Trial on the Isle, Day 5

Today is Mark's birthday. We celebrated with a trip to Stone Harbor to see the Flyers prospects in their annual Trial on the Isle. Photos will be limited, temporarily, because the Internet connection is laggy today. I can always edit the posts later when the Connection Gremlins go find someone else to harass.

Mark on the path to the 96th Street beach

The events began with the prospects doing calisthenics on the beach. 

Then, guys had to answer a question correctly in order for their three-man team to get permission to start the race portion of the workout. I'm not sure if the questions were about the history of the Flyers, or facts about one another, as I couldn't quite hear everything that was being said. Here are some of the teams beginning their sprint. 

I have more of these images, but I trust you get the idea. ;)

Fast-forward to when the three-man teams returned. Immediately, they began doing sand sculptures, for a contest that'd be voted on by fans. 

I happened to be standing next to a heap of baby clams (think 1/2" wide or less) that had been left behind by the receding tide. They resembled tiny pebbles, but I knew what they were from growing up seeing little critters like these. One of the players working nearby spotted them, too, and scooped a bunch into a bucket to use them to decorate the sculpture. I remarked, "Baby clams. Good idea!"

He peered into the bucket. "These are clams?" I affirmed that yes, they were baby clams. 

And now, they will be able to tell all their clam friends about their foray into performance art. Here they are, adorning a freestyle Flyers logo. 

Some other logos:

Following this, everyone headed over to the bay. Mark went in search of an ATM, so I walked to the yacht club myself. 

The three-man teams proceeded to create rafts out of four inner tubes, in any configuration they wished. They could then climb on and swim/paddle/navigate around the bay with said rafts, under the watchful eye of a flotilla of lifeguards.

We did have some horsing around at the finish line when one guy swam from his raft, to the raft of the team in front of him, and started pulling on the feet of one of the swimmers. The two of them proceeded to bop each other like a pair of kids. :)

After this, everyone headed to the local elementary school for autographs. 

The school was easy to find. ;)

Mark's new nickname: Slapshot. 

First, the hockey clinic...

Then, the autographs. 

There was a volleyball tournament after this, with 16 teams comprised of two players and two fans. But my battery was shot after using the camera all day (including dozens of pics not posted here). So I didn't get pictures of that. 

But here's a picture... We got TONS of walking in!