Goodbye Canada, hello United States of America.

Our team of intrepid travellers returned to Kitsilano High School bright and early this morning after their first night’s homestay, and didn’t they have tales to tell. After the games last night, the students had the chance to mingle with their Canadian counterparts with a buffet spread put on by the host parents – it was great to have some home cooked meals. With some food in their stomachs and a win under their belt they then headed off with their homestays. It was great to hear them excitedly talking about their experiences when they returned in the morning.

After bidding farewell to our new friends we left Kitsilano enroute to Granite Falls. During our 2 ½ hour drive, we had the joys of going through customs (again), but this proved a far less painful experience than our previous encounters. We arrived at Granite Falls High School at 2.00pm and received a warm welcome from our visitors.

Granite Falls is a city in Snohomish County, Washington. It is located between the Pilchuck and Stillaguamish rivers in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, northeast of Lake Stevens and Marysville. The city is named for a waterfall on the river that is located north of downtown on the Stillagumish River.

Granite Falls High School has over 500 students in Grades 9-12 and the students were very impressed with the size of the school and its facilities – not bad for a town of 3364.

Fun Facts:

• The site of Granite Falls was originally a portage for local Coast Salish tribes prior to the arrival of American settlers. The settlement was founded in 1883 and prospered after the discovery of gold and silver in the Monte Cristo mines located east of Granite Falls on the Everett and Monte Cristro Railway. Granite Falls was platted in 1891 and incorporated as a fourth-class town on November 8, 1903.
• Each year, the main city festival, Railroad Days, is held on the first Saturday in October.
• The Granite Falls School District has two elementary schools (Mountain Way and Monte Cristo), one middle school (Granite Falls Middle School), and two high schools, (Crossroads High School and Granite Falls High School). The Granite Falls High School’s athletic teams, nicknamed the Tigers, compete in the North Sound Conference high school sports league.

Welcome to American basketball. Today we had our first experience of all the hoopla that goes with the game over here in the states – and it was all we had imagined. The band, the cheerleaders, the announcing, they certainly know how to build the game atmosphere. Our little Aussies were a little shell shocked at the beginning, and our boys in the stands were a little hard for the cheerleaders to motivate, but once they realised they were actually cheering for us and were saying Titans, they warmed up a bit (a bit, definitely a tough crowd 😊)

Junior Varsity Boys:

The boys started strongly with an accurate shooting display from Joel Duncan and Oscar to get them underway. Joel Dent was wreaking havoc on the defence line and Matt Withers added a three pointer to the total. Stuart was providing plenty of drive down the court. Oscar was dominating under the post, whiles James and Jake were applying plenty of defensive pressure. Great team passing was proving the key to the boys keeping ahead on the scoreline and at the end of the first quarter the boys led by six points (16-22). Max Crook and Joel Duncan worked with the team to provide defensive pressure but Granite Falls pegged the lead back to three points midway through the second. Stuart and Max helped to keep us ahead each lodging scores on the board and Darcy kept taking on the defence, driving in to add to the tally. It was still anyone’s game at half time as we lead by two points (34-36). Kitsilano hit the lead early in the third, but then Darcy and Oscar hit their straps to get the lead back. Joel Dent was proving a menace in defence for Granite Falls and Mason was offering some great passes to his team to keep the score ticking along. At the end of the third quarter we had stretched the lead out to 14 points (44-58). The boys had no desire for another close game tonight and played some great team work to push the score out and come away with a comfortable 19 point win (58-77). Coach Holmes is very excited to be two from two.

Varsity Girls

Wow… where do I start. These girls, they are inspirational, uplifting, and just plain ol’ great.(Footnote: Intro courtesy of Ellen Brown, now back to some honesty). After an impressive fanfare to start the game, our Varsity women started well with our little blogger wannabe, Ellen, getting Titans on the scoreboard with a three pointer. Tight defensive pressure by Emily, Emilia and Kayleigh was seeing the ball head back our way with Sarah finishing off nicely. Ella, Gabby and Emmason came into the game and helped the girls to increase their lead going into the quarter time break 7 points up (9-16). It was a clinical display in the second with the girls scoring freely and ramping up the defensive pressure. Despite wanting to be the team mascot, Kate took to the court and helped apply the pressure. Ella and Emilia’s height was proving a problem for Granite Falls under the basket and at half time we were looking strong 24 points ahead (13-37). We kept up the pressure in the third with great help from Emmason and Gabby finished off with some great shooting by Sarah and Emily.  At three quarter time we were 40 points up (18-58). In a strong finish, all girls kept working hard to earn a well deserved 43 point win (21-64).

Varsity Boys

With the cheerleaders, band and crowd in full swing, it took the boys a little moment to find their momentum, however a Malok 3 pointer got us on the board, followed by scores from Matt and Oli. It was a tight tussle with AJ and Oscar proving a force under the basket, pulling in some great rebounds. Jaidyn was hit the scoreboard and Toby was driving the ball well down the court with some great passing. A strong finish to the quarter saw the boys up by 9 points (12-21). The Varsity Boys edged away in the second with help from Matt Withers and Conall, but some bad passing choices allowed Granite Falls back into the game. Joel Dent worked hard in defence, and at half time we’d increased the lead to 18 points (17-35). Our defensive pressure kept up in the third, with Matt rewarding the team for their efforts at the Titans end. Malok, Oli and Toby were proving tough for the Granite Falls offence. Joel Duncan came off the bench after a solid Junior Varsity game and kept the pressure up, helping the Titans to a 28 point lead (24-52) going into the last. The teamwork game continued in the final quarter, with the boys holding their nerve against some tight Granite Falls defence. The boys ran out winners by 31 points (36-67).

The Flag!

The reality of the Flag is that we knew from the get go that we had more than a handful of students (and adults) who would be guaranteed candidates, and how right we were. Our awardee for Day 4 was also destined to earn a guernsey, so welcome to flag territory Emily Dawe. Anyone who has seen Emily play basketball (or seen her just walking around) knows she is more often than not on the ground. (If anyone has a chance to see her blog attempt where she fell mid-blog I highly recommend it). The reason however for her nomination was not her falling but something else. As we enjoyed our time in the premier shopping district (remember, the one with the $10,000 coats), Emily and crew decided on a bit of a nibble and refreshments. All went well as she and Emilia boldly ordered their sushi and watermelon juice, until Emily moved her feet. It seems her feet and arms were not working at the same speed and as Emily went to depart with her tray of goodies her arms may not have been holding the tray as straight as she may have thought. I had the good fortune of walking past at this exact moment and saw the large cup of watermelon juice spiral off the tray and onto the EFTPOS machine, floor and Emilia’s pants. Obviously, myself and Emilia were incredibly supportive during this intense moment, and stopped laughing after a good couple of minutes. Meanwhile, Emily was standing there as the mops, sponges and towels came out around her, it was truly an entertaining sight, and consequently sees her being the caretaker of the flag for Day 4.

May I also make note of another student destined to earn her own flag and coming desperately close to also winning this one. Ella McIntyre is a chip off her sister’s block (yes Tori, I think this is something you would have done). When Ella’s group of friends was having a highly intelligent conversation about philosophy, Ella asked the questions “Philosophy that’s about dinosaurs isn’t it?” Gold, pure gold.