Gary Smith led his Worthing Thunder side on their marathon weekend away last night joking: "I feel more like a school teacher than a basketball coach."

Smith and assistant Phil Waghorn made sure they were near the front as the Thunder party left Worthing Leisure Centre.

They were crammed into a minibus with nine players, team manager Daniel Jenner, driver Dave Marshall and a whole load of kit ready to take on NBL leaders Teesside today and play-off contenders Reading tomorrow, both matches tipping off at 4pm.

Thunder's gruelling weekend kicked off just after work had finished yesterday and ran along this timetable.

6pm: Two-hour practice session at Worthing Leisure Centre.

8.30pm: Departure for Nottingham.

Midnight: Anticipated arrival in Nottingham for overnight stay.

12.30pm Saturday: Departure for the north east to play Teesside.

6.30pm: Leave Teesside. Return to Nottingham for overnight stay.

1pm Sunday: Do it all again, but this time heading south for the Reading match.

8pm (or later): Approximate arrival time in Worthing, ready for another week at work for Smith and some of his players.

Long away trips are all part of professional spor and the Thunder playerss are delighted to be given the chance to stay overnight rather than go to Teesside and back in the same day.

Smith was in cheerful mood as he took a prime seat in the minibus and chatted while on the way up the A24 last night.

He said: "Me and Phil are sitting in the front and it's like we're the teachers and the kids are at the back.

"They are a good bunch of guys. They all get on and it's funny listening to their jokes."

It has been a cheerful sort of week for Thunder, of course, after they beat south coast rivals Solent Stars last Saturday in front of the best crowd at Durrington this season.

There were a few candidates for the highlights reel, such as a left-handed Lavoris Jerry alley-oop dunk from Nick O'Harabe's pass, Daniel Hildreth's amazing three-pointer as he fell backwards and a couple more Jerry dunks.

Marvin Addy also brought the house down when, in the space of a few seconds, he blocked two shots, then led the subsequent counter raid and provided the assist for two more points by Jerry.

Addy and Hildreth did a great job against the Solent back court and that, according to Smith, was a key to the win.

He said: "We locked down their guards and I thought it was a good performance all round.

"Sure, I will always be shouting on the sidelines but really the coaches didn't have to do much. The guys dealt with it well.

"We lost at Solent just before Christmas so we owed them one. We desperately wanted to win that game, which we did, but I was happy too because I got the chance to play everybody. No player had more than 30 minutes.

"Now we've got one tough weekend. You could not ask for two tougher games back to back both away from home. We badly want to put one on Teesside after they beat us in the Trophy final. Then we will look to deal with Reading the same way."

Thunder are not at home again until March 1 when Teesside visit. But, by the time they finish their marathon weekend, they might just be thinking of the minibus as home from home.