End of the Basketball Season

Anna in action
The basketball season is officially over for Anna's 6th grade team.  We are happy to report that they posted a 200% improvement over last season.  They won three games (Anna was quick to remind us that they "won" one game last season because the other team forfeited when they didn't have enough players).  The season saw a lot of progress over last year with a larger team and gradual improvement from the girls.

Anna was not exactly excited about playing this year but agreed to give it another try. Fortunately the coach made some key changes from the previous year that helped out.  First, they had more players on the team with 10 girls (last year there were only 7, which meant there were often no subs when people didn't show up).  Second, the coach switched to one night a week of practice with just their team rather than two nights with the "A" team, in which they got crushed weekly in scrimmages.  This change went a long way to a more positive attitude with the girls.   We weren't sure based on the initial couple of games how this was all going to go.  Thankfully they were moved to a lower division and as the season progressed, so did the team.  Everyone contributed and there was no one or two dominate players.

Of course some of the big win may be due in part to the cheering parents.  In every game, most of our parents (including us) left hoarse from cheering.  When the girls scored a point (no matter how far behind they were) the parents erupted into cheers that left the opposing fans thinking we might have landed a spot in the final four.  Heck...we even cheered if they attempted a shot.  When one opposing coach was particularly vocal, one mom began leading all sorts of cheers to silence him. Even during some very lopsided games (of which we are on the losing side) parents were cheering things like, "Play with Integrity girls!" Sometimes the cheers were instructions for such things as "bounce pass...clap clap" when the girls seemed to be doing soccer throw ins rather than basketball moves.  Joe often got a front row seat for the action as he was often tapped to help with score keeping.  This meant he could safely pretend not to know the crazy, cheering moms.  The girls were mildly embarrassed, but came to accept the mom fans as just another part of the game.

Coach Jeff & the team celebrate with frozen yogurt

The season ended with a loss of the second tournament game (we are proud of Anna for scoring 1/3 of the points in the game.......even if the team only scored six point total).  The girls celebrated the end of the season at the local frozen yogurt place.  The coach handed out awards with their nicknames.  Anna is now known as "One Cool Customer" for her ability to always remain calm and methodically play the game.  A big thanks to Coach Jeff for a good season! 

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