Scotch College

Inaugural US basketball tour

In early January sixteen Scotch basketball players and two coaches - Mr Rob Hortin and Mr Cliff Blowers flew into history, and North Carolina, to commence a 22 day journey of a lifetime along the north-eastern seaboard of the United States.

We visited eight schools, including Durham Academy and Kingswood-Oxford School where, amongst many highlights, we caught up with former exchange teachers Mr David Gould and Mr Steven Dessants. Our squad consisted of eight 'Varsity', captained by David Forsyth, and eight 'Junior Varsity' players, who were led by Matthew Alexander.

Durham Academy played host on our arrival and provided strong opposition in game one after we had begun very well. However, our twenty-seven hour flight began to tell, in the second half, and Durham finally defeated our seniors by 17. Whilst in Durham, we were privileged to witness Duke University's final practice before their clash with North Carolina State; met 'Coach K'; and toured the famous 'Cam Dome', home of Duke basketball and a spectacular venue. Duke are currently ranked second in the NCAA (College basketball) and promote many players to the NBA.

Having learned valuable lessons from game one, we moved to The Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia, 'heart of the south', and improved our performance to a margin of 15 points against a stronger line up than we had met in Durham. A day at historic Williamsburg, and a morning tour of President Jefferson's 'Monticello', provided much interest and allowed us to rally ourselves for game 3 against the Potomac School in Washington.

This was, ironically, our only disappointing game and we missed a great chance to secure a win by only 3 points. However, our juniors were superb and won their game by the same margin! The nation's capital was spectacular beneath blue skies and a cold sun and our tour of the city's monuments and major buildings was well received by all. Incidentally, six of our group were hosted by a family who had a full sized basketball court inside their house!

Germantown Academy hosted us in Philadelphia and we played a great game there against a school that recruits heavily. (One of their players - who could not play against us, has recently been signed by the Portland Trailblazers.) Also in Philadelphia, we enjoyed a practice with Penn State before playing William Penn Charter School in game 5. This was perhaps the most talented side we met and even though we played close to our best, they were too big, too strong, and too fast for us and won by 25 points. We felt we played well but ... Afterwards, we attended an NBA game - '76ers vs Vancouver at the 76ers new, eighteen thousand seat stadium - and this perhaps softened the blow of our two losses in that wonderful and historic city.

'New York! New York!' gave us a welcome respite from a busy schedule and we soon felt right at home. A McDonalds always within sight, forty-nine thousand cabs at our disposal, and a trip to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building refreshed our spirits. Before we left, we enjoyed a pleasant stroll in Greenwich Village, before boarding our coach for West Hartford, Connecticut. There we met Mr Steve Dessants and played Suffield Academy. We 'won' an interesting contest quite easily but it became evident that it was a J-V team we were playing. No one had explained this and we were happy to run most of our players and take the win.

Our game against Kingswood-Oxford produced the finest performance of the tour. Everyone contributed, players 'stepped up', and with 3 minutes to play we led by 9 points. Disaster struck when K-O knocked down a 3, then a 2, and hit 2 from the line to cut the margin to 1, before forcing us into overtime 81:81. Further drama occurred when our centre, Steven Craig, was fouled out early in the overtime period and K-O went on to win.

Finally, we visited the snow covered fields of Groton Academy, an elite school about 1.5 hours north-west of Boston, for game 8. We had lost Steven Craig who by then had returned to Melbourne and rowing camp, and our team worked well but lost by 25 points.

Even though we were not successful in terms of winning games, we felt the tour was a great success. We learnt a great deal, were treated with genuine hospitality throughout the tour by our American hosts, made many new friends, and gained a wonderful insight into American family life, culture, and history. We are well placed for the 1998 season and, furthermore, our next tour to the heartland of basketball.

Mr Rob Hortin, Coach