These were the words that one of my players wrote as their gmail status and they are quotes of things I've been saying during the tournament. (By the way, the "fake" comment is in reference to using pass fakes so the ball wouldn't get stolen all the time.) And I am proud to say, that our team did in fact finish strong!
The girls team started off the year quite well and before we left for Christmas break we had lost one game in conference, which meant we were first in the conference. We were then off from basketball for a month because of finals and winter break. Then we came back in January and struggled. We lost a few close games, our confidence was gone, and we dropped to 4th in the conference. Ever since January I told the girls that the goal was to peak at the KAIAC (Korean American Interscholastic Activities Conference) Tournament. Well, I was extremely worried this wasn't going to happen because of our downward spiral for the past month. Additionally, on Wednesday we got badly beaten (by 20+ points) to a team we had previously defeated and my team seemed to hit an all time low. Honestly, this was a discouraging moment as a coach because I felt like we were doing the right things to prepare for games but the team just wasn't getting the job done. Thursday was an emotional practice because it was our last one of the season, we were down from the game the day before, and the KAIAC tournament would start the next day. We had a great team meeting where we chatted about forgetting what was behind us and straining toward what was ahead (check out Philippians for more on this). We focused on getting a fresh start at the tournament and leaving everything out on the floor for the next two days so we could finish strong.
We were seeded 4th so our first game was against the 5th seeded team. This was the best game I've seen my girls play. They looked incredible!!! Finally, the were peaking!!! That game gave us so much confidence! Our next game was later that day against the first seed. We've never beat this team in the history of the school (well, our school is only 3 years old). They were a tough team and that game was a battle. I've never seen so much heart from my girls. We came from behind and won by two points. It was amazing. Tears of joy.
That brought us to the championship game. The championship game wasn't the best game I've seen our girls play, probably because they were emotionally and physically tired from the day before, but we just kept saying we have to finish strong. We just need to keep fighting for 4 more quarters. It was close until the end and we ended up defeating the 2nd seed team to win the championship!!!
I am so incredibly proud of my girls. They really came together at the tournament and played their hardest. You can't ask for more than that as a coach. One of our players also got tournament MVP!!! Here are some pics from the awards ceremony...
So great and so tired after our game.
Me and my assistant coach, Rosanne Wendling. She was a huge blessing!!!
1st place!
Rina Morioka, our MVP. She's a great athlete and person. I am so happy for her.
Team shot with our trophies:
1 comment:
Way to go! I heard that your team has an awesome coach! :) I bet you are great, I'd love to play for you :)
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