Final days

Photos

Our final evening consisted of dinner followed by an trivia game hosted by Coach Jamie and enforced by Marshy. The legends (parents) were the outright winners, but were ulitimatley disqualified, which made way for the flying teletubbies to take the ultimate title.
The trippers returned to their rooms to change for the costume competion which was won by Dhanesh and Ruby. See pictures
We hit the road again early this morning stopping for a quick run around at Albury, also giving anyone with any money left to spend, the chance to burn it before they hit home. Lunch in the park at Euroa followed by cake to celebrate Jimmy's birthday and then it was back on the bus and homeward bound.
This is not the end of the blog, I will be updating photos over the next few days when I have a minute or 3 to spare.
We hope you have enjoyed following our adventures. The trippers have had a womderful time and the general concensus amongst the merry helpers was that they were incredibly well behaved and very polite.

Our thanks to everyone who assisted with fundraising, organising, driving, cooking, managing, coaching etc etc etc.
Thank you to Shane Tobin and Southern Basketball Association for allowing  the under 14 boys and girls the  opportunity to take this trip, I am sure they will all have fond memories.


Thanks especially to Rhonda (our GPS) who on occasion led us on a merry path, but for the most part got us to where we needed to go. Jeff's life will not be the same without Rhonda and three others telling him which way to turn.
 
Thank you also to the parents who entrusted us with their children, giving us the opportunity to get to know them better, but also giving them the opportunity to spread their wings and show just how kind and responsible they are.
If you have any messages you wish to pass onto Sabres or to Shane about the trip, you can email me on s.s.brown@bigpond.com   and I will ensure the information gets to the correct person.
 
Finally on behalf of the kids.
Thanks for following our Journey
Under 14 Sabres Road Trippers

Our Trippers summed up

Laney - Smiley
Emma - Ace shooter
Issy - Are we in Sydney?
Amy -  Raybans, ribbons and Rubes
Fleur - Singing Diva (baby baby baby)
Sam G - Speedy Gonzalis
Finn - Mover and shaker on and off the court
Mikaela - "The animal"
Sarah - The glue that keeps the team together
Dhanesh - AKA  Dhanai
Rory - Rory and his girls
Jimmy - Mr Decisive
Harley - Smooth moves, where's your shoes?
Kyle - The money makin foul line champ!
Frankie - where's your......?
Oscar - The sharp shooter
Lachie - Little orange person number 2
Rebecca - Duracell Bunny
Mitch - Multi-skilled
Jodeci - Twinkle toes
Tim - Buzzer beater
Caitlin - "Killer Caitlin"
Sam B - the next Justin Beiber
Dyllan - Swing man
Will - Shhhhh!!!
Mack -  Quiet achiever
Callum - Fantastic team player
Antonio - Silent assassin
Nick - It cant be 5 to, it was  a quarter to 10 minutes ago.
Nathan - Champion at Hills
Dave - Ace rebounder
Ali - Ding ding ding ding (watch out for the tram)
Chrissy - Determined player who loves playing basketball
Rachel - Stellar leadership
Ruby - Enjoys taking on the bigger girls
Cassidy - Wheres your PJs? Our tall

Avoca to Sutherland

Click here to view Photos from Sutherland and Stadium camping

After a chaotic start to the day, the trippers boarded the bus headed for Sutherland which is south of Sydney for their final game of basketball. A scenic tour of Sydney was intended, however an extended lunch break at Chatswood shopping centre meant that we had to high tail it straight to the stadium. We made it  with about 10 minutes to spare before the first game. The boys second team took to the court encouraged by the very vocal Sabres crowd, finally going down with a 3 point loss.
The girls squad and the boys first team then took the court, the girls coming up against the sutherland under 16 first team, who physically overpowered the team from the onset, sadly another loss was recorded on the board. The boys also played the Sutherland under 16 third team and also recorded a "L", the trippers have requested that no scores for these games be posted on the blog. The highlight of these games was our very professional boys cheer squad headed up by Rory. (See photos)
With games firmly behind them, it was time to party. The trippers were treated to dinner at the local club, followed by a trip to the movies to see Toy story. Upon our return to the stadium it was time for the Coach Marsh, Coach Treasure, Luke, Hayley and Suzi to work out the bedding situation in the refs room and the board room of the stadium. Finally adequate bedding was organised, however the trippers had no intention of  actually using those beds any time soon. The coaches kept the trippers busy with games until the early hours of the morning, until finally a game of knockout was used to determine which ones went off to bed first.

An early wake call this morning, sorted the men from the boys. The trippers managed an efficient pack up of the gear and were ready and waiting when the well rested parents arrived to collect them this morning. A scenic tour of Sydney was organised to make up for yesterday, with the buses taking a tour past the Opera House and a trip on the Harbour Bridge. Stopping at Darling Harbour for a quick look around,and a lolly stock up, an early lunch at McDonalds before hitting the road again for the 5 hour trip to Gundagai.

