Basketball Season

Basketball season ended a few weeks ago.  I love having my kids involved in sports and I enjoy watching them play, but it’s always nice when a season comes to an end and our schedule frees up a bit. 

Lady Rebels

We haven’t been impressed with the recreation league here - our main complaint is that the kids can’t steal the ball even in the 4th grade.  Last fall I got a phone call from a coach in Fall City that was putting together a competitive “travel team” and wanted Abigail to play.  We decided it would be a great opportunity and Abigail was excited to play with girls from school.  Practices started in early November.  It worked out well that although practices were held 2-3 times a week they were at her elementary school and held right after school.  Super convenient.  Her games started in December and on many Saturdays she had more than one.   Her team worked well together and was really fun to watch.

Back in January they had a tournament down in Chehalis and since the Great Wolf Lodge (a large indoor water park) is right there it became a big, exciting weekend for the team.  A weekend tournament means both Saturday and Sunday games.  Before we joined the team I told the coach we wouldn’t play on Sundays.  His response, having coached his son’s team in the past was basically “we’ve had Mormons on our teams before who have said they wouldn’t play on Sundays, but when it came to a big tournament they always played.”  He was convinced (a salesman by day) that he would easily persuade us to let Abigail play.  I think Abigail was actually ok with not playing, but she was getting a lot of pressure from her teammates and coach to be there on Sunday.  There were some uncomfortable conversations, but in the end he stopped pushing and reluctantly supported our decision.   Abigail and Justin drove down for the Saturday games and Abigail was able to hang out at the Lodge afterward for pizza and to enjoy the waterpark with her teammates.

 

Unfortunately, I was only able to make it to a few of her games during the season so I don’t have many pictures of her in action.  She was a strong player on her team though and her coach was able to have her play in any position and know she could play well.

 

We knew that Abigail’s season would end with a big tournament on the weekend of Saturday, March 2nd.  We were looking forward to a day full of strong competition.  Abigail’s team was placed first in the league and we were confident they could win the whole thing.  When we got the schedule just days before the tournament we learned that being in the first seed meant her team would be able to skip all the early games and would only have to win two final games to take home the trophy.  Great right?  Except the final games were on Sunday.  We were disappointed that her season came to an abrupt end and that she wouldn’t be able to participate at all in earning her team the championship.  Her coach actually tried to appeal for a Saturday game, but there wasn’t room in the schedule for any changes.  Her coach sent us this picture while we were at church:

 

Her teammates all had pink A’s on their arms so that Abigail could be a part of the big day.  The Lady Rebels ended up losing the championship in the final seconds, but apparently there was some controversy over mismanaging the clock and giving the opposing team an opportunity to pull ahead… yadda, yadda.  Anyhow, it was a great season for Abigail.  She had a lot of fun and really improved and learned throughout the season.  Way to go Rebels!

 

Team Crush

Carly also wanted to play ball this year and not knowing of any better alternatives for her age level we again had her play in the local recreation league.  Her coach ended up being Abigail’s last soccer coach – who we really liked, so it worked out well.  Carly’s season started in January with her final game on Saturday, March 2nd.

The majority of Carly’s games were at 8:30am on Saturdays.  Thankfully, Justin was willing to get up early and take her while I usually stayed back with Jason and Katie.  Carly is a happy athlete.  It’s always fun to watch her play with a big smile on her face.  She’s also a very strong athlete and even though she was playing with several girls older than her she was able to make a strong contribution to her team.

After Carly’s final game her team celebrated at Herfy’s – again, I missed out due to a Stake Relief Society conference, but from what I heard everyone had a great time.  The coaches are discouraged from passing out trophies so Carly’s coach handed out cans of Crush soda with each of the girls’ names on instead.  Fitting for the end of the season for Team Crush.  (So bummed I don’t have any pictures of Carly’s team, we skipped out on the official team pictures and Justin and I didn’t manage to get a picture of all the girls together during the season)