Titans USA Tour 2023

“You’re off to great places, today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” Dr Seuss

We were all a bit bleary eyed this morning. After the games last night and after-game catch up with our new friends at Glacier Peak High School, it took a while for everyone to settle down and ease into sleep mode (except for Ellie, but that’s a story for later 😊).

We packed up and left the hotel bound for Portland, Oregon (excited to be heading to a state where we don’t have to pay sales tax). We hopped on the bus and most took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep – we have to grab these opportunities whenever they arise (and it also gives us adults a chance to grab some great sleeping photos, we also have to grab these opportunities when they arise)…

We had a quick stop at Centralia Outlets for a bite to eat, where most of the boys took the opportunity to continue their burger a day challenge (today’s conquest was the Baconator). Finding the urge to shop (the pain is real), we hopped back on and amid the cold, dreary weather we headed up to the Mount St Helens Visitor Centre. After a 40 minute drive we arrived at the Centre nestled amid beautiful scenery. The weather was a bit damp, but that just reminded us of being home in the South East. This was a novel experience for our Titans, as we were part of an educational tour, not a basketball tour, not a shopping tour, it was an educational tour. There was even talk from Bucks about a questionnaire at the end the tour which concerned us all greatly – we nominated Charles as our spokesman! We all concentrated very hard during the short film explaining the Mount St Helens explosion (Sharon concentrated so hard she had to close her eyes). We learnt the when, the why and the aftermath. We even went through into the interactive display to learn more. We felt learned, we’d taken photos of information to be prepared and we ready for the questionnaire…… then we hopped on the bus and left. What! What about the questionnaire? Well played Bucks, you know how to bring out our competitive side.

Mount St Helens….you don’t say?

• Mount St Helens is an active stratovolcano located 83 kilometres north east of Portland, Oregon and 158 kilometres of Seattle.
• Mount St Helens takes its English name from that of the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century.
• The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
• The Mount St. Helens major eruption of May 18, 1980 remains the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. 

Chock full of information about Mount St Helens, we hopped back on the bus and headed off to our second tour game at Hockinson High School, home of the Hawks. With just under 700 students, the school was built in 2003 and is a part of the Hockinson School District in Clark County, located in the southwest region of the state. It is the only high school in the district. Hockinson High School competes in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Greater St Helens League at the 2A level. Despite being one of the smallest schools in the state’s 2A level, it is highly competitive.

We’re proud to say we scored four wins from four outings, to give everyone a bit of pep in their step as we left (apart from the 2 degrees Celsius temp).

Junior Varsity Boys: 51-48
We started out strongly today, getting out to an early lead. We continued scoring, building a good margin through the first two quarters, rotating our players through the court. As the third quarter began we continued adding pressure enabling us to extend our lead until Hockinson began adding a full court press which saw them improve their score rate. In the last quarter, Hockinson's tight defence reduced the margin from a 20 point lead to see them nearly capture the win, but thanks to some clutch free throws by Cayde we managed to get across the line by three points for our first win.

Junior Varsity Girls: 48-32
A relatively relaxing lead up to game two meant our Titan girls were relaxed and ready to play. We welcomed Portia and Trixie to the team and said goodbye to Lillie (Varsity). After a scrappy first quarter we began to find some rhythm and more importantly the basket. At half time we led by 10. Once again our defensive pressure gave us plenty of scoring opportunities. Our opponents never gave up and we worked hard for four quarters to secure another great team win. Macey Griffith and Heidi Berkin had a great game.

Varsity Girls: 77-23
The girls locked into their defensive assignments from the start of the game. Holding the home side scoreless for the first part of the game meant we got off to a great start. The game was played very physically especially inside the key way, Ava Collins didn't back down from the challenge utilising her great footwork to create opportunity. Our full court defence bothered the home side creating some easy scoring opportunities throughout the game. It was an even contribution and great team effort of defence that helped secure the win.

Varsity Boys: 82-63
The boys approached the game with a higher level of focus, lead by team captain Jackson who made his intentions clear with a coast to coast play to start us off. The boys rewarded themselves with the opportunity to run on the back of some great team defence. The home side showed great resilience and toughness to withstand our runs and never let us break free until the end. Harry Mules had a very influential game make some big plays when the team required it. Mackye Barons play off the bench had an had a very positive impact on the result, as did Jack Berkefeld staying ready made the most of his opportunity when it came. The game was much tighter then the scoreboard suggests, I great effort by our side to come away with the win.

The Flag!

You know when you have an odds on favourite that is a guaranteed cert that you back the house on for a win? That’s how I felt about our new flag recipient, there was no doubt in my mind that this young lady would feature (maybe not even just once). It will therefore not surprise anyone that Ellie Bouchier has made her appearance to flag royalty.

To be honest, Ellie has daily flag moments, but because it’s Ellie doing Ellie things we generally just take them as normal encounters, but yesterday she had a couple of Elli-isms that really go above and beyond that made her worthy for the vote.

During our six days on tour, Ellie has had a couple of sleep walking encounters. There was some kamakazee bed rolling during the night in San Francisco that went by the wayside as it was chalked up as just another Ellie moment. However last night her second bout of sleep walking saw her doing some silent bed hopping. As I’ve mentioned previously (and responsible for quite a few other flag moments), we generally have to share beds. Last night Ellie was all tucked up and calmly (that word doesn’t quite seem right as a descriptor for Ellie?) settled in for the night as she shared the bed with Siobhan. However, you can imagine the girls surprise this morning, when they all woke up a little bleary eyed to see that Ellie was now all tucked up and in bed next to Tess. No one knows when or why it happened? Confused is an understatement. I’m not sure who’s more active awake Ellie or asleep Ellie – does this girl never stop!

But my favourite from yesterday is when she bared her soul to Siobhan as they were discussing the tour and the highlights still to come. Obviously, the NBA game, Adidas Outlet and Universal Studios featured strongly but for Ellie, the highlight she’s waiting for, the one thing above all else, is her visit to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. But, it’s not for the reason you may think (in fact, that no one else would think! 😊). Apparently, Ellie was unaware that Disneyland was actually an amusement park, she thought it was a large cinema that showed your choice of Disney movies - she was in an absolute quandry as whether to watch Little Mermaid or Lion King first. Oh Ellie! Lucky we got that cleared up before we got there, gives her a chance to quell her disappointment…..