After Southwest flight canceled, Vel Phillips Memorial basketball team gets creative to get to tournament in Florida
MADISON, Wis. — Each year, Vel Phillips Memorial High School’s boy’s basketball team flies to Florida for a tournament against the nation’s top talent.
This year, the group of 24 people took a bus from Madison to Chicago’s Midway Airport at 5 a.m. on Monday for a 10:30 a.m. flight.
Getting through security was a breeze; things were almost going too well. Then, 20 minutes before takeoff, Southwest Airlines changed the flight’s gate.
“We changed gates, walked onto the new gate, and as soon as we got down there, our flight got canceled, not delayed, canceled,” said the Spartans’ Head Coach, Steve Collins.
With 30 hours until the tournament’s tipoff, they scurried to the nearest agent, only to find out they were rebooked for a January 4 flight. That wasn’t going to happen.
“We started thinking bus at that point—bus to get home or bus to maybe get to Florida; Florida wasn’t really on the docket initially,” Collins said with a chuckle.
They spent 10 hours in the airport looking for buses. With 20 hours until tipoff, they found one that’d take them to Florida. But without stops, it was a 16-hour drive.
“We are going to end up rolling in and playing, you know, throwing our jerseys on real quick, shooting around for a few minutes, throwing our jerseys on, and playing,” Collins said.
READ MORE: Wisconsin BBB gives tips for travelers whose flights were canceled
As Southwest cancels more flights amid a winter storm that has caused significant logistical challenges for the airline, the team has already canceled their return flight. This time, their bus is staying with them.
“We wanted to get down here for the boys because they wanted to really play, so that’s why we really tried to make it work, you know, we could’ve found three more games, but I think they really wanted to come,” Collins said.
Memorial’s six-foot-seven power forward Sam Mickelson said riding squeezed on a bus for 32 hours isn’t ideal, but “if I were to do it over again, I don’t think I’d actually change anything because I think I’ve gotten closer to a lot of teammates that I wasn’t that close with, and I’m really excited to get out of the bus and start playing again.”
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.