Photos from Castle Hill

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Day 3 at Avoca Beach

The day started slowly with some trippers choosing to go for a run to the beach and taking a swim with Will, whilst others took the opportunity to have a sleep in. Breakfast was served on the deck by the merry band of parents. At 10am it was all onto the bus to Castle Hill for some games (for which the results cannot be divulged due to inexplicable reasions). Lets just say that the trippers are showing signs of fatigue.

As we returned to Avoca, heavy rain set in so dinner was relocated to the games room and once again the merry band of parents managed the task of feeding 50 odd people using every oven, frypan and utensil available to them. A meal of hamburgers followed by ice cream definatly hit the spot. The trippers retired to their rooms at a reasonable hour and at last check were mostly heading to their beds.

Gosford Results

Under 14-1 Boys
Sabres defeated Gosford City Rebels 53-47


No.5 - Dylan - An arm injury prevented him taking the court, however he managed a great game against the girls!
No.6 - Lachie - Hard nose defence and hit a 3 pointer!!!!!
No.7 - Harley - Shone at both ends of the court, say no more!
No.9 - Jimmy - The Assist Supremo with a real foul!
No.11 - Finn - Took the court injured, fouled out but was never second best!
No.14 - Tenacious Tim Taranto took on the tall timber of the Gosford team and triumphed with a triple!
No. 24 - Callum - Sometimes quiet off the court but tonight was hot to trott!
No.25 - Wil - Made his presence felt under the basket!
No.31 - Oscar - Hot hands produced hoops throughout the game!
No.41 - Mitchel - MIA - Playing off for the Victorian State Water Polo Team - Bronze Medal!!!! Go Mitch!

Under 14 -2 Boys
Sabres defeated by Gosford City Rebels 37-40
No.14 - Antonio -plays above his height with numerous rebounds and his fathers smokin!
No.15 - Dhanesh - Determined Dhanesh was BOB today (best on boards)!
No.21 - Mack - Hit a sweet shot at the right time!
No.23 - Sam B - Hustles and Bustles on and off the court!
No.23 - Dave - In a really tough gritty game Dave came through with the goods!
No.24 - Nathan - Nulified the opossition with some great defensive work.
No.35 - Nic G - Lovely left hand - top point scorer!
No.41 - Sam G - Slick Sam the blonde terrier frustrated the opposition!
No.43 - Rory - If Rory wasn't spinning around on the court his dad was spinning off the court!
No.45 - Kyle - Came to play with a trifecta of steals, points and boards and followed it up by winning the team shoot-out.
No.51 - Jodeci - He got knocked down and got up again and got up again and got up again..........

Under 14 -1 Girls
Sabres defeated Gosford City Rebels 52-46

Under 14 -2 Girls
Sabres defeated by Gosford City Rebels 32-41

More Photos from Avoca Beach

Click here to view more photos from the trippers time at Avoca Beach

Avoca Beach photos

Click here to see photos from this leg of the journey.

Woollongong to Gosford (Avoca Beach)

After collecting the trippers from their billets we headed off toward Sydney, however a minor mishap getting out of the carpark at the stadium meant that the parents had to push the bus and the fully laden trailer after it became wedged on the driveway. Just a little action to get the day going.
Eventually we made it to Avoca beach for our rest day, where the kids enjoyed a dip in the spa and some well earned down time. Whilst the Team Managers tended to the washing.
Jess and her merry band of  helpers worked tirelessly to prepare a special roast dinner for the trippers, using every available oven and webber bbq available to them. By all accounts the trippers enjoyed the meal.

Woollongong Photos

Click here to see photos from the monumental win of the Illawarra Hawks/Sandringham Sabres Cup 2010

Canberra to Woollongong (Illawarra Hawks)

Safely collecting the billets from the Institute car park, the buses hit the road for a quick tour of Canberra and viewing of Parliamanent house, after a small chat with the Federal police re parking, Antonios Crupi could have  had a close encounter with Julia Gillard, but had settle for a man in a suit instead. We headed out of Canberra and onto the famous Robertson Pie shop where our boys and Issy once again got to demonstrate their push up technique under the instruction of Coach Marsh, due to the boys and Issy temporarily forgetting their manners in public.

The next highlight of the day was having the opportunity to to play at one of the most infamous basketball stadiums in Australia "The Snake pit" and fulfilling Coach Treasures burning desire to hoist the illusive trophy.

Girls 1 lost to Illawarra 51 - 43
Started off slow  and were 10 points down at quarter time a much stronger performance in the second quarter when we got back to 1 point difference.The third quarter was neck and neck  after snatching the lead we found ourself with a three point deficit at three quarter time. They overpowered us in the fourth quarter as their size and strength was too much for our girls.  Frankie upped the the tempo and played a very strong game. Emma continued her good shooting from the previous night with some nice baskets from long range. Ali and Cassidy stepped up to play 3 quarters for the first team, helping to polish their skills and to support the bench.

