Playoff Performer?

Since I last blogged about M3’s basketball journey, she’s had 3 different sessions so this could sound like 3 different blogs.  But I will keep the write-up on each session brief.

First was the Winter House League session that she was half-way through.  There was nothing special in that session (or maybe it’s been so long I forgot what happened).  I mentioned that there were 4 teams in her recreational league and M3 had finished first, second, and fourth before but never third.  M3 claims I jinxed her because this time her team came in 3^rd.

Second was the school team.  I remember when I was in school and on a team, there was actual league play where we would play after school either at home or by travelling to the other school.  This would go on for several weeks and then there would be playoffs.  But for M3 all the games took place on one day – tournament style.  The kids would miss school for the whole day, as opposed to last period for an away game, in my days.  When M1 was on the badminton team, the structure of play was the one-day tournament as well.  Is this just teachers being lazy and not wanting to commit for more than one day of league play?  M3’s school won one game and lost three games on that day and were eliminated from the playoffs.  Unfortunately, I had an important meeting at work that day and could not go watch.

Third, back to the House League sessions.  This was the spring session and her team had finished the preliminary round in 4^th place, meaning they would have to play the 1^st place team when the playoffs began.  For some strange reason, M3 was on fire that day.  Maybe she’s a playoff performer?  She scored 40% of the points for her team!  The final score was 25-19 and M3 got 5 baskets – a career high.  I mentioned before that the scores are usually in the 30s but this was a defensive battle.  Perhaps everyone was focused on shutting down the top players so M3 had more room to manoeuvre.  After the game, her teammates told her that she carried the team and M3 was very happy to hear that.  Sometimes compliments from your peers mean more than hearing the same words from your coach, because it’s your teammates that are playing the same game as you.

All the teams were pretty even because the 3^rd place team beat the 2^nd place team in the other semi-final.  In the final week, the 2^nd place team won the bronze medal and M3’s team won the championship.  In this game, I noticed M3 took more shots than she normally does.  Perhaps her performance last week got her thinking she was a sharpshooter.  But unfortunately, the ball didn’t go in for her this time and she only got one basket.

Anyway, M3’s improvement is continuing and as we rest for the summer, we have to think about staying in this league or finding a new one.  That’s because the next age group she will be in is Grades 9-12.  I’m not sure if she can compete at that level because she’s not even 5 feet yet.  We’ll see what happens.

Big Oh