The big game

Well, last week we played the number one team (orange) in the league. They beat us by 24 points. Tonight, the tournament started. We found out that we had to play the orange team again. The kids were beyond disappointed but I told them our game plan: to have fun. I told them to get out there, play hard and just have fun.

As the game got started, I realized quickly that are kids meant business. They were playin hard defense, goin for every loose ball, and just playin their hearts out. End of the first quarter, the circled around me and I said, look up at the scoreboard guys...4-4. I said, we can do this. I didn't believe it for a second but they sure did. I said, lets keep stickin our man, keep playin hard. At half time, the score was 6-6. It was CRAZY how well we were playin. I looked at my assistant coach and said, is this REALLY happening? The other team's coach didn't even know what hit 'em.

Second half got under way, end of the third quarter, 8-8. I know it wasn't a huge scorin game but they were just playin such good defense, that neither team could score. The last quarter, I pulled 'em around me, I told them lets go. This is it guys, we can win this, we can WIN this. This is our time...step it up. Orange started out with the ball, our bench and fans started cheering, DEFENSE, DEFENSE. That pumped 'em up. We scored. We were up for the first time ever. Ever. You should have seen them, they started jumping up and down....they were so pumped up. They scored, 10-10. Then they scored again a few minutes later, 12-10. Then we scored, 12-12. 8 seconds to go, tied up. They drove down, the ref calls a BOGUS call. He called a foul that I swear on my life that wasn't a foul. 5 seconds to go, the guy made 1 out of 2. 13-12. 5 seconds to go, I call a time out. Set up a play. Eric was to catch it at half court, take it in for the shot. He catches it, takes two dribbles, Devin was open, made the pass...Devin goes up, 3-2-1...and he misses it! We lose 13-12.

I tell you what, though. I've never been so proud of my kids. They played so hard, they deserve every second of that game. Oh how I wish they would have won, but I told 'em, they did more than I could have ever asked for. I wanted it so bad but they wanted it more. It was a crazy game but I seen so much improvement.

We play in the consolation game tomorrow. We lost to the team we play by 2 last time, so I'm hopin we pull it out tomorrow. Pray for us, I hope we end with a win.

Here is our team photo:

Front (R-L): Joshua, Jermaine, Jesse, Devin, Me. Back: Dave, Davevontay, Taquan, Eric, Cameron, and Mariah.

God bless you all!

After 2 years...

Today was a big day for my basketball team. After two years, we finally won a game! We played hard, and came out 12-9 victors! Yes, 12-9. :)


Congrats to Taquan, Devin, Eric, Cameron, Jesse, Davevontay, Mariah, Joshua, and Germaine!



Devin- the playmaker

Eric-the big man/beast :)

Davevontay-the hustler

Germaine-the all-around guy

Joshua-the heart


I wish I had pics of Cameron (rebound king), Taquan (the super star), Jesse (the defender), and Mariah (our secret weapon), but I will take a team picture soon!

Oh yeah, and Jesse says we won because of our new lucky charm...the blue dolphin (why? i have no idea!):

God bless you all!

Basketball-Playing and Coaching

Last night my team, the Big Ticket, played in their 5th game. We are 4-1 after last night. Every game we've won has been by a margin of at least 30 points. I told my friend, Robin, (who comes to my games to watch) last night that I think my blood runs orange. :) I just love playin and coachin and watchin basketball that much. I did, though, jam my finger last night so it's pretty swollen and blue this morning...lets hope it goes down before the next game!

In other news, my kids had their first basketball game last weekend. We lost by 2 points in OVERTIME! I didn't go (I was skiing with Josh) but man do I wish I could have seen it! We play this weekend and I'm hoping that we get our first victory. The team we play this weekend scored 22 of his team's 24 points last weekend in their game. Lets hope I can get my kids to play defense! I soooo hope we win!

In other news...it's Valentine's Day tomorrow. I hope that all of you do something wonderful for your significant others. I know it's just a silly hallmark created day, but I think the message behind it is pretty great-celebrate the one you love. Yes, of course, we should do it more often, but the least you can do is one day a year!

God bless you all!

