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Just a day or two after the final week of school, 10 players of the Athens Academy varsity boys basketball program hopped a flight to Vienna, Austria.
Together, the athletes got to seize an amazing opportunity to experience a different part of the world and see how far their sport wraps around the globe.
Having played abroad for five years himself, ACAD head coach Don Hurlburt wanted to recreate the same chance for his players.
An out-of-country excursion for an athletic team is a bit of a stretch, but thanks to the direction of one of his players roots, the trip ended up falling together after a couple years of planning.
The ACAD boys basketball team is photoed with the US Ambassador in Austria.
Photo courtesy of Athens Academy We are the first athletic team, Ive been told, to ever travel and do something like this for Athens Academy, Hurlburt said I thought itd be really cool if I could take 10 basketball players, go over there, and do what we did.
His guys managed to win all three of the games they played abroad.
Basketball has become a global game ever since 1992 with the Dream Team.
I know that because I was fortunate enough to go there and play for five years,but these kids, they didnt know anything about that, and now they do, he explained.
While the game appears in both continents, its not an exact copy and paste everywhere.
Rising senior and combo guard Landon McPherson highlighted some of the differences in European-style play.
The first game we played, one of my teammates was closing out on somebody; he shot it and my teammate clapped and the referee gave us a technical foul.
Because in Europe, I guess, their rules are you cant make noise when the other people are shooting.
The change doesnt stop there, markings of the court were even thrown into the mix of things the Spartans had to note on the fly and overcome.
The free throw line was different too.
Instead of our lines that go straight, they like went diagonal, and they had a limit of how many players could try to get the rebound, McPherson continued.
While ACAD took only victories, Coach Hurlburt made it clear that the trip was meant for far more than just the love of the game.
So thats kind of the background of the trip.
It wasnt a trip to go play basketball; basketball was sort of a means to an end.
It was for the experience, the culture, the history, you know.
Only two of them had ever been to Europe before, so the rest of them had never even been outside the United States, he explained.
The group got to take in the historic sites and navigate a German language barrier all the while.
Their itinerary left plenty of room for an expanisve bike tour, an amusement park outing and exciting options for dining which included a meal on the Danube River.
Rising senior and small forward Bo Rentz shared some of his favorite moments from this portion of the trip.
I really liked the foodespecially the sausage dogs and the gelato was really good.
I think my favorite experience was that there was an amusement park, and we all just went on a bunch of crazy rides.
All of this came about thanks to a particular Spartans background.
Franki Rutledge, a rising junior and small forward, is son to an Austrian citizen and has frequented the country since early childhood.
It was awesome seeing and showing them the culture, and how different it is from here, Rutledge said about bonding with his teammates.
He was also able to find community in some of their rivals on the court.
They were kind of asking me all these questions about like the NBA and everything in college.
I can speak a little bit of German, so it was fun.
Coach Hurlburt hopes to mimic the trip again in some format in the coming years maybe alternating receiving the Austria players here and flying back every other year.
He had this parting remark for how well this years team handled the opportunity: These 10 athletes represented themselves well, their families well, Athens Academy and their country well.