Sunday morning was the quarterfinals of the 8th grade basketball tournament my son was participating in. The team they were playing was good, or so we heard. As the game began, you could tell it would be a good matchup.
The starting lineup ran out there for our 8th grade team consisted of 3 7th graders; my son was the only one playing up that was not part of the starting five. I feel like the 7th graders’ confidence has really been growing lately. My son tells me of stories from practice, where the 7th and 8th graders matchup against each other. In a recent one, the coach was getting upset… because the 8th graders couldn’t do anything against the 7th graders. We’ve kind of thought that all along… that our boys in 7th grade could take the 8th graders. It would be a good match, but in the end, I think they would prevail. The 8th grade team is good, don’t get me wrong; the 7th grade team is great though. I’m really trying not to be biased, like I am with all my Chicago sports teams; I’m trying not to look at this through rose colored glasses. Obviously, I think my son is special… his entire 7th grade team is special too. They play extremely well together. They play unselfishly. They all have skill; they are all athletes. They hustle. They play hard on defense. It’s a really good combination of attributes on this team that will propel them to great heights, in whatever they decide to do. Currently, they are 10-0 this season in league play; this is on top of being undefeated as a unit the last 2 years! Yes, the level of competition is not great. We’ve tried to find some and the boys keep winning. Next year will be the true test of their greatness. For now, continuing to take care of business, work on their games, and help the 8th graders as much as possible in these tourneys. I told my son they need to appreciate them, the 8th graders that is. Practicing with/against them is helping them get better. Who will do that for the boys next year? The talent level of his 7th grade team is so great… practicing with the 6th graders, next year’s 7th graders… now they have some good kids, but… no match. Coach may have to bring in some high schoolers to scrimmage… But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves…
As far as this game went, we were losing. This other team was certainly not unbeatable, but they were solid enough to get the job done against our boys in this one. As the lead grew, I wondered when they would try to mix things up, bring somebody in off the bench for a spark, like… maybe my son? Well, it took until the final minute to do so. My son immediately hit a 3 pointer to bring the team within 4 points, then the coach took them all out again. Oh well. Not saying my son, or anyone else on the bench for that matter, would have made a difference in the end result, but it would have been worth finding out IMO. Some things I really like about this coach, some things I don’t. It’s tough… I’m always coaching in my head myself, so… Good experience at the end of the day. I look forward to next year, while trying to continue to appreciate how good the boys are playing right now. Keep it up boys!
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