It was a good run… My son’s basketball team starting in the 5th grade regular season, including the 6th grade regular season and postseason, along with the 7th grade regular season and postseason, plus a few tournaments along the way, was undefeated. Sure, when they played up with the 8th graders in a few tourneys this year, they were part of a losing team. But, THEIR team had never lost… until now.
Nobody is going to claim the competition they’ve been playing has been top notch; there are good teams and there are very bad teams. The conference itself, overall, is pretty soft; they’ve wrecked everything in their path. Hoping to partake in some 7th grade tournaments this year, we were looking forward to some better comp; that didn’t happen. They only played up in some of the 8th grade tourneys, until now. Sunday was the first time it was truly a “7th grade tourney”, or should I say, with their season already over, incoming 8th graders; this will be the real test. It’s THIS season that THEIR team will be playing the best these tournaments have to offer across the city. This first opportunity came at a local high school with 3 games against better competition; the toughest of those tests would come right out of the gate.
It was a great game, definitely the best team we’ve faced; it was back and forth all game long. As the clocked ticked down to 10 seconds remaining, our boys held a 3 point lead; I guess we wouldn’t get the first L in this one after all. Well… one of their kids came down and hit a 3 pointer to tie the game; OK, cool… overtime. Well… as one of our kids was inbounding the ball after they made trey, he stepped on the line; the ref called it. Let me try to explain this to you. This was a tourney; there were multiple games going on, sometimes with confusing whistles being blown. Plus, not playing on a “normal court” the court boundaries weren’t very clear; in fact, the inbounds line that our kid stepped on could barely be seen… it was almost the same color as the court. I didn’t think the ref should have called that because of this, especially in THIS moment, but… OK. The other team inbounded the ball and hit a three pointer at the buzzer… wow. From up 3, to losing by 3 in 10 seconds for the team’s first loss in 3 years. There are tough losses, and then there is this one. Ouch.
It was a shocker, as all the parents looked at each other; I couldn’t believe it. Kudos to those 2 kids that hit those big shots against us; I’d love to see this team again. I’m pretty sure we will. Until then… The next 2 games brought some better teams than we’re used to facing; how would our boys bounce back from this shocker? They won the next 2 games, including the 2nd one being down early. It was great to see. We always talked about getting that first loss, and how it would be good for us; I think it will be. They already played well right after it. The boys can play; it’s not their fault there’s no competition in our league. Hopefully next year will provide many opportunities to show just how good they are; this was just the first chapter. Until then, some boys will continue to play basketball, one will play multiple sports, another will focus back on soccer, and my boy will keep swimming, play baseball, and participate in track and field. They will all be reunited back on the court for their “last dance” later this year. I can’t wait.
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