Would you believe I am sitting on our bus travelling at 75mph down the New Jersey Turnpike heading for Washington DC - still nearly 4 hours away (present time is 9.48pm). The luxury of free wifi on our bus, provided by the awesome Mike the driver, is something I had no idea was even possible.
The day started bright and early with us waking the boys in the hotel and getting them ready for school - yes, you read it right - the had their full winter uniform on and looked fantastic (thanks to Kenny Georgetown for ironing their shirts). We headed off to Nathan Hale Ray High School in time for the boys to attend first class - at 7.30am! Those who had been with their billets got in to school on time as well - some even had the fun of travelling on one of those yellow school buses. The staff and families got a great sleep in and a chance to re-pack their bags (and I had chance to upload some more photos to Flickr).
First class ended at 10.30 and the group gathered in the school auditorium to be greeted by the Principal and then headed in to the cafeteria for lunch - burgers, nuggets, mashed potato and an option on a green salad! Our host students, and a great number of the girls in the school, seemed to have the freedom to be out of class and spent time with us - much to our boys enjoyment!! Stories of the morning circulated, including Mullie Watson reporting the news of the day on the TVs in the clasrooms, followed by the sport report by Seamus O'Sullivan and the weather by Tyrone Turaga. Interesting to note that the boys who stayed up near the school had seen light snow fall during the evening - quite a hit! Most of the boys spent their classes answering questions about Australia and their lives.
11.30am saw us hit the road headed back to New York (for our third visit) and we pulled up in front of Hunter College High School on the corner of Park Avenue and 94th Street right on 3pm. One of 460 High Schools in New York City, it was surrounded by brick, high rise walls and the gym was in the basement - such a contrast to the two previous schools in country Connecticut. Hunter is known as the strongest academic high school in the US, and we had special guests watching us including the academic superintendent for New York City and the Commissioner of Boys Basketball for New York City.
The Junior Varsity team kicked off the afternoon with an intense game, lots of great shooting, tough play under the hoop and much fast breaking, and the half time score was very close. We pulled away late in the third quarter and ended up winning 56 - 37 - a great result for our first win on US soil. Stand out play from Aidan Ptasznik led the way, Alex Boardman got 6 blocks in the first half, and Samson Page hit his straps as well as a sweet jump shot.
The Varsity game was also a very tough game, but our boys turned up to play today, with some excellent early shooting from Jake Dunsmore, a fantastic defensive effort by Mullie Watson and a strong performance in the second half from Curtis Rudd. Unfortunately we just fell short, losing 62 - 70.
Into the bus again and south we headed at 7.30pm, with a stop for dinner at McDonalds, and now I am sitting here writing the blog. We expect to get in to Washington DC at around 2am - and all are very much looking forward to a special day tomorrow.
A range of photos tonight - from Nathan Hale Ray in the cafeteria and corridors, to the outside of Hunter College High School.
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