Basketball Summary (in-town)

We had a very successful in-town basketball season this year.  We play in a 3rd/4th grade league, 4 on 4, cross court.  As our (way too small) t-shirts were Orange and we had just returned from Disney before the start of the season, we called ourselves the Tiggers. 

With some effective drafting, I had my 5 3rd graders from last years team all together again as 4th graders.  We also had 3 3rd graders, one of whom had never played a sport before.  This group of girls really played well together.  The 4th graders showed some great leadership by going out of their way to get the ball to our 3rd graders as much as possible.  We had the luxury of typically playing with a lead, but this willingness to share the ball helped in tight games as well.  Our new player turned out to be a secret weapon at the low post.  Other teams would discount her and she would be left open.  She was a very accurate (for this league) shooter and would make them regret the lapse very often.

Some other highlights of the season include:

We lost only one game, to an undefeated team, but were the closest that any team had come to beating them.  For the in-town program, all kids play as equally as possible each game.  The team we lost to had two of its weaker players not show up (well, one showed up, but then refused to play).  That allowed them to take advantage of mismatches when my lesser experienced players were in.  For the 1st couple shifts (with my best 4th graders matched against theirs), we were ahead.  It definitely put a scare into them.

One of our 3rd graders hurt her foot (non-basketball injury) and wasn't able to practice or play for a week.  She still came to the game (on her birthday) and was there to support us during one of the most exciting games of the year (more on that later).  You don't always get 'in-town' players with that sort of team loyalty.  Heck, you don't always get travel players, HS or College athletes with that sort of loyalty.  She learned that from some good parents and I thanked them for it.  That was just one small piece of why she earned the "Tigger" award for the season.  Boundless energy and spirit.

Sometimes, one player can dominate a game.  This is even more evident in 4 on 4.  In one close game, we score early, but it was a matchup of two very strong groups and we had only a two point lead.  At half time, the lead was just 4.  The 2nd half started slowly and the lead was cut to two.  At the next shif, each team had in their best player, who tended to cancel each other out.  The rest of the matchups favored us and we extended the lead to six.  Due to the number of players each team had, their best player stayed in for the next shift as we had an unbalance lineup (one strong player, one good, two weaker).  Their player quickly realized the advantage and they scored eight unanswered points to take a two point lead.  As we made the shift to the final matchup (last 4.5 minutes, running time), their best player came out, just as we went with four 4th graders, including our top two players.  I was feeling pretty good about our chances as we quickly tied the score.  They responded soon after and we were down again.  It took just one trip down the court to tie it up again.  After what seemed like an eternity of sloppy play from both sides, we finally broke through and got the go ahead basket with about a minute left.  Our girls started to celebrate a little and their smallest player took the inbounds pass the whole court for an easy layup.  Tied again.  We came down and got off a shot, but missed.  Down to 30 seconds now as they bring the ball up the court.  The crowd is into the game even more than the players and coaches.  S picks off a pass and races down the court all alone.  High-speed layups are a problem for her in-town, as we use a 9ft hoop and she has become used to the regulation 10ft hoops of travel games.  I'm sure I yelled something about taking it easy, but I don't know for sure.  She took an easy shot and put it off the backboard and in for a two point lead.  The crowd erupted.  The girls started jumping up and down and I started screaming "DEFENSE!".  We turned around and put pressure on the ball and eventually threw up a pass/shot that went right to S.  She dribbled around for a few seconds and then tossed the ball toward the hoop as time expired.  She had scored 6 of our last 8 points.  An uneventful game when S was matched up with their best, turned into a wild slugfest when they each got to go alone.  I have to commend the other coach for following the rules and not trying to leave in his best player.  It was her turn to sit and he put her on the bench.  These girls are all friends and play together on the travel team.  At the practice that afternoon, everyone talked about how exciting the game was and how well they played.  Virtually no discussion about who won, other than to congratulate S on the winning shot.

Let's hope the Spring time sports give us something as exciting!