London Trip with my son for Basketball.

[-GoBengals-]

Some may know, my son plays College basketball, small private university in a nearby state. He was a redshirt freshman last year, so coming into his second year with 4 years of playing eligibility left.

 

This summer we were invited to take a trip to London with a basketball club from around the US who got 6 kids from all states to join and go play the top 18U(18 or under age) teams in london. So its an 8 day trip, we added 3 on the end for a little vacation break. If youre gonna fly 9 hrs, may as well make it count)

 

The trip is for 18's who wanna play college and wanna play pro overseas to go see what Competition in the UK looks like. 

 

This was possibly the best decision we have ever made, aside from joining his AAU coach 5 years ago who changed his life.

 

Day one, we flew out from Denver to Heathrow, left at 6:30pm, landed in london at 11:30am the following day, with the +7 hour time change.

 

The bus situation for families to meet up and get to hotel was messy as youd expect flights coming from everywhere, we finally collect everyone, and leave for the Hotel, its 90 minutes away, its a private charter bus, so its comfy at least. The driver hits his max hours without a break so we had to detour to a rest stop for the driver to sit for 30 minutes and not be driving. so get to the hotel around 4:30, they catered lunch from the hotel at 1pm, when we were supposed to arrive, so the food was terrible and old. stayed up until 9-10pm and passed out. 

 

Day two, wakeup 6:30am, breakfast at 7:15, in hotel so eggs ham (not bacon you liars from England) potatos, beans of course.

 

Head to University of East London Sportsdock for practice for first time together. 3 hr practice, most intense practice i have ever seen. Was great for everyone, finish up there, Lunch from Carribian spot catered, probably would ahve been great fresh, but they arrived early and practice ran late, so once again, hour+ old food, chicken, mac, veggies, was ok, ubt old and cold. After lunch we all cleaned up and went to London for a open top bus tour, which was actually pretty cool. then they leave you in london to do whatever you want, we grabbed dinner at a local quick burger spot called crispies, was pretty good, then hit hotel, stayed up till 9=-sh and then passed out.

 

Day 3, Same morning routine, then off to first Game at UEL Sportsdock vs the City of London Academy. This was a fun game, great team, my son played great, won 91-82, my son was 2/3 on free throws, 1/2 on 2 pt shots, and 4/8 from 3 point range, had 16 points. 1 rebound, 2 steals.

after game, back to hotel for catered lunch, same chicken sandwiches and stuff from first day, slightly fresher, still mediocre, then train to Little Venice for a canal cruise to the Camden marketplace. Camden is incredible its a great food market, plus shops pluf flea market, spent a few hours fucking around there, hit a pug for chicken sandwiched and burgers and fries, was good as hell, then headed to subway to get back, got on wrong train because their system is fucking stupid, get off get back on right way, make it to hotel, wind down for night same as usual.

 

Day 4,  Get up breakfast, then take charter bus to the Totengham Hot Spurs stadium, which is incredible, do a full tour, it was a ton of fun, then on our own for lunch, start walking, accidentally go into a Mob front for food, realize our mistake and head out, walk other direction, realize we have like 25 minutes to get food, the options are a pub and a dominos, the pub is packed, no way we are getting food in that time, so we go into dominos, which was incredible, and nothing like dominos in the states, as they cant use the horrible chemicals we can in the US, shit was incredible. then meet back up with team at bus, and head to game vs the London Stars, this is our first dose of Hoop culture in its natural invironment, the fans have drums, horns, scream and yell, its like a wild overseas soccer match. (if you want a wild pic, search "serbian basketbal lflames" and youll see what iwld shit goes on in serbia at just normal hoops games. Fun game, my son plays well, hits a 40 ft buzzer beater at the end of a Qtr, hits one other 3, only goes 2/9 from 3 but 3 of those were shotclock heaves when the plays broke down. so real world 2/6, not terrible. head back to hotel, on our own for dinner, got local italian food, was solid. won by 30-ish points in that game.

 

Day 5, we head to Brighton, about 90 minutes from us, its raining so we skip the beach and do the Lanes which is just alleys and alleys and roads of shops and food, incredible area, meet up at 1pm for lunch at itialian spot, best food of the trip by far, then head to Sussex for game 3. This is the top team in london, they kicked our ass by 40, BUT, since we had 6 players, we had 2 locals join us to subs and depth, and one of them is from the Sussex Storm team, so we lost him and he played against us, and his replacement was terrible, no chemistry with team and a ball hog and a bad shot and lots of turnovers. My son played well, had 15 points, 1/2 free throws, 1/2 from 2pt, and 4/11 from 3, again was chucking threes at the end since they were down 40, was 4/7 to start, last 4 heaves didnt connect. you can tell the 4 days straight of intense hoops is catching up to the players. still crazy fun, made some friends, great time. there were about 100 fans in attendance, maybe 200, biggest crowd at a hoops game my kids played in. 

 

Day 6, freetime until 3pm for game, vs Barking Abbey, a great team, had a 7+ footer 16 yr old palying up on the team, he wasnt good, but he had 6 blocks, maybe 6 points, he should ahve had 40.  son shot poorly, 0/7 from 3, 0 points, had 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, he was toast, a few players were, some airballs from guys, they were spent. lost by 7, with a days rest id bet we could have won that game. but the W/L doesnt matter so fun for all. Team dinner at japanese spot, was ok. 

