By Brittany Davidson

Just after 6:30am, I quickly turned the defrost and windshield wipers on in the black Kia Borrego SUV to get rid of the early morning dew and start leg 2 of the Make It Better Statewide Summer Tour presented by Kia Motors. After picking up two fellow colleagues and stopping by One Center Court to pack a few remaining necessities, we entered onto I-5 North and let the trusty GPS in our Borrego lead us to our destination for the day.

Day One of Summer Tour started about 45 minutes North of Portland in Longview, Washington at Mark Morris High School, which happens to be the site of the first Trail Blazers game 40 years ago. Prior to our clinic, the Trail Blazers held a press conference to announce plans for the 40th anniversary season where special guests such as Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Antonio Harvey and original Trail Blazers Harry Glickman and Dale Schlueter attended and spoke about the rich history the Trail Blazers have rooted in Oregon and Southwest Washington and the plans that are in store to celebrate the cheers to 40 years this upcoming season. Once the presser was over, it was the coaches and kiddos time to shine.

Suiting up for leg two are summer tour rookies Larry “Boomer” Brazzle (Basketball Outreach Intern), Dale Schlueter (Alumni Ambassador) and Hannah Eggert (Ticket Operations Coordinator) joined by veterans Dick Vardanega (Vice President of Broadcasting), Antonio Harvey (Team Radio Personality and Alumnus), Harry Glickman (Team Founder and President Emeritus), Jerome Kersey (Alumni Ambassador), Adrian Stelly (Basketball Outreach Coordinator) and myself, your tour guide for the week, Brittany Davidson (Community Relations Coordinator).

There's never a dull moment at a Trail Blazers clinic. The energy was at an all-time high when the kids entered the gym courtesy of Coach Stelly and Coach Boomer’s dance/shooting/dunk contest – so much so, the fire alarm was set-off, prompting a visit from the Longview Fire Department. All was taken care of though and the basketball clinic was off and rolling. The clinic began with introductions, a group photo, stretches and warm-ups before dividing into smaller groups to practice dribbling, passing, defense and shooting, but what would be a clinic without a group dance lesson? Following a surprise visit from Blaze the Trail Cat, the first clinic of the second leg of Summer Tour presentd by Kia Motors ended with a game of bump, but not before a few outstanding campers were awarded prizes and all campers were sent home with t-shirts, lanyards, yearbooks, autographs and hopefully a few good memories.

For the crew traveling this week, we said our goodbyes and thank-yous, loaded back into our two Kia Borregos, found our way to I-5 North and headed to Lacey, Washington for the night. After checking into our hotel, we met in the lobby and headed to dinner – ok, so maybe the kid’s car made some wrong turns and shouldn’t be the leader but we made it there eventually. We ate at a great little Irish Pub that had Monday Night football on and Hannah, Boomer and I tried chicken gizzards for the first time courtesy of Antonio. Following dinner, part of the crew headed back to the hotel while the under 30 crowd went to the bowling alley. In a friendly wager, we (Adrian, Boomer, Hannah and I) decided winner of the game would have the responsibility of driving tomorrow night. Hannah and I are proud to report that we were the proud winners of both games and will be enjoying the ride tomorrow night from the passenger seats.

It was a long day, a fun day, but we are all a bit tired and have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. In the morning, we will be at Ft. Lewis to host a basketball clinic for the youth of soldiers stationed on the base and then spend the remainder of the day eating lunch with soldiers, engaging in some weapon simulation and visiting with some wounded soldiers at the hospital on base.

Longview Photo Gallery

Tour Stops: Longview || Fort Lewis || Astoria || Newport

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