Arizona Venom Sports

It's all about the game!

...End of the Trail Tournament

- July 5th, 2006

The Venom participated in the high profile “End of the Trail” tournament in Portland Oregon.  The tournament is one of the biggest and most recognize tournament in the country.  It is a NCAA certified event and one of the biggest NIKE sponsored event. 

 

The tournament is by invitation only and has 2 divisions; All-Star division for High School teams with 192 teams participating in 6 different brackets, and the All-Star Junior division for younger club teams with 3 grade levels: Class of 2009, Class of 2010, and Class of 2011.

Venom Team at Niketown - Portland, OR

The Venom was one of the 24 teams competing in the 2011 division (girls entering 8^th grade).  The Venom’s first game was against the “Puget Sound Flight – Blue” out of Puget Sound, Washington.  Although a very good team, the Venom aggressive up-tempo style of play was too much to handle.  The Venom won the game.

 

The second game was a different story.  They played the California Sparks, a team from Lakewood, California who wasn’t at the Venom’s competition level but still pulled through.  The Sparks was big and strong, but was not a better team, they just had a better game.  While the Venom did not execute, the Sparks had one of their best game according to their coach.  Because of how the brackets are formed, the lost meant that the best the Venom could place was 5^th.

 

The third game was a revenge game.  The Venom played the Bulldawgs from South San Francisco.  The Venom played really well and won the game easily.

 

The last game was against Team Concept from Washington.  The Venom did not show up to play the game.  They started slow and did not play at their normal high speed fastbreak type of game.  Even if the lost was disappointing, the Venom is ready to go back to work and prepare for next year’s tournament.

 

Congratulation to the other Arizona Team who participated in the Class of 2011 group,  the Arizona Best for placing 3^rd in the tournament.  A very good team coached by Gerrard Carmichael, a good friend of the program.