word ending in an 'e'. Some of the female students took a liking to our boys and the whiteboard in the locker room was scribbled with messages and instagram tags. So cute. Post match, the Providence HS parents put on a wonderful afternoon tea for us all and their hospitality was again first class when they gave all the boys a gift bag with some gear in it. They also had special t-shirts made up to commemorate the games. Great timing as some boys are neglecting washing so this extra shirt will provide another day of clean clothing options. Enjoy the pics. Some doozies in there today. JS PROVIDENCE MATCH REPORTS - by Tom Douglas Today was an overall successful day on the court in taking out 3 from 4 of the games. First up was the “freshmen” who eased to a nice lead at half time and then continued in the 2nd half with the points flowing in by Tayne McCann and some well shot free throws by Thomas Wheen to take out the game 49-25. Next up was “sophomore” who were in a tight game from the tip off. With a lead of 7 at half time the game wasn’t over. Late in the second the game became closer than expected and with some late magic by James Gow in the post added 2 points to the board but with some unsuccessful free throws was unable to extend the lead. Then some threes by Max Dowling and Jai Fisher to secure a 3-point lead at full time, 44-41. Furthermore, the “junior Varsity” tipped off and with some controversial calls by the refs. The boys were in for a challenge. With some outstanding post moves by Luis Ross helped the boys, then some outside shots allowed the boys a small lead but not for long as again some unusual calls by refs tightened the game. With a few seconds to go the boys took the lead and ended up winning by two points, 33-31. Finally, the “Varsity” were up and after the teams were announced we all stood for the national anthems. The Aussie flag hanging proudly behind our bench. The pressure was on as every team had won so far. Down by 15 at half time the boys had their work cut out for them. An amazing performance by Connor Holmes, Eromon Uadiale and Clancy Bird. Clancy with a whopping 12 points with some impressive post moves. Making their way back in the second half they came as close as 4 points in it. Then unluckily Providence added some points and lead by 15. With Saints ending up 49-37 in the red. Was a great day overall and we enjoyed being at the school. The girls there at the school loved us and our accents and I was voted cutest by them*. The after match function was great too. Lots of yummy food and they looked after us really well. Thankyou Providence HS! Tom Douglas – roving reporter *unverified Afternoon everyone back in Australia.
A huge day for the group today starting with the pick up of the boys from their home-stay visits at Malvern Prep in Philadelphia. Another cold morning and we drove off on time and made the drive to the airport for our flight to Chicago. We checked in, found the gate, got a coffee and boarded last as usual. The ladies at the desk were in awe of the size of our boys. It was a full flight and 2hrs later we hit Illinois airspace with a great view of the city shrouded in snow. We touched down and got off last as usual, collected our bags and found our bus and driver for the next three days. It is expected to snow over the next couple of days and the temperature suggests it will. It's so cold that dogs are freezing to trees before they can finish... Not able to check in yet, we found a great area for food, including a retro-looking McDonalds where 99% of the boys went to. No hang on, it was 100% of the boys at McDonalds. Fun facts: Walt Disney was born in Chicago in 1901. The movie 'The Blues Brothers' was filmed here and the car chase scene at the end where 50 police cars all smash into each other was filmed not far from our hotel. And the latest Batman movie was also filmed here - and there was a great car crash scene in the same spot. The teachers and parents found a great diner that had a heap of choices including some famous hot dogs and Chicago's finest chocolate cake. I can vouch for that fact. It was fine. From there, we checked into the hotel, rugged up and back onto the bus for trip around the city to see some of the sights then out to the United Centre - home to the famous Chicago Bulls NBA team. The huge statue of Michael Jordan greets you as you walk in and his list of basketball achievements listed on the pedestal he is raised on leaves you no choice but to stand and genuflect at this legend of the game. Tonights game had a Star Wars theme attached to it, so lots of Storm Troopers running around posing for photos. The half time entertainment was this speed painter guy who painted this pretty cool portrait of Princess Leah - upside down. We found our seats and stood for the national anthem then tip off right on time. The atmosphere was still electric, even though not a sell out. The colour, the music, the noise was all awesome to be witness to. A couple of our party managed to get their hands on some free t-shirts thrown into the crowd - something we failed to do back in Dallas. There were early signs that we could be on the big screen when a Bulls guy and a cheerleader stood near us and asked us some questions about who we were etc. Maybe the boys scared them off. No big screen action tonight. We did have a secret up our sleeves though - months back our tour agent arranged for the group to get down onto the court at full time and have some photos. The boys were chuffed at that opportunity and didnt they love it. Lots of security down there and they ushered us off pretty quickly as they were getting the court taken out and preparing it for ice hockey tomorrow night. Still was a great experience. Tomorrow we have our 6th game v Providence Catholic High School. The boys will be spending some time with the students before the games commence after school. Tune in tomorrow for some pics of the games and results. Go Saints! We left Villanova University and arrived at Malvern Prep around 3pm in time for the 4pm start for the freshman and sophomore games. Malvern is a beautiful school with lots of space and some great facilities - football field, rugby ground (yep they play rugby), athletic track, swimming pool and of course two basketball courts.
The freshmen picked up the first win of the afternoon with a 42-15 win - everyone chiming in with solid contributions. Dan Morley's first touch 3-pointer set the tempo of the match. A few minutes later the sophomore boys completed a 35-28 win over the hosts – the last 5 minutes throwing up some unbelievable defence and all the boys contributing. The junior varsity match started at a million miles an hour with both teams going goal for goal in the opening minutes. The 58-31 scoreline flattered Malvern somewhat as some big errors handed them a big lead going into the final minutes. The Varsity match was a fast match and high scoring (73-50 to Malvern) and Saints simply turned over too much possession at crucial times - Luis Ross was the standout player. Two wins from four sounds reasonable, however the boys are keen to get at least one clean sweep from the remaining two fixtures in Chicago or LA. Both would be nice. The boys now are staying with the Malvern families tonight - one family has taken 8 boys with them. Not sure if the mum realises that (a) how much the boys eat or (b) how stinky their playing gear is going to be. Tomorrow we will pick them up early and head to the airport for our flight to the windy city. Its rumoured to not get above 0 degrees during our stay in Chicago. Ouch. We are past the half way point of the tour and some of us are starting to feel it. We will definitely feel it in Chicago. The staff and parents made their way to the only restaurant in town for dinner and made their own entertainment while waiting for their meals (see last picture below). We will be going to see the Chicago Bulls v Utah Jazz tomorrow night in Chicago so set the Foxtel to record it or watch it live on ESPN. Check your local guides. Look out for us waving our Aussie flags like maniacs. |
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