The glory days? NOT

A friend of mine convinced me to join a city league basketball team. Last night was our first game. It was the first time I have played a real game since college and the first time I've tried to play with my bum knee. Not exactly the kind of start I would like to have had. Yet, I got out there and tried to play the best I could. Lets just say the emphasis is put on tried.

I realized I am not the young, fit basketball player I once was. Reliving the glory days I was not.

3 months of this? Hmm...maybe I should start practicing!


God bless you all!

Celtics WIN!

See I almost always go for the underdogs. I have spent many years cheering for those "cinderella teams." Many, many years of heartbreak were felt as I watched my favorite team the Utah Jazz get beat year after year against the Bulls. I still today remain totally and completely against the Bulls (sorry Chicago) and I am still a die hard fan of Utah.

Once I got into college, I became a huge fan of NCAA basketball and well, decided that the NBA was just a bunch of show boats, no defense...everyone out there to score as many as they can. These past couple of years, I haven't really watched much. And then this year came. And this little team called the Celtics who had the worst record in the NBA last year, started winning. And, I began to cheer for the likes of PJ Brown, Sam Cassell and Ray Allen. I wanted Paul Pierce to win after staying with Boston all these years, and then of course...there's alsoone of the most talented players in the NBA: Kevin Garnett! As I began to watch the NBA finals...I was amazed at the thing I expected the least to happen...actually happen. DEFENSE. Boston played defense. And not just any defense...the hustling your butt off, going after every loose ball, in your face kind of defense that WINS championships.

And tonight...after a 22 year absence, the Boston Celtics won their 17th championship! And ya know...I told my roommate as we watched these "athletes" crying and jumping for joy, I said, thats what its about. Seeing teams like these win...seeing the underdogs, the "cinderella teams", the players who have been in the NBA for YEARS finally win a championship. I'm not going to lie...it brought a couple of tears to my eyes! lol

So, with all that said...Way to Go Celtics! The dream came true tonight! And yeah...

The headline of one of the papers reads..."Celtics Easy to Admire, Hard to Hate"

God bless you all!

Basketball...a game of life

Ok. So I'm really tired, so if not all of this makes sense, sorry.

Today was the 7th and 8th grade basketball tournament. We were the fourth seed. It went like this: 1st Green, 2nd Brown, 3rd Orange, 4th Blue (Us), 5th Maroon, and 6th Yellow (dropped out before tourney).

We got picked to play the orange team first game. We played our hearts out. For the first time in four weeks...they played as a team and worked together. We ended up winning by five in overtime. It was a great moment for our kids. They were overly excited. Then came the bad news...we had to play back to back to the best team in the league...green. Our 3 best players were exhausted and rightly so. Yet, we still had a glimmer of hope...

The second game started. For the first five minutes...we played with them. After that, though, it went downhill. The green team is very lazy so, we were trying to push the tempo but our kids were tired and well, a little intimidated by the team (they are much bigger and more athletic and had already beat us in the regular season by fourteen) so we were making a lot of turnovers. By halftime, we were down by around twenty points. Thats when things started getting ugly. Our kids are not known for keeping their cool. The week before they had almost gotten in a fist fight...with themselves. When we start losing, they lose their heads and catch an attitude quick. So, after two technicals, I took the two players causing the most trouble and sat 'em on the bench. I also pulled our three girls aside (yes we were the only team with any girls...much less three...and let me tell you, one of them could beat almost any guy out there) and told them that it didn't matter how all these boys were acting, they need to keep playing their game. So, I left those three in, one other boy (the only one who kept a good attitude the whole game...and the whole season for that matter) and our best player (who had gotten a technical but had calmed down and decided to play for real). And the others....well, I wasn't going to put them back in.

All this time tho, the ref had told me...if we get one more tech, the game was going to be called. So, me and our other coach were trying to coach while at the same time, holding back the kids on the bench. They were causing quite the ruckus. It didn't work so well. One of the boys (who already had one technical) wanted to go back in and was just making a huge spectacle of himself and grabbed his clothes...walked out onto the middle of the court (while the game was going on) and started dancing. Yes...dancing. Of course, a technical was called...the game was over (I was a little thankful too).

