Titans USA Tour 2023

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” Barbara Hoffman

A late night certainly doesn’t bode well for an early morning. After our midnight arrival last night, there wasn’t a great deal of response to breakfast this morning. In fact it was minimal…

There was a moment of concern where I thought I was going to have to eat the equivalent of 40 breakfast portions to make amends for the extra food the hotel had supplied in readiness for the hungry appetite of a big tour group. They even extended the breakfast time by 20 minutes in the hope of students making an appearance, but to no avail. In a moment of brilliance, they had the brainwave to put the left over food in containers for breakfast to go. Brilliant. So, we sent out the message in the group chat for students to come down and grab a box if keen. The response was zero. So, we sent another message saying we would deliver to rooms. The response was instant….and large. Myself and Sharon were ubering meals up and down floors - we can now add room delivery to our list of services.

After breakfast in bed, the students were then treated to chocolate cake for a mid morning snack in honour of Cayde and Heidi’s birthday – who says we don’t practice a good dietary regime 😊 Then it was time for a shopping experience that really excited our Titans, no it wasn’t Nike, Sephora or Tommy Hilfiger, the store that got their pulses racing was, Safeway (or as we know it Woolworths) – and they genuinely were excited. Our navy clad contingent converged on the supermarket giant and purchased not only the obligatory American snacks, but one of the hottest commodity for some was actually fruit. See it’s not all about the chocolate cake!

Armed with their overflowing grocery bags we then headed onto the bus and made our way to Antelope High School – our home away from home for the next three days. We arrived to a rockstar reception, with a lot of excitement from the local students, and a couple of confused poppets throwing around a British accent asking us if we wanted a cup of tea. They realise we’re from Australia right?

We milled around a bit, took the stares in our stride, and then got down to business, it was time for basketball.

Junior Varsity Girls – 44-12
Our Junior Varsity Girls rolled up excited for the game against El Camino High School hosted by our friends at Center High School. We started very slowly but luckily the opposition was slower. By half time we had started to score a little more freely and had edged ahead 25-5. Our ability to run the floor and turn defence into attack was unmatched and we ended up taking a 32 point win.

Junior Varsity – 86-69
Junior Varsity Boys started well tonight in front of a capacity crowd at Antelope with the clash of the Titans. A very exciting first quarter saw Antelope Titans with a narrow lead at the break. A solid team effort in the second quarter saw our boys only down by 10 points. We matched Antelope in the third, while the last quarter saw us not able to catch the lead which we gave away in the first half. Very proud of the way our boys played today. Great team effort.

Varsity Girls – 75-33
Varsity Girls warmed up ready to play in front of some of their new homestay friends. The game started well with both teams struggling to score freely. At quarter time, the Titans had pulled away to about 10 points. The girls started to find their running game and thrived against the El Camino zone. The second half was less competitive and we ran away with another good win, 75-33. A great team effort.

Varsity Boys – 83-80
In game one of our tournament we faced the home team and our hosts in clash of the Titans. The team opened up strong and focused particularly on the defensive end with some outstanding one on one efforts that created stops.

The home side used a lot of pressing and trapping on the defensive end, which caused some minor issues however the boys did a great job of turning the pressure into scoring opportunities. Jackson Bowden was particularly cooking in the first half scoring at will from the inside and out. The home side picked up their play in the second half quickly reducing our lead, our boys struggling to handle the step up in physicality. The game came down to the wire with a Harry Mules go ahead three followed by the home side tied the game. Chaos followed as Harry again found himself in a position to take the lead at the free throw line, making both. A fantastic win, the boys showed a lot of character.

The Flag

We may have been light on nominations today, but that doesn’t mean we were short on quality. Today’s recipient has been nipping at the heels for a chance at the title, and now it’s his time to shine. Welcome to the stage, Jace Minge.

It seems at last night’s NBA game, Jace was in awe of Jackson’s uncanny ability to know the ins and outs of the game. Even from the top bleecher (aka nosebleed section), Jace could not believe the connection Jackson had with the announcer. So much so, that Jackson made a $25 bet with Jace that he could call out to the announcer and he would answer him. Low and behold, near the end of the quarter with just two minutes to go on the clock, Jackson yelled out “announcer, how long left”, and you wouldn’t believe it, the announcer responded with a “two minutes to go”. Jace was amazed, is there nothing Jackson can’t do? And then Jackson owned up…..

It seemed rather than being in-tune with the announcer, Jackson was actually just aware that at the two minute mark of every quarter, the announcer bellows out “two minutes to go”. Clever, clever…. we’re still waiting for Jace to pay up 😊