FLIGHT DL417

Parents and friends,

Please be aware that our flight into Sydney now does not arrive until 7.45am. 

Apologies to all, however, after checking in we have been made aware of a later departure and subsequent later arrival.

We are now off for a long wait at a very uninteresting airport terminal. 

If you can, please pass on this message to other families that are in the tour group to prevent long waits by loved ones at Sydney terminal in the morning. The Trinity parent bush telegraph would be a great help here.

I can be contacted on my email lwhite@trinity.nsw.edu.au for the next 4 hours.

Parents and Friends

Please be aware that we have a delay in our flight departure. We will now arrive in Sydney at 7.45am.

Can you please advise other families so as to avoid long waits by loved ones at Sydney airport.

Regards Lachlan

Free time, Disneyland, Clippers and Outlet mall

Today was a great day. Boys headed to Disneyland and did what teenage boys do best, eat, hang out and enjoy themselves. This was easy to do at the "Happiest place on earth!".

After this we went to the Stapels Centre to watch the LA Clippers v Indiana Pacers which was an awesome experience. A number of other Australian schools were in the crowd  who had been on basketball tours as well. These schools reported their experiences of California, somewhat minor compared to the expanse that the Trinity boys had done.

Today we farewell a number of boys who are staying on in the US and head to an outlet mall, to satisfy the boys new found pleasures of shopping, before heading home.

Parents are reminded to collect their boys from Sydney airport on Saturday morning around 6.30am.

Game 11 v Workman Lobos HS

 

Report by Ryan Marinak 

Win 66 to 32

As we approached the last game of the 2014 American basketball tour, the freshman boys were fired up and anxious for the game against William Workman!  With sickness running through the squad, Ollie Davis and Edison Chan powered through illness and stepped up to play great basketball resulting in a well earned win for the freshman. Some outstanding performances from Sebastian Diaz and Patrick Di Giannantonio  gave the boys a solid foundation for the game.  Harry Dunn played some great defense resulting in hasty decisions from the opposition allowing our offense to flow. Some great hustle in the paint shown by Ben, Andrew and Tom led to easy points. We came out of the halftime break with ferocious determination but unfortunately they got the better of us due to poor decision making on offense and a lack of defensive intensity in trialling a new defensive system. James Corbon had a terrific of a game showing his promise for the future of Trinity Basketball with his sweet shot and his attitude and love for the game!  Continuos driving to the ring from Ollie Davis and Jed Keogh led to some great offensive for the mighty 'Green Machine'!  This game was a great finish to a successful campaign from the freshman squad!  

JV Win 58 to 57

Report by Ben Treloar 

In the final game of the tour the JV boys gave it their all, leaving nothing on the court. The game was slow to start for Trinity yet Workman High quickly a tallied a 12 point lead within the first 5 minutes of the first quarter. After a quick time out the boys hustled back out with a big focus on maintaining solid defence. Jared Phillis and John Bechara both went to work underneath the basket helping to close the deficet. The second half saw the score line change many times in favor of both teams and the last 4 minutes were destined to be a nail biting affair. Trinity were down 6 points and needed to remain focused as both teams were in foul trouble, with some solid pressure on defence we were able to bring the game back to an even score. With only 30 seconds remaining both teams were trying desperately to get the next score then hold out the other team. A frustrated brain snap saw an offensive foul called on us to see their best shooter drain the two free throws and take the lead. 6 seconds remained and a quick inbound saw Jerimiah Romeo bring up the ball, determined to go coast to coast, driving through the key. His shot went up while collecting several slaps on the arm form the desperate opposition. It seemed like an eternity for the ball to bounce around the rim then drop to square the score. The shot counted, leaving a pressured free throw to win the game. He stepped up and nailed it! Win to JV.

Varsity Loss 72 to 60

Trinity started well against a team who had won 5 of their last 6 conference championships. Jarred Fernandes player one of his best games scoring the first 8 points for the greens. Strong inside play from Callum Price and Riley Smith kept Trinity in the contest at half time though a surge from Lobos saw them kick out to a lead. Trinity  replied with some smart play and excellent defence from Lucas Angelakos. Tenacious play from the most consistent player, Max Peters meant the game was always a contest. It has been a tough tour for the Varsity team with different players stepping up each game. Trinity's inability to score at key times and shut teams down has left the side with results to not go their way. Some valuable lessons on and off the court has exposed where work is to be done both collectively and individually.