We ended up losing by almost forty points. Definitely not a way we wanted to end the season, but the thing is...basketball is so much more than winning and losing...much more than a sport. It is a life teaching tool. After the game...I sat all the players down (except for the one 'dancer' ha) and told them that I wasn't worried about their talent at all. Every single one of our players has the athleticism and talent to play at the next level. But, I told them none of them were ever going to make it very far because of their attitudes. It's not how you play or respond when everything is going good...it's how you respond and act when your backs are against the wall or when you're losing. Life isn't always going to be easy...you aren't always going to win at everything...they have to figure out how to lose without losing their cool. They have to understand that you have to push through when you are down and out.

See. To me, coaching is much more about these kids learning how to become young men and women than about basketball. Yeah, I'd love to see Shamesha make it all the way to college level, cuz she sure as heck is an amazing ball player right now. But, I'd rather her become a woman of integrity...and someone who makes something of herself. And, yes I'd love to see Cornelius and Kyree become the next Michael Beasly and Chris Douglas-Roberts...but I'd rather them become Godly men and the next "Dr. Kyree" and "CEO Cornelius".

Breakthrough basketball is much more than a sports league. It's a safe haven for kids to come and have fun and be surrounded by coaches and BT staff who care about them. It's a place to keep them off the streets and involved in something productive. And it's a place they can learn about life...and learn that it's losing not winning that really shows who you are.

I love it. I was blessed to be a part of this league. I have learned so much about coaching and about teenagers(lol) in one season. It's been quite a ride, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. And...we ended up getting 3rd place in the tournament...not exactly what we wanted...but...we've always got next year! ;)


God bless you all!

lots of different things...all in one post! :)

i have all these things circulating in my mind and i want to put them down on paper, but alas they probably won't come out as eloquently or flowing as i would hope for. i[m not even sure what i want this post to be about, i just knew i wanted to write.

i think mainly i want to write about life. my life in particular. see, its changed so much since i moved to chicago. i'm not sure anyone would notice, so maybe i'm not as changed as i think. i don't know though because i feel it. i feel so strongly about things i never thought twice about before. i feel so passionately about things that were only a fleeting thought in the past. i hurt by some words and actions that i used to would have said/done myself.

anyways. enough about that. i think i'd rather turn to sports...always a safe topic for me!

today i was approached by a co-worker about a position that is open at my work. i haven't applied but he is encouraging me (for the 3rd time in the past month!) that i would be a perfect canidate for the position. the position is community fitness and health coordinator. basically what the person would do is coordinate all the sports leagues and health stuff at our work. considering my bachelor's is in kinesiology, i have previously worked as athletic director with urban youth, a performance trainer with athletes, and interned as a trainer, fitness lab assistant, and fitness class instructor...i have a lot of experience in this area. i also have relationships with our students and am very familiar already with our sports leagues. so, yeah. i guess on paper i am a perfect canidate. anyways, all that to say...i still haven't officially applied. there are a couple of reasons why i haven't yet, which will not be discussed in this post. :)

2-4th grade basketball has officially ended. yesterday was our last and worst game of the season. it was pretty embarrassing for me and for the kids. we lost by over 30 points. they just were tired, scared, and nervous...and they plyaed like it. so we and the other breakthrough team had a pizza party today. me and the coach of the other team went around and talked about each player individually. i had something to say about all of my kids. for example tyree who was our "team captain" and i put alot of weight on his shoulders but he was up to the task every game. or devin, who was probably our worst player in the beginning but by the end of our season became the most improved and i could say...he's a basketball player now. or yakira, whom i enjoyed watching her turn into a scaredy cat into someone who wanted the ball everytime the court...who was more dedicated to the game than anyone else on our team. i realized that the ones i was most proud of on my team today was not the athletes. it wasn't the stars of our team...it was the ones that came to every practice...who tried so hard to learn and to get better...who always came out with a smile on their faces and never complained. i would take a whole team of devins (even though we'd lose everygame...oh wait we did!) over a team of stars because the devins are the ones that play with heart...the devins are the ones that i love to coach.

