North Coast Express Hoopester

My trip to UC Davis

Sam

How could kids be walking around a college campus, staying in a college dorm, eating in a college cafeteria, and swimming in a college pool? You may think that’s perfectly normal, but here’s the catch: these kids were ten and eleven. These kids must be pretty smart to be in college already. Either that, or they were participating in the 1st West Coast AAU Junior Olympic Games. They were, in fact, participating in the games as the North Coast Express, and they had a great time.

They finished 4th in their age group, won their pool and played two good playoff games. Their first game was against the NorCal Antelope Pharaohs. They won 49 to 42. They played their next game against the Silicon Valley Stars, winning 55-48. North Coast Express was 0-2 against the SV Stars in previous tournaments. Their 3rd game was against the Sacramento Believers, which they won 43-40. They won the pool with a win over the Believers. The SV Stars came in 2nd with 2 wins and 1 loss. The NorCal Antelope Pharaohs came in 3rd being 1-2. The Believers came in last with no wins. In the A pool, the Fairfield Ballers, NorCal Pharaohs, California Crossovers, and Davis Hoops came in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively, with records of 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, and 0-3 respectively.

The Pharaohs and the Ballers won their playoff games to advance to the championship. The Tournament ended with NorCal Pharaohs with the Gold, the Fairfield Ballers with the silver, and the SV Stars with the bronze. North Coast Express came in 4th. The Crossovers and NorCal Antelope Pharaohs came 5th and 6th respectively. Through out the 1st West Coast AAU Junior Olympic Games we scored 227 points, and scored 45.4 points per game.

While we weren’t playing games, we were practicing, swimming, playing football, watching movies, and other fun stuff. We practiced in the gym and at the park. We went swimming in the very cool UC Davis Rec Pool. It was the shape of a little man with one arm 2 1/2 ft deep to 4 ft deep, with another arm 41/2 to 51/2 feet deep, with a leg 5 1/2 feet to 6 1/2 feet deep, his last leg 11 to 12 feet deep. This leg had two diving boards. The man’s stomach was made out of a concrete island and lap lanes. We played football in the grassy field in front of Gilmore Hall (the dorm that we stayed in was called Gilmore Hall). We watched several movies, including Click, The Longest Yard, Rebound, Remember the Titans, and tapes of us in previous tournaments. On Friday night we went to the game room. We played many video games and went bowling. We also explored the campus. It was a great trip.