The Road to Reno Chapter VI

Chapter VI:  The Final Day

Monday