i went to our team selection for 7th-8th grade today. our team should be pretty strong. we have kyree, who is top 3 in the league and then shamesha...who may be a girl, but can play better than most of the boys out there. i'm excited to see how it turns out. we have our first game this saturday...oh and soccer starts next weekend too, so i'm gonna be pretty busy the rest of the school year!!!!

finally, in other kind of related, not so related news...NCAA Tourney has started! I made a million different brackets but the two i'm focused on are my one with my family and then my one with breakthrough. YES, I am first in our breakthrough pool. Of 25 people...i am first as of right now. i did have one of my final four teams knocked out though. I picked Drake of all teams to go to the final four...not sure what i was thinking! but, yeah...they are gone already. oh and of course, in my family bracket i have marquette in the final four. they also got knocked out. i'm not too worried about that one though cuz my dad had duke *YUCK* in the finals and they got knocked out as well :) yay!

so, i hope to come out the victor in both brackets...i'll prolly be last in all of them when it's all said and done...but secretly i love it when a female comes out winning against a bunch of males cuz they all think girls don't know how to pick! :)

god bless you all!

oh and i know most of you reading this are probably not a fan of obama, but i am. i listened to his speech in response to his former pastor's comments on race and i was blown away. living here, in this community...his words just really struck a cord with me. i encourage you...friend or foe of obama to listen to his speech. you may be surprised at what he has to say!

again...god bless you all!

VACATION!!!

Today we had our last regular season game. Our kids played hard, but they came up short. We lost 25-12 but can I just say, they did so good. Yakira (pic to the right) had 4 points and about 6 steals. She played better than I have ever seen her play. I think she may have a future in basketball. I realized today that the biggest factor with our team is that I have a total of 2 kids that have actually played on a team before...the rest have never played basketball in their lives. The other teams have players who have been playing for 2 years. That makes a big difference at this age. Anyways, next week is the tournament and ya know...most likely we'll lost but...miracles can happen! :)

In other news, my friend Lauren was here this past week. It was such a nice change of pace to have her here to hang out and to help with the kids. We got to go downtown a couple of times (her 3 times) and it was just a wonderful time to see an old friend and share my life with her. Here is a pic of us at the "bean" in Millenium park and us just getting done eating "Chicago-style" pizza.

Finally, TODAY IS THE START OF MY VACATION! I'm so excited. I need a break so badly. As much as I love my kids...I really need a break just to relax for a couple of days and to see my family. I get to see my beautiful niece!!!! Emma Grace McConnell was born on March 10th and I CAN NOT WAIT to see her! YAY!

Basketball part 2

If you haven't read the previous post, READ IT before reading this one...just right click and scroll down to the last post.

Now, lets get on with it. Saturday we had our big game 2. After the long and hard practice on Friday, I really thought we'd be okay. Of the 12 on the team, we have 4 good players. I was secretly praying that all 4 would show up on Saturday for the game. No such luck, only 2 of them showed up. The other two, well...one wanted to come but couldn't and the other has a bad attitude and just didn't want to come. Which is okay with me because i'd rather have a team of players with good attitudes that aren't very skilled rather than a team of skilled players with bad attitudes.

Back to the story. We played first. 9 of our players were there, so it was a pretty good turn-out. We played the "purple" team, who I had seen play and knew they were okay. I still had high hopes that we'd be able to play with them...at least stay close score wise. I started Yakira, Tyree, Emmitt, Eric, and Davevontay. Donquilis, TT, Jesse, and Devin sat out first. The first play of the game, the other team scores first. We drove down the court, Tyree passes to Yakira...Yakira (who has never shot nor scored in a game) turned and heaved it towards the basket...IT WENT IN. I have to say it again, IT WENT IN. She went nuts screaming, celebrating...and meanwhile the other team drove the length of the court and scored. Guess who's man scored? If you guessed Yakira's, you are right. I yelled at TT...GO GET YAKIRA. She came out and was like...what? I scored! I couldn't help but smile...but I was so aggraveted...YOU CAN'T CELEBRATE ON THE COURT! YOUR MAN SCORED WHILE YOU WERE DANCING AROUND. She frowned...but then I told her I was proud of her but she has to wait till after the game to celebrate...she seemed satisfied with that. The next 6 minutes went okay. Our team played great defense. They stayed on their men for the most part and on offense, well nothing much going but they were shooting it. Then the second quater came. And it went down hill from there. We started losing our man...forgetting who we were guarding...and just getting tired. By the end of the game...the score was 38-14. Yes...38 to 14. Now, I know what you are thinking, thats HORRIBLE. And it is, but we improved! And, after the game I told them that. I said, we did better and I promise, if we keep getting better every game, we will eventually win. Or at least get close! So yeah, we have ton of stuff to still work on. It is still a lot of fun and the kids seem to enjoy it, even when we lose. Me on the other hand...lol. I do enjoy it, it's just sad cuz I want them to get close at least. Oh well, humility...a lesson in humility.