 

Day 7, We rested, ate food, peeped the riverwalk area nearby, really just recouped from the 5 days of intense hoops.

 

Day 8, everyone else leaft, we went to rec center for son to get his workouts in, was a 1.5 mile walk to and from. rested some more, saw local sights, nothing special, just enjoyed being in the Dockside area. went to Movie and dinner at the O2 arena, good stuff.

 

Day 9 went to tour the Tower of London, which was incredible, we did about 3 hours, hit the hot spots, but that tour could easily be 6-8 hours if you detailed view it all, hit a local BBQ spot downtown london, had random bbq foods, all great, i am finishing up being sick as hell, all the rain and moisture i got a sinus infection, was brutal. hit hotel like 7pm, chil for night.

 

Day 10, son works out, go get food, take uber to Royal Albert Hall, Saw Cypress Hill with the London Symphony Orchestra (like the simpsons episode for Homerpolusa) ate at the fancy spot at the royal albert, had steak and potatos and bread, great food, great show at a really cool venue.

 

Day 11, woke up, took uber to airport, flew the hell home.

 

Im sure not many people care, but figured id share the adventure. im sure i left out some things i forgot already. but thats the general idea of the trip.

[T-Dub]

Tower would def be near the top of my list there

[-GoBengals-]

22 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Tower would def be near the top of my list there

 

 

sooooo many people there on a tuesday mid day, schools on field trips from other countries even, it was wild, well worth it. we skipped the hospitals and apartments, and something else, saw all the torture and death camp areas, the crown jewels, the royl living quarters, etc.. very impressive.

[T-Dub]

We think we have a history and then you go someplace like that with renovations that are older than our country.

[claptonrocks]

On 7/19/2024 at 6:51 PM, GoBengals said:

 

 

sooooo many people there on a tuesday mid day, schools on field trips from other countries even, it was wild, well worth it. we skipped the hospitals and apartments, and something else, saw all the torture and death camp areas, the crown jewels, the royl living quarters, etc.. very impressive.

Been some time since I was at the Tower.

I remember thinking how thick the glass was encasing the jewels lol

 

Madame Tussauds was interesting and hanging out in Trufalge Square was cool.

 

Your son sounds like he's progressing his game nicely.

Hopefully he can shore up the Nuggets backcourt one day....

Your a great dad..

[-GoBengals-]

On 7/19/2024 at 11:51 PM, T-Dub said:

We think we have a history and then you go someplace like that with renovations that are older than our country.

 

this is the biggest point i have a hard time articulating when trying to describe the trip. "everything is so old" was my hillbilly way of trying. i certainly ate in pubs in buildings or on streets older than this country.

 

On 7/21/2024 at 11:19 AM, claptonrocks said:

Been some time since I was at the Tower.

I remember thinking how thick the glass was encasing the jewels lol

 

Madame Tussauds was interesting and hanging out in Trufalge Square was cool.

 

Your son sounds like he's progressing his game nicely.

Hopefully he can shore up the Nuggets backcourt one day....

Your a great dad..

 

yea they arent messing around with the jewels. and the amount of people who cant follow directions on the "no phones or cameras" is unreal. saw like 11 people kicked out.

 

I am not sure my son appreciated the tourist stuff as much as he should have, but being 18/19 thats how it goes.. like when my parents took us on a western trip to grand canyon and everything in between, and my sister and I just wanted to listen to our Discmans and go to a pool.

 

he is playing well this summer where he can. he is now destroying his old coach from his AAU team. He just coached the younger team in Vegas this past week. went 1-0, other coach was 0-3, but he got the one opponent team that was terrible, so it worked out. They palyed a team with Kuminga from the warriors brother on it, he succeeded in a between the legs dunk mid game...he is 15.... they lost by 40. was crazy amounts of talent.  Waka Flaka Flame has a team they played (same team actually) they are good. 

 

I am excited to see what happens with my sons college team this fall, he should play, if not start, and be a killer, but he doesnt know who his coach is yet, it hasnt been announced, not sure what incoming freshman look like, etc. position players mean. alot, there can be 4 kids incoming better than him and it not matter if they are big men, or there can be 2 at his position and all the sudden he is in a bad spot and competing for a few minutes.  so ill be nervous until we know more details in september.

[T-Dub]

55 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

. They palyed a team with Kuminga from the warriors brother on it, he succeeded in a between the legs dunk mid game...he is 15.... they lost by 40. 

 

I could try to make some point about neglecting the fundamentals but that's honestly insane

[-GoBengals-]

2 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

I could try to make some point about neglecting the fundamentals but that's honestly insane

 

he tried a full 360 windmill but the ball clipped the backboard.

 

 

[claptonrocks]

10 hours ago, GoBengals said:

 

he tried a full 360 windmill but the ball clipped the backboard.

 

 

I'll wait for your son to come take over backcourt duties for the Nuggets while the Joker is still there.

Great story...

[-GoBengals-]

On 7/29/2024 at 11:40 AM, claptonrocks said:

I'll wait for your son to come take over backcourt duties for the Nuggets while the Joker is still there.

Great story...

 

that would be the wildest of dreams come true