Reporting in after a break.

So much has happened between the blogs. Hard to know what day it is and all we've done. Luckily Jenny has here trusty diary with her.

Arrived in Virginia beach on Thursday 6th at around 2.00 pm. We're right on the beach with great views from each room. Weather is sunny but cold. So cold in fact that instead of swimming in the outdoor pool we had to opt for ice skating. Yep! the pool was frozen over. All boys had balconies and could look out over the Atlantic Ocean. Travelled about 30 mins to play Norfolk Collegiate. The JV boys had a comfortable win 70 - 45 and the Varsity boys played a great game to win 62 - 57. It's terrific to see all boys doing their bit and making some substantial contributions. Went to Maccas for the first time on the tour to celebrate the win.

The guys got up at sparrow fart to attend a day at Ocean Lakes High School. Our boys couldn't believe the starting time of 7.45 daily. The beaut thing is that the students finish at 2.00pm.
We were warmly greeted by John Williams who is the Director of Student Activities and Cheryl Askew the school Principal. A room was specially decorated for us and along with the Ocean Lakes Basketballers we enjoyed a breakfast of chicken, bacon and egg biscuits, juice, flavoured milk and coffe. One of the coffes was Egg Nogg flavoured. I tried this with some reservation. It was a taste sensation. I wish it was available in more places. After breakfast the players from both squads paired up and went to different classes. John had organised for the parents and coaches to be given a guided tour through the school. He explained with enormous enthusiasm the layout which is based on a shopping mall, the natural light, the fact that the vast majority of class rooms have at least 2 windows and much more. The facilities are first rate. The entire touring group and Ocean Lake players were taken to the OUTBACK restaurant and shouted a free Ozzie lunch.

Game time came around and we came out to a rousing reception from over ONE THOUSAND enthusiastic spectators. JV boys were pushed all the way and got over the line 67 - 63. The speed of the game and the passion both teams showed was the perfect lead in for the varsity game.

Each team member of the varsity boys was read out and a cheer came from the crowd with each name BUT when Shaks name was read out well the roof was lifted. There were about 900 15 to 17 year old girls going nuts. The rock star had arrived.
We were treated to another exciting game of basketball that kept the fans on the edge of their seats. We had a scare during the game when Mitch was taken out on a lay up and he hit the deck with head hard. To his credit he took some time to recover but came back onto court. One of the highlights was to watch the BATTLE OF THE TITANS. Loch Geddes was crashing bodies with a monster football star that plays defensive tackle. It was huge. We got up 63 - 53. All hell broke loose after the game when the 2000+ screaming girls wanted to have their pictures taken with 'THE HUNK' we know as Shak. It was clear for all to see that he LOVED it.
After the police cleared the way we were able to send the boys on their way with their home stay families.

John Williams invited the 3 coaches and myself to a home cooked meal at his home. WOW we were treated like kings.

The boys will have some wonderful stories tell about their home stay experiences.

More on the way soon.

HILLY.