It is with great excitement that I announce this year will be the 11th annual Portland Trip that Team Esface Black Club is making.

Our Black AAU Teams will be participating in the HoopSource Grassroots Presidents Day National Championships visiting various locations in Portland. This is truly an unparalleled experience as Portland is the home to the Team Esface founders, the Sobomehin brothers aka Tunde, Remi and myself. I always make it a point to make this trip extra special, giving some nice cultural and historical background on Friday and throughout the weekend.

Cheers to an amazing trip!

Let’s Go!

Coach Dele

#TeamEsfaceHomecoming #TeamEsfaceTakeOver

Detailed Itinerary:

Team DInner | May 23rd: 6:30pm - 9:30pm, at Punch bowl social (Tickets will be available for purchased soon!)

Join us for a night of fun, food, and community at our Academy-Wide Team Esface Dinner!

There will be entertainment and amusement like Bowling (4 lanes), Karaoke, Giant Scrabble , Floor Shuffle & Table Shuffle, 3 Dart Boards (18 & Older), Jenga, Giant Connect Four, and Arcade Access (Arcade Games requires payment).

 

Tournament Overview

Dates:

  • May 22nd - 26th, 2025

  • Special Team Esface Outing on Friday, May 23rd. Please arrive prior to 10am

  • Team Dinner with all players and families on Friday, May 23rd from 6:30-9:30pm

  • Games begin on Saturday, May 24th

  • Book return flights Monday May 26th, 7:00pm or later.

 

Playing Time Philosophy

Venue Addresses:

Various gyms in the Portland Metropolitan Area (including Vancouver, WA). 10-30 min from hotel

TRANSPORTATION:

WE recommend Renting a car. Consider coordinating with another family to split costs.

In the past, some families have used UBER on road trips but we recommend looking at the cost difference before making that call.

Team esface game schedule:

 

location: Hilton portland downtown | 921 South 6th Ave. Portland, OR 97204

The Reservation Link is CLOSED.

Hotel Updates:
We wanted to give you a quick update regarding hotel accommodations for the upcoming Portland Tournament over Memorial Weekend.

We received a call from our travel agent letting us know that Marriott made a booking error and had actually contracted with another group for the same weekend. As a result, they are overbooked and unfortunately will not be able to accommodate our team as originally planned.

To make it right, Marriott and our travel agent have secured a new hotel for us. We will now be staying at the Hilton Portland Downtown.
Address: 921 SW Sixth Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97204
This location is approximately 10 miles from PDX Airport.

All of our reservations will be automatically transferred to the Hilton by tomorrow, Monday, May 19. Please do not be alarmed if you receive a cancellation email—this is expected and there is no action required on your part.

As a courtesy for the inconvenience, our nightly rate has been reduced to $159/night, and parking will remain at $39/day (discounted from the standard $59 rate).

We appreciate your understanding and flexibility. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

If you have any questions, you’re welcome to email Aimee Roberts at aimee.roberts@tcihousing.com.

Hotel Features:

  • Free Wifi

  • Dogs (max weight: 75 lbs) and cats are allowed.

  • Near Portland Art Museum and Downtown

  • Near Pioneer Courthouse Square

  • Near Mills End Park

  • Parking is not included in the guest room room rate.
    On-site parking is valet only, 27% Team Esface discount $39 daily (normally $59).

 

attending players and Teams:

3rd Grade Black:

  • Kareem Khayat

  • Connor Szeto

  • Seif Elaraby

  • Silas Lucas

  • Thomas Johnston

  • Aiden Hejazi Moghadam

  • Darren Lee

  • Djeylani Ndiaye

  • Ari Takahashi

  • Pax Valdez

  • Harvey Jia

4th Grade Black:

  • Arjun Sethuraman

  • Sam Epley

  • Luca Matteucci

  • Liam Hardman

  • Ethan Valdez

  • Theodore Le

  • Lev Appelboum

  • Corben So

  • James Davis

5th Grade Goers:

  • Ethan Sera

  • Thomas Lue

  • Isaac Ryu

  • Colin Griffith

  • Ryan Dong

  • Dylan Wei

  • Apollo Lam

  • Toshi Takahashi

  • Jace Menor

5th Grade blazers:

  • Noah Jones

  • Jacob Ho

  • Brandon Pita

  • Dane Parsons

  • Ayan Shankar

  • Rafael Marques

  • Aaron Yang

  • John Ramming

5th Grade Hustler:

  • Dylan Liou

  • Ayan Pottathil

  • Yohan Cheruzal

  • Grayson Walker

  • Kai Gibson

  • Austan Wu

  • Noel Littke

  • Tristan Huang

5th Grade Hitters:

  • Grant Liau

  • Ford Liau

  • Austin Yuan

  • Benjamin Tom

  • Phil Yun

  • Aahvi Verma

  • Charles Martinez

  • Benjamin Freeland

6th Grade black:

  • Sam Patton

  • Colton Liske

  • Hunter Hsieh

  • Marcus Poehlmann

  • Dylan Enan

  • Andreas Salis

  • Carter Kozlov

  • William Cherry

  • Jayden Bell

  • Joji Kanematsu

7th Grade black:

  • Ricky Tague

  • Walker Fogarty

  • Ethan Tom

  • Seth Wong

  • Musa Ali

  • Olataiye Sobomehin

  • Kepler Gumtow

  • AJ Ronquillo

  • Henry Iwersen

  • James Nicholas

7th Grade Blazers:

  • Jackson Alvarez

  • Matteis O’Brien

  • Trevor Young

  • Noah Kang

  • Paxton William

  • Mateo Gil Chavez

  • Caleb Martin

  • Thomas Iwersen

  • Preston Tollinger

8th Grade Black:

  • Alexander Yamasaki

  • Jaxon Baer

  • Bradley Rittenberg

  • Nanji Jayadev

  • Charlie Livingston

  • Tyler Lee Munson

  • Jack Spivey

  • Aaron Emilie

8th Grade blazers:

  • Lincoln Giusti

  • Ezra Farber-Drabkin

  • Darian Trinh

  • Din Iskandirov

  • Elliot Kawamoto

  • Ocean Race

  • Mason Reichanadter

  • Yuito Fujita

  • Jonathan Tang