Girls 2 defeated Illawarra 27-24

Another slow start against a tall team the girls picked up thier defence in the second quarter and found themselves 2 points ahead at half time. The defence was solid and finally some shots began to sink. We were front runners for the whole last quarter and managed to control the tempo of the game and held on for a thrilling three point victory. Cassidy stepped up agianst a much taller opponent and shut them down along the way collecting numerous rebounds and points. Sarah and Fleur were tenacious in defence collecting steals, causing turnovers and cleaning the glass.

Boys 2 defeated Illawarra 65-19

From start to finish the  boys were on fire and the hawks were unable to put the brakes on. Unfortuantley for the opposition they could not extinguish the  red hot sabres players, from there it downhill all the way. Coach Marsh tried to drop the  the game down a gear and shuttled his players down the bench, though the boys cruised their way to a comfortable "W" led by Dave Faulkner's dominance in the paint, Sammy Gall burnt rubber all night leaving the opposition eating dust.

Boys 1 defeated Illawarra 56-40

The boys started off with  blitzing form with the help of Mitch's strong offensive rebounding and Lachies hustle, the game tightened up in the second quarter with the hawks  getting back into the game. With the extra minute at half time throwing the boys routine out of sync. The last quarter was impressive after coach Lemons imparted his inspirational, instructional and motivational address to the boys. Finn rose to the challenge with a massive block in the fourth quarter, bringing the crowd to its feet. Tim Tarantos terrific triple put a nail in the coffin which sealed the deal reclaiming the Illawarra Hawks/Sandringham Sabres Cup for the next 12 months.

Canberra photos

click here to view images and if you look on the left side of this page there is a list of ppages each one is a separate page so you can click through a page of images related to a specific topic and not one long long page of images.

A few more acknowledgements

We also have a fantastic parent support crew on tour as follows: Nancy Balic who will be responsible for accommodation; Jess Taranto who is sorting food requirements but not doing all the cooking on her own!; Tim Atkins, our travelling physio; Martin Richards who is the man with the credit card - be VERY nice to him;Bruno Crupi and Geoff Lawrence who are our bus drivers, we wouldn't be going far without them. Our other coach and support vehicle driver Ron Lemons, Ihope we havent missed any one.
We also need to thank Shane Tobin for organising the games along the way, it must be an incredibly difficult task and a logistical nightmare. Shane and Will schubert will be joining us on the weekend at Avoca Palms along with some other parents who are travelling up to visit their children.

The Australian Institute of Sport

Today has been a very long one not only for the players but also for the band of merry parents who not only lead the road trippers around but also pick up after them whenever we stop. After a very well organised breakfast this morning we headed off in our buses toward Canberra. The first stop of the day being Holbrook where we investigated the submarine conveniently parked in the middle of town. It was here that the boys got to again demonstrate thier push ups whilst the rest of us watched without an ounce of pity (but it was cold).
Another 170 km on and it was lunch time and once again our support vehicle was ready and waiting and so was a yummy lunch. The trippers got a look at the dog on the tucker box, but we didnt stop for long at Gundagai as we had a very important appointment to keep at The Institute.
We arrived into Canberra at exactly 3.00pm where we firstly watched the girl trippers drop for 20 push ups (I think it was more to show the boys who was better at push ups and not for any particular punishment), then went inside to visit the AIS shop and then we were taken on a 1.5 hour tour of the Institute. We visted the pool, the gymnasium the volleyball centre and best of all was sportstek where the trippers got to try our all of the electronic equiipment and experience soccer, rowing, bike riding, rock climbing football, cricket, and wheelchair basketball amongst other things. If any of those trippers were bored during the afternoon today, then I would have to say that there would be no pleasing them.
We had a bit of time to kill, so after a compulsory fruit stop we took a scenic drive around canberra to see Parliament house and then a quick return to the AIS for the much anticipated games.

Scores tonight were

Girls squad lost to ACT  54-57
Rotating a bench of 15 can't be easy, however Jamie managed to get all of the girls on for a significant run even managing to add a 5th quarter to the match. The team managed to hold the ACT team at bay coming back from being 14 points behind at one stage.

Boys 1 defeated ACT 57-21
Boys 2 defeated ACT 28-22
The boys game commentaries will need to wait until tomorrow as our coaches have retired after a very busy day.

After the games the trippers were each introduced to their hosts and whisked away for the remainder of the evening and I am sure that the parents will all be up very early to welcome them back to us with open arms. In the meantime this blogger is also very tired......more tomorrow.
Check back for photos in the morning.

Day 2 Albury to Canberra

After last nights game our opposition treated us to a bbq, the hungry troops still felt the need to eat more when we returned to the motel, so a logistical effort by Martin, Ron, Jess and anyone else within arms reach pitched in to help feed the many mouths.
Its still only early, but there are some rumblings as the troops begin to awaken to a chilly morning in Albury. todays plan is to motor along to Gundagai for lunch and then onto Canberra this afternoon.