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As the plane continued gaining altitude, Kijana kept turning around to look at his teammate Jose Lugo, who was just at scared, if not more, about his first plane ride. Kijana was eventually able to calm his nerves, but then the sense of fear came back when he thought about the landing.

鈥淚f anything, I was more scared, because I was 鈥榳hat if we go straight down,鈥欌�� Kijana said.

But the plane didn鈥檛 crash 鈥� or go through any of the wild scenarios any of the players were concerned about 鈥� and the Trojans were able to play at the Charles A. Prosser Career Academy holiday basketball tournament.

The Trojans finished the tourney 1-3 and Lugo was named to the all-tournament team. They will continue the rest of their season Tuesday, when they host Pusch Ridge at 7:30 p.m.

But the trip to the Windy City was never just about playing basketball.

Before the start of the basketball season, when coach Obie Tann first thought up the idea, the Catalina boys team had only $47 in their account. Yet, somehow, Tann, along with assistant coach Chris Stallkamp, was able to plan the trip to his hometown to introduce his athletes to Chicago basketball.

The coaches also received help from the Catalina High School Foundation and from kind strangers.

鈥淥ur foundation helped greatly with, not only financing, but finding donors,鈥� Tann said.

After Tann had to make some last-minute changes to trip arrangements to include another assistant coach and a student photographer, Tann booked an Airbnb close to have sleeping arrangements for everyone.

Alonso Zaragoza, the owner of the house Tann stayed at, coincidentally, graduated from the same school as the Catalina coach (albeit, four years earlier). Once Tann told him why the team was in town, Zaragoza, who is part of Belmont-Cragin United, a local community organization, created a GoFundMe to help raise money to help provide better meals for the team.

鈥淭hey raised some money and he went half with me on a couple of dinners that were very expensive,鈥� Tann said. 鈥淗e also arranged for us to get a discount at the John Hancock Building.鈥�

The team was able to go up to the 94th floor of the John Hancock building and to the 360-degree experience.

Tann also took the players to Loyola Park, where he grew up playing basketball, and Michael Jordan鈥檚 workout facility 鈥� Station 23.

Senior Erik Valdez said his parents were excited for his son to be able to take part in such a big trip.

鈥淭hey thought it was great to go out, explore, be with my team somewhere else and see different kinds of athletes,鈥� Valdez said.

Because of the amount of work needed to make a trip of this size happen 鈥� the planning, fundraising and organizing 鈥� Stallkamp believes schools don鈥檛 try putting together a trip of this magnitude.

鈥淣ot a lot of schools do this because it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of money, you dedicate a lot of your personal time to raising money and getting everything prepared,鈥� Stallkamp said.

鈥淭he logistics of everything was the toughest part 鈥� figuring out how to get the kids everywhere they need to be through Chicago traffic. But it was a great experience, so it was well worth all that stuff.鈥�

This is Tann鈥檚 and Stallkamp鈥檚 third and final season with the Trojans. Tann will move to Phoenix with his family and Stallkamp has another job lined up.

So, the trip to Chicago served, in a way, as a going away present for the seniors and coaches.

鈥淭o do what we鈥檝e done was way more than basketball,鈥� Tann said. 鈥淚t has always been 鈥榩ut (the students) first.鈥� People don鈥檛 get that.

鈥淵es, basketball is my background. It鈥檚 my career. But my passion is youth development.鈥