For this blog I have to take it a few weeks back to recap what’s been going on. In late February, Mike and I took another trip up to Newcastle with our LTP tour guide Tom Mac. Had to see our boy Tomo play for theNewcastle Eagles basketball team. Pretty sure they just won the title but I could be wrong with how confusing the playoff system is in England. Anyway, Tomo showed us around town again and Newcastle never disappoints. The next day we took a trip to the coast and we got to see our first castle. I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I’m pretty sure it was something like 700-1000 years old which, needless to say, is pretty incredible. A couple weeks later we picked up some tickets to see Eric Church at The Ritz in Manchester. Yea, Eric Church: the country singer. Bert, Mike, and I got a few of the Brits to come with us and Eric Church put on an incredible show to a packed house. And then obviously St. Patties day happened.
The club season finished up with Poynton coming in third place in the premiership. A week later we had our end of the year dinner, which was a great time to say the least. Mike became the first American to win first team MVP and delivered a glorious 10 second speech to get the night started. Later on we were introduced to the blackbird dance/song, which is a great tradition at Poynton. I still have no idea what goes on in that dance and it’s pretty difficult to find anyone who can actually explain it. But, nonetheless, I’m glad I got to be apart of it. It was really a great night.
Most recently, Sam Russell put together an LTP team for the Easter 8’s tournament, which just so happened to fall on my birthday as well. The LTP monster of the north, Bobby Grove, even came down to Manchester for the weekend. With this dream team, we walked away with the title and 150 pounds in prize money. Team fun levels were well regulated throughout the day by resident fun police, Sammy D. I’m pretty sure that was the key to our success, along with our fearless team captain, Alex Russell. The fun continued through the night and it ended up being a great birthday.
Classes have finished and I just have a few assignments to hand in before all that’s left is the dissertation. Coming up for me, I have my family coming to meet me in London for a week in May and then the Eurotrip with Mike before it’s back home to finish the dissertation for September. The year has really flown by; it’s pretty wild that it’s almost over.
Cheers,
Tom Ring
LTP ’14