Intersection

Last year at this time, I wrote a blog about my daughter’s junior high basketball team and how fun it was to watch them go through their season with 19 wins and 0 losses. I never thought that I would enjoy watching a team as much I enjoyed watching last year’s Lady Gators. Well, yesterday, it happened again. The Lakeside Lady Gators finished their season with 19 wins and 0 losses. I am not sure if this team was any better than last year’s version, but they were no less dominating. Only one game ended with the two teams within ten points of each other, and most of the games were won by twenty-five points or more. This past Monday, the Lady Gators played their stiffest competition when they played the Junior High team from Hilliard. For the first two quarters it was a very close game, but in the end, the Gators won by 18. This was, in my opinion, the best game this year’s version of the Lady Gators played as a team. Everyone played well, and in the end, they were just too much for the competition.

So, for the four girls who returned from last year’s team, they have enjoyed a two year run of 38 straight wins. As I told my daughter, they will probably never get to experience two seasons in a row without defeat ever again, so savor the memories. The memories of being a team. The memories of working hard to achieve your goals. The memories of taking team pictures holding the trophies. The memories of the loud
Lakeside gym when the spectators were screaming for you. The memories of overcoming adversity when you had to beat the refs as well as the other team. The memories of the overtime win at OP last year. The memories of the ‘rugby’ matches against a team that will remain nameless. The memories of early Saturday practices and late evening practices. The memories of Coach Joey’s three speeches that he gave over and over (apparently they work well). The memories of cutting down the net.

All of these memories add up to one thing: YOU ARE CHAMPIONS.

And that is a memory that will be with you forever. Congratulations.