From the Court

Since the start of the 2008-2009 basketball season, Michelle and I have been busy!

Michelle had played about 5 games with Sabino High School before an injury to her knee kept her off the court for the remainder of the first half of the season. At the semester break I transferred Michelle to Palo Verde High School because it is much closer to the home we moved into during Thanksgiving. It took a while for all the transfer paperwork to go through but she finally got to play.

She is contributing more and more to her new team as she continues to get familiar with their plays and style of play. Her shot seems like it is becoming more relaxed and she is having a great time. It doesn’t hurt that the team has a very, very good record right now as there are only two games left of the regular season.

Today is the first day of practice for the 2008-2009 girls basketball season at Sabinio High School. Michelle is excited for this season to finally get started after a lot of hard work over the summer with tournaments and conditioning. She feels stronger and more in condition than in previous years and feels this will be a good season.

The first game of the season isn’t until Monday, December 1, 2008 against Santa Rita High School at the Sabino gym. I will post the schedule soon.

Taking the charge - almost.

Overcoming a 0-15 start to the game is very hard to do after playing eleven games in five days. We couldn’t get going and we just couldn’t stop the easy shots early in the game. At halftime we cut the lead to 10 points and IF we had one more minute may have been able to take this one away. But the Virginia/Ohio team seems to be on a mission and again were a very tough opponent.

Great shot attempt.

The whole team seemed to be a bit worn out and Michelle took a couple hits to the hand and wasn’t able to get her shots to fall. However, she persisted through every game and I am very proud of how she played here with some of the best girls in the country playing some of the best basketball I’ve seen from high school girls.

We both agree there is a long road ahead of her to make it to a Division I school but we have two years to prepare and she is already committed to hit the gym harder than before. That is good because she needs to have ultimate confidence in her shot and become the team leader I know she can be.

Team Arizona/New Mexico/Nevada

Today the girls championship game is at 8:00 am EST (we will be late for that one) and the boys at 9:00 am EST. Our flight leaves at 6:40 pm EST so we have quite a wait before flying out. We’ll be in Dallas for a layover and land in Tucson around 10:25 pm PST. It is going to be a long day.

Thanks again for everyone who participated in helping us get to the USA Junior Nationals International Sports Festival. It was an experience that will help propell Michelle to the next level by taking the things she saw and experienced and applying them to all the shooting in the gym, practice with the team, and any game she plays. We are grateful for all the support our family and friends offered and we look forward to filling you in on her progress.

Michelle will soon be playing again with her club team (Tucson Cats) in a fall league before the school season begins in November so we still have a lot of basketball to play.

Michelle actually won this tipoff!

It is amazing how well all these teams are playing. This afternoon we took on the first team we played while here in Columbus and they came out tough. They had a very strong fan base and excitement was all around their play. Fortunately for us, our team seems to all be very cool and never get too excited. Just like Michelle each one of her teammates are unemotional on the court. You just can’t tell if they are excited or not.

Good look at a 3pt shot.

We were able to chip away the small lead they had in the first half to take the half time lead by eight points. We were still down on players with eight and they had ten and there was one point in the early part of the second half where one of our players came out early because she got knocked in the face with an elbow.

Michelle is still disappointed with her offensive production but still looking good on defense. No points during this game but has a couple assists. Her finger is still working against her on each of her shots.

We continue to play with only one loss in this double elimination tournament. At 5:00 pm EST we play the same Virginia/Ohio team who handed us that loss.

Passing it inside.

Our second meeting with the Virginia/Ohio team in the Double Elimination Tournament went almost like the first meeting a few days ago. We started out slow and behind but came back in the second half for with a six point lead at half time. We built an eight point lead for most of the second half but at the end became a bit sloppy and they took advantage of our mistakes and took a close win.

Defending their scorer.

Michelle scored but we are getting to the point where we aren’t sure how many points she accumulated we belive it was another three or five points with one free throw. And again her defense was solid.

Our next game is at 1:00 pm EST and we were not sure as of last night who we would be playing. It will be either the Georgia/Florida team who we lost to in OT by one point or the Michigan/Canada team that did a number on us. Either way if we loose we are done with games but if we win we can play another.

We made it to the Double Elimination Tournament as the 6th seed in our pool and found success in our first game. We took on the 7th seed New England team and fell way behind for most of the game but clawed back from 18 points down to win 53-48. Now we play the 10th seed (Virginia/Ohio) at 8:00 pm EST this evening.

3pt attempt.

Inbounding the ball.

Michelle had a pretty solid game scoring two field goals and one free throw for five points. She stole the ball again and had a few rebounds. The team is still missing one player due to injury but the remaining eight are playing with a lot of confidence and poise.

The Virginia/Ohio team took out the Texas Gold team by only a few points in an exciting win at the end of the game. So we are looking to play a team whose confidence in beating the number 3 seed is high. Hopefully we can use that agains them!

Looking for an open teammate.

Another tough battle but with one less player. One of our New Mexico guards (Shelby) sat on the bench the whole game with ice on her knee so we were down to eight players.

Although it was a loss, I felt Michelle had one of her better games while here in Columbus. She had a lot more shot attempts than in the other games but only two baskets (four points). That finger is still bothering her but she seemed to step up the rest of her game again. I can see she is becoming more courageous as a player and that will serve her very well as she takes a leadership role with her high school team

Sacrificing for the steal.

Defensively she is sacrificing her whole body and the bruises reflect her desire to prove (to herself) she belongs with these great players.

