Day 2 - Sat 3rd December, 2011

The tour is now in full-swing with the boys having their first day with an American host family as well as our three games in the afternoon/evening. We were provided with a warm welcome in the morning by the Head Coach of Gross Catholic High School, Tim Powers, who did a superb job in organising the boys for their first home-stays.

The boys were dropped off at the school by their host families later in the morning for our first training session (shoot-around). We used their second gym for this as the main gym was being used for a wrestling tournament. The boys had a chance to watch a bit of this before we started training – there may be a few requests to the Head Master on our return for introducing this as a new CAS sport.

The training session was essential in getting rid of the cobwebs and lead weights in the arms before our games later on. As we were leaving it became clear that the snow had really come down while we were inside. It was wonderful for the boys to experience this on their first full day in Nebraska.

Our games were a perfect introduction to Basketball in the States. You will see from the videos that there is a traditional exchange of gifts before the start of all international games. The anthems were also played prior to the start of the Varsity game. In all games we began enthusiastically (I think having cheerleaders helped a little here) and were very competitive, however the relentless pressure and patience that is typical of the US style of play provided a very significant learning experience for the boys. Without a shot clock we will need to be more composed in our offence for the remaining games on tour. The final scores were:

Freshman Game: Gross 43, Trinity 33

Junior Varsity Game: Gross 73, Trinity 29

Varsity Game: Gross 53, Trinity 34

It was great to play our first games as it feels like the tour has now really begun. The boys are also having a wonderful time with their host families as they experience life in Nebraska. We are especially grateful to the Gross Catholic families for being so welcoming to the boys. As well, our sincere thanks to Tim Powers and Mike Dempsey for all the hard work they have put into organising our games and home stays.

The boys are spending most of the day tomorrow with their host family. In the afternoon we are going in to Omaha to watch an NCAA game (Creighton vs. Nebraska). We are told that the stadium will be packed as they are local rivals.

You can find a full set of today’s photos and videos at the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usabasketballtour/sets/72157628277229783/

Best wishes.