Game 10 v Father Judge HS

Today we were pleased to meet and go to the NCAA game of Drexel v La Salle where the team were able to observe the group that they watched train. Unfortunately it was not a high standard first half with a number of errors from both teams, however the Trinity team were highly entertained by the spectacle of the event where La Salle won well.

Games v Father Judge HS 

Freshman

The opening exchanges saw Trinity burst out to an 8 point lead with Tom Mackenzie working really hard to find the offensive rebounds under heavy pressure and get the put back baskets. Sebastian Diaz made some good decisions with the ball and some excellent passing from Jed Keogh helped with the lead. Passing inaccuracy and a lack of composure meant Trinity gave up the lead in the second half which they were never to gain again in the game. 

Junior Varsity

Some awesome outside shooting and full court pressure from Father Judge saw Trinity make some errors, errors that they have continued to make over the course of the tour. Capitulation were words on the lips of the crowd as the team could not cope with the pace and offence that was in front of them.  After some self analysis and honest internal student lead reflection, Trinity came out and won the second half, even though the game was out of contention.

 

Varsity Loss 

Once again Father Judge were very impressive with their control and shooting, hitting 5 from 5 in the first quarter from outside the three point line and 9 baskets from long range in the first half. Riley Smith  Max Peters and Callum Price ( who had a nice jump hook) all tried hard but Jayden Tanevski was the one who entertained the crowd. Jayden's shots had the crowd in oohs and ahhs with his speed and agility to get to the basket.

Many thanks to Father Judge Athletic Director Jimmy Lynch , who we met in Boston in 2011. He went past the call of duty to make Trinity welcome at his school and made up a special shirt for all players for the day. This shirt had both schools logos on it and with an great quote from famous coach John Wooton. The function that we had after the game shows that Father Judge has a great community behind them. We look forward to hosting this school in Sydney in the future.

Game 9 v Academy Park

Freshman Loss 50 to 39

After a morning of rest the boys had a chance to recover from illness and injuries. The rest meant that the freshman team came in with a clear head and were ready to take on  Academy Park High School. We started out strong in the 1st quarter, running our offense "dingo" which led to good post to post plays by our big man and open threes for Seb and Patrick, this lead to a good result on the scoreboard. Our trap worked very well and caused Academy Park to turn the ball over a number of times. In the 2nd quarter all of our momentum seemed to slowly slip away, our shots weren't falling, we were rushing and we were not boxing out the boards, causing second chance points for Academy Park. After the half time break we came back with a smashing start. The boys played intense defense, smart offense and decision making much like the 1st quarter. Andrew and Tom particularly showed hustle and great decision making which led to easy points. In the 4th quarter it seemed like fatigue began to hit us. Our defense began to be sloppy and there trap on our inbounds ball made our team feel the pressure of Academy Park High school.

JV Loss 68 to 32

The JV team had a tough game. The boys of the Academy Park High school were more athletic than the Trinity boys, the aggression for the ball from the opposition resulted in unwanted turnovers in the early half of the game. Their early full court pressure was what had them in the lead, the boys struggled to push the ball over halfway, as our passes were mostly intercepted in the press, even though we had a press breaker play,  the trinity boys found it difficult to look for the open man. Regardless of the score, our boys kept on playing even though we knew that we were in a bad position considering point score. We played the second half of the game climbing back up with the score, firing back at the opposing team like they were one of our CAS rivals. We had a few successful plays that got us looks at the basket, however we needed to build on our improvisational skills during the game as that is what the opposition outplayed us on.

Varsity loss 

After a hard game for varsity against Academy Park high School, trinity came away with an unlucky lose. The game was fought hard over the 4 quarters with trinity remaining close during the first half. Although we came away with a lose there were many positives that came away from the game. All game was a hard physical fight between both team with each side unwilling to give in under the pressure. James Finny had one of his best games on tour leading the trinity team through the highs and lows. A big thanks to Joseph Fayad and Ollie Davis for filling in and providing the vital fresh legs, with Joseph Fayad providing a strong physical game. All in all a lot was learnt about our team despite the loss.

Drexel University

A great morning was spent at Drexel University where we were taken on a tour, given instruction on the University system and entry to the school. Though the most special part of the day was spent watching the Drexel NCAA college team train. This was eye opening experience for the boys, mostly for the intensity of training  but for also watching the Head Coach address and correct his players errors! 

After our lunch in the college eating area, we were privalaged to have a lecture with Dr Ellen Staurowsky who is a leading academic on NCAA sports, who has spoken and testified in Congress on matters pertaining to NCAA player fairness and welfare.