Here's Yakira...she is still beaming after making her 2 points!

Basketball

Wellllll, when I was asked by Noel to coach one of the 2-4th grade teams, I was overly excited! Coaching really is one of my favorite things to do. So, after 2 weeks of "tryouts" we picked teams. My team is Eric, Davevontay, Emitt, Lativia, Octavious, Yakira, Jaspen, Donquilis, Jesse, Tyree, Javion, and Devin. 3 girls, 9 boys. We had 5 practices as a team before we had our first big game. Before the game, the kids were so pumped and like, we gonna kill 'em. Lots of talk, which is normal for a 8 year old boy. They were also nervous though, and I didn't want to tell them, but I was a little nervous as well. Then the game started. I put my two best players out to start the game (our other 2 best players didnt show up...unfortunately) and prayed that we'd at least have a chance. The other team didnt look like much, I thought, we can maybe take them. And then they scored. And they scored again, and again...and again. And our team, well, they ran around like they didnt know what to do and how to do it. I grabbed the other kids and threw them in, hoping they would have better luck. Not so much, actually I think it was worse, if it could get any worse! By half time, the score was 20-2. We sat down and I'm not proud to admit it but I kinda yelled at them. I was so frustrated cuz they didn't look like they had a clue out there. I told them if I saw any of them walking, they were gonna get pulled out. The other team had scored about 15 in transition, so I made sure they knew...GET BACK GET BACK GET BACK ON DEFENSE.
The second half begun. Yakira and Donquilis stood as the other team drove the length of the court and shot a layup. Devin...Jesse...go get Yakira and Donquilis. YOU WILL NOT PLAY IF YOU DONT TRY. But, but...coach Shasta...SIT DOWN. (They eventually went back in...don't get too worried). By the end of the game, my voice was hoarse, my head hurt from me shaking it so much, and all I could do was laugh. The final score was 27-4. So, yes...our team held them to only 7 points the second half. Yay. They improved...a little.
Here comes next Friday-practice night. I literally had about 15 different things to cover, drills to run, a play to set up....about anything I could think of that we were horrible in, I wanted to work on in one practice. Considering our practices are an hour long, we obviously didn't cover everything. We did get there about 20 minutes early, though, so I literally practiced the kids for the entire almost hour and half. Needless to say, they were pretty tired! We worked on transition defense, making good crisp passes, moving to get open, set up (or tried to) a real simple offensive play, knowing where your man is...and by the end of practice Yakira looks at me and says...that was a hard practice. Oh no! Did I do to much? Did I try to put too much in one practice? I don't know....we'll have to see...its 9:32 am on Saturday morning....we play at 12. Until then my friends...

Last Night's Game!

So, last night we went to a DePaul girl's basketball game. The girls had soooo much fun! We took 6th-8th grade girls. Not only did 9 out of 10 girls get shirts but also 3 of our girls got to do half-time activites! One of the girls won!

This is the girl that won...she had to shoot a lay-up and then run back, jump on a tricycle and ride it to the baseline...she CHEATED and practically dragged the tricycle, but she won anyways! lol She got a whole bag of DePaul goodies!

The video below is from the other 2 girls that were in the halftime thing. Evalenna had to run in the ball...she did really good and beat the other girl, but her partner...the one and only Kanika had to run down the court make a layup and then come back and make a freethrow...LOL she totally hit the side of the backboard...and then finally made the layup...but she for the life of her could not make a freethrow! :) It was quite hiliarious!