For many, today may have been a day off, but for most of our kids, they were still hard at work. Our first game pitted the 16U boys against the Memphis FCA Nighthawks. We are beginning to get to know our friends from the south quite well. The Nighthawks came out playing hard and we were certainly not playing up to our potential. Mistake after mistake had Coach Tom beside himself. I can assure you I was glad to not be sitting on the bench this morning! To our boys credit they rose to the challenges laid by Coach Tom and John and played a great second half. One of the great things that I think many of the parents as well as our kids love about our coaching staff is that they aren’t afraid to get on them when they aren’t playing to their potential but they know our coaches love them and are pushing them to be something better. One guy in particular this morning was struggling in the first half and bore the brunt of the half time speech. He came out in the second half and played a great game and was smiling and hugging with Coach Tom after the game. To me it showed the true love and care the coaches have for our kids and the maturity of our player and how this experience is growing something far beyond just being a basketball player in him and the rest of our kids.
The second game of the day was our 14U girls. They were playing for a berth into the 3rd seed of the 6A bracket. Waiting for our game to start I spoke to a mother from Nashville Central Christian while we were both enjoying the cheering section from the Houston Conquerors. A very pleasant woman who was from Cincinnati herself originally; she was the 4th or 5th person I’ve met from Cincinnati this week. We started with our 12 girl team and quickly took the game to Nashville. It is not often my 5’-11”- 14 year old daughter comes up against a player taller than her at the jr high level, but today she matched up against Nashville’s 6’-0” center. Fortunately for Reagan her dad bequeathed her with a little more strength and she managed to stake out her space under the hoop. Our quick and athletic perimeter play proved difficult for the Nashville team. It must have seemed odd to them as 6 of our 12 players left at half time! Our 12U girls had a match up with the vaunted Oklahoma City Storm in the Elite 8 of the 12U 6A bracket! We finished our game with our 6 players and came out on top 49-7. On to the 6A bracket. We look forward to one of two matchups against the Nighthawks from Memphis.
Our 12U girls started on fire against a talented team from the Storm of Oklahoma City. We quickly went up 7-0 in the first quarter. The second quarter things started slowing down for us with 3 or 4 missed layups we found ourselves having only scored 4 additional points in the second quarter but still held an 11-4 lead at half time. If I told you we only scored 3 points in the second half would you think we held on? I wouldn’t but we did! Two starters were feeling quite sick but the girls really gutted out a tight 14-12 victory. We are into the final four. Tomorrow we find our second match-up against the FCA Nighthawks from Memphis. This sets up a rematch of last years semi final game in the 12U, only this year we only have one returning player from that team. It will be a tough task but I believe our girls are up to the challenge. We pray for health and rest this evening so we are hopefully at full strength.
The capstone of the evening was of course the Showcase. Let us first of all pray for the health and quick recovery of the boy playing this evening in the All American game who was injured. It reminds us how fleeting this game can be, hopefully makes us appreciate what we have, and spurs us on to play unto the Lord as if each game could be our last. We trust and pray it is not his last.
Darwin Tolover played in that fated 3rd team boys game and did a great job representing our team. On the girls side, Anna Davis and Rachael Young played great in the 1st/2nd team game on opposite teams at the same time. Rachael hit the first bucket of the quarter for her team with a 3 from the corner. Anna was unable to get herself some points but did send an assist to the fantastic player from THESA, Anna Parish.
But more than the fun of the evening and the great play we saw I wanted to commend at least the girls side (and I’m sure the boys side was similar) in that when we arrived back here at the hotel Anna raved about how nice most everyone of the girls were. Taber Spani was gracious and kind to both girls. She mentioned Elisha Crosby from Traverse City, whom we met in the Regional Finals as well as Becca Daniels from the Huntington Eagles as well. My daughter chimed in that when we played Huntington this season; Becca Daniels commented to my daughter during the game how well she was defending her. Does anyone know how that picks up the confidence and spirit of a 14 year old when an All American tells you how great you’re defending them? I guess I just wanted to point out that its working parents. This week we showcase great athletic ability and celebrate our kids hard work and fun through the sport of basketball. However, we should also remember to celebrate these young men and women we are raising. They are great kids. While no All American, I can tell you the guys I met as an All City player many years ago would hardly have received such a report from me. Though they wouldn’t have said anything better of me!
Congrats to all of the All Americans tonight. I hope you enjoyed your time in the spotlight. You earned it! Tomorrow is back to the tough work of finishing off a tough week in the hopes of bringing home some hardware! Good luck to all and may God keep all of our kids safe and free from injury.
Posted on
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
by Jeff Johnson