Haven’t talked much about my son’s 6th grade basketball team lately… there hasn’t been much to talk about. They’ve been blowing out every team they face. After flying through the 5th grade schedule undefeated, all of our kids got better… some of them, A LOT better. So… unless the other kids got better… or there were teams that we didn’t face… or some other 6th graders entered the transfer portal for these other schools… yeah, do the math. They sat at 8-0 before we tried to find some competition for them.
We entered the Chicago Park District holiday tournament. Here was a chance to face some better competition, right? Well, after the first day of pool play, not so much. We played two teams this past Tuesday and beat them by a combined score of 110-17; yes, that’s no typo. It was kind of a buzz kill… again, much rather be on this end of it, but… this was supposed to be better competition; these games were supposed to be a challenge for our boys. After sweeping through pool play, we were ticketed for the semifinals. From the word on the street, this team we were facing… was good, really good. OK, here we go… finally, a game for these kids. This game was played on Thursday night.
This other school team was made up of all kids who played travel basketball; they were supposedly the real deal. Our boys were ready. I’ve seen my son and his team play almost every single game the last two years, and they haven’t lost, but I’m here to tell you: they played their best game against this team. I don’t know if it was the pre-game hype or what. Sure, this was the best team we faced in 2 years, but… we still prevailed, and it wasn’t that close. Yes, our boys enjoyed an 18 point victory; boo ya! After the game, we heard that this team was absolutely floored… they’re used to winning… all the time. Well, maybe they haven’t faced a defense like this; my son’s team plays incredible defense… it’s really their calling card. It’s easy to make a shot when nobody is guarding you, but put somebody in your face, and then we’ll see what’s up. This other team saw what was up; they were humbled. I was hoping our boys might get humbled a bit in this tourney, but they were doing the humbling… unreal… haha.
Of course, there was still the finals to play, but… the team we were facing in the finals wasn’t as good, or so we thought. Actually, this team gave us a really good game. If the semifinals game was our A+ game, this was probably our B game. At the end of the day, we still won… I think by 12 pts? I don’t have my book in front of me, but it was another good game, and… another win for the boys. This time, it came with a trophy and shirts; the Chicago Park District North Region Holiday Tournament Champions… yes sir!
So now what… 12-0 and still firing on all cylinders. We would resume conference play this weekend with 2 games. I’m penciling in 14-0, although the team on Saturday night is undefeated as well… we’ll see. But yeah, the kids are good; what’s next? Finishing the season undefeated, and bringing home a championship in the playoffs. Will the boys finish the job and complete 2 years of undefeated basketball? Stay tuned. Congrats boys!
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