Bay State Day One Update

In game one we played the Central Mass Shamrocks. They are based in Worcester and have 6 teams of the correct ages. The team we played was their top 6th grade going in to 7th grade team. They have practiced twice a week and have played about 25 tournament games all over New England this year since March 2013. The team started playing together in 4th grade.

The score board said we lost 58 to 9. Though we only made one basket and a free throw in the second half, the score board does not reflect who we are. The other team had superior shooting skill (5 out 10 in double figures and 2 other close to it).

Here are the details.

The Ugly: Three or four Destroyers gave up half way into the first half. The body language said clearly "I quit." I called a time out and screamed at them. Shocked them, too. LOL. I heard the bench mumbling "She's mad!"

"THIS is where I will see if any of you have ANY heart. Show me your heart," I yelled.

I told them that I do not expect them to "win" a game based on what is on the score board. We are a REC team playing top club teams. They will make more baskets than us this weekend. We measure our wins by how well we play defense, run our offense and attack the basket.

I said that I DO expect them to work hard on full court man to man defense. Guard SOMEBODY on defense and attack on offense, I said.

I do expect them to get over the heat since the other team is just as hot, I told them.

"Show me your heart!" is how I ended the time out.

The Good: Out of the 11 players who played, 9 attempted shots. Five players had 2 or more attempts. We had 33 attempts that resulted in 4 made baskets to give us a painful 12 percent. Only one player scored. I'd rather the girls shoot and miss than not shoot at all. AND 12% is ouch!

The Amazing: Nilijah Rose.

I don't believe in singling out one player. Basketball is the ultimate team sport: a game is about everybody. Not in THIS game.

Nilijah dove on the floor after loose balls, drove the ball to the basket and shot SIX times, worried people 2 feet taller than her on defense, ran the floor in both directions, tied up the ball and DID NOT stop fighting when she was on the floor. The child was the only player who did not take a possession off. She did all that without committing a foul.

Nilijah IS the amazing in game one.

In game 2 we played the SNH Saints - based in Derry, NH. All were 5th graders going in to 6th who played together last year, too. They have practiced twice a week since this March 2013 and had a 14-6 2013 record, as of June 4, 2013 but has played in two more tournaments since then including the Zero Gravity Nationals at the end of June where they finished 4th.
We were competitive with them.

One of the kids at halve time said, "Coach Robin, we can BEAT them!" We were down by 6 or so.

My answer was "yes, we can. If I keep the starters in for the rest of the game and sub out for each one, one at a time, for about 2 minutes each to rest them, we would win.

"All of you on the bench right now would play 2 minutes each in the second half.

"We would win. So what? These games do not mean anything. What means something is that everyone on the team get better. You have to play to get better so I will stick to equal playing time."

Everyone split the minutes and we finished with 28 points to 40.

The Ugly: Our game started so late that all the referees had gone home. Two coaches, one of whom had never refeed before tonight, stepped in to do our game. They let the girls play and whistled few fouls.

The Good: Eight of the ten Destroyers shot. We had 26 attempts and made 14 shots for 54 percent. As great as THAT is it is not the Amazing.

The Amazing: We had five players score! That is half of the players who dressed for the game!

Tomorrow morning at 10 we play the South Boston based Mass Ducks. They have two all 5th grade going in to 6th grade teams entered in the tournament out of their programs 8 teams in the correct age groups. Only one of them is in our pool. Both teams have played together for two seasons, practice twice a week and have played more than 35 tournament games this year since March 2013. They beat the SNH Saints, who we played in our second game, by over 20 points this morning.

Robin