The most unfortunately part of the game is when we (parents, players, and coaches) feel there is a disparity with the calls the referees make. Some games we loose and that is ok - we were beat. But when a game can be closer than it is and the referees seem to see infractions from primarily one team and not the other when both teams are pretty much equally committing the fouls then there is something lost besides the game. We unfortunatley felt this game had far to many calls against us. Michelle was hit on most of her shots yet never went to the free throw line to shoot free throws. Yet there were times when our girls were standing straight up without touching a player and were called for a foul.

Anyway, we hope that the calls will become better as we move into the double-elimination games this afternoon. I believe we have a 4:00 pm EST game. We play until we loose two games over this afternoon and through tomorrow. If we don’t loose we will be in the championship game on Sunday but we are a long way from that.

All in all though Michelle is still extremely happy to be here and experiencing this heavy schedule. We are both pretty tired but thankful for your support!

It is just amazing to see how many talented athletes are in the high schools of the United States and Canada! Last night Michelle participated in the free throw shooting contest, the hot shot contest and the three point shooting contest with hundreds of other girls. While the boys did the same they also had the opportunity to participate in the slam dunk contest. All I will say about that is “WOW!” I can’t believe the talent in all these players.

Anyway, Michelle had a very difficult time with her individual performances during all three competitions because of her finger. At the USA Junior Nationals Regional competition in Las Vegas, Michelle missed only three free throws out of twenty five attempts. That is where the compeition started. If any player (male or female) missed three shots before reaching 25 shots taken they were out. Michelle courageously stepped up to the line, missed her first two while trying to get an adjustment. She was successful on her third shot but couldn’t get the fourth in so she was sitting next to me quickly.

The girl who won made all 25 of her shots and looked as if she could have kept going. If Michelle’s finger wasn’t injured I feel she could have been right up there too. I think the winner was from Iowa.

Starting the hot shot contest.

The next competition was hot shot shooting. Each player starts in the middle circle of the court and in thirty seconds must run down to their basket make a layup on one side, make a layup on the other side, shoot from the baseline on one side then on the baseline from the other. All four shots have to be made before moving to the corners of the free throw line where they have to make both shots there before shooting a three point shot at the top of the key. Michelle could only get through three made shots at the base line. And again it was the finger and she just couldn’t get through it.

From the 3pt circle.

Finally, for the girls, was the three point shooting contest and it was a bit of a downer for Michelle. The girl who won last night’s contest only made 8 shots in 30 seconds. At the Regionals in Las Vegas, Michelle made 9 in her 30 seconds only missing two shots. With her bum finger she made only one. Needless to say the “I could have won that!” was going through her mind. Most of the girls had very poor technique, even though they are some of the best in the country. Michelle has great technique and one of the sweetest shots (even here). So it was hard on her to not perform as she normally could have.

Being disappointed by her injury, we were treated to some really good dunking by the boys. The winner took off and as he was up in the air held the basketball against the backboard for a moment then slammed it in. This kid was amazing! Other impressive dunks included jumping over another player and a tomahawk jam. We’ve never been to a slam dunk contest before so this was indeed a real treat.

Afterward, as the hundreds of players and parents were leaving, Michelle began shooting around and even then it took some time to get her shot back. It will still be difficult in todays games for her offensive game but should still serve the team very well with her solid defense.

We have our last pool play game at 10:00 am EST against a Texas team who is doing very well here. Once that game is over we will have a better idea of what to expect next. Today at 4:00 pm EST begins the double-elimination games that will determine the teams who will play in Sunday’s championship game.

I think we have a decent chance in going deep into tomorrow but if our injuries surface and energy levels are off we could be in trouble.

Michelle passing to the corner.

A combination of a very good Michigan/Canada team (fourth in our pool) vs our “not-so-focused” team equaled a lopsided score. The opponent seemed to convert our missed opportunities and mistakes into points and we never really recovered from a 2-12 start at the begining of the game. It is almost like we are worn and tired.

Taking a shot.

Michelle’s first half was productive with one field goal and one free throw for three points. She also had a few rebounds and steals but her finger is still a bit sore.

So here we are back at the hotel and icing her finger as we wait until it is time for the individual competitions at 7:00 pm EST. According to the schedule, we start with the free throw shooting contest followed by the hot shot contest and finishing up with the 3-point contest (the boys will have a slam dunk contest which should be fun).

The free throw contest will take each participating player and give them the opportunity to shoot 25 consecutive free throws without interruption. Whoever has the highest percentage at the end wins. Michelle came in third in the regionals in Las Vegas back in April.

The hot shot contest will start at half court and have 30 seconds to shoot. There is a 5-point bonus for each shooter that shoots from all five of the available positions. This contest was not held in Las Vegas.

The 3-point contest will allow shooters to shoot from anywhere behind the 3-point arc. There will be two rebounders, one passer, and three basketballs. Each shooter will have 30 seconds. This is the event that Michelle won in Las Vegas.

Michelle inbounding.

Even at the high school level Kentucky basketball is tough! Our girls put up a good fight but the Kentucky team was a very good team. Both teams really ran the court but seemed to turn the ball over too many times from silly fouls and traveling.

Unfortunately the game started before Michelle and I arrived and with her swollen finger she didn’t seem too enthused while on the court, although hustled just as much as she has been the whole week.

On the foul line.

In the first half, she took the ball strong to the basket and was fouled hard and was awarded two free throws. The first one didn’t go but the second did as she made adjustments because of her finger. So Michelle ended up with one point and a blocked shot and a couple rebounds and steals. We are a little worried about her shooting tonight but with some more ice on that finger hopefully she will be physically ready.

This afternoon at 2:00 pm (EST) we play the Michigan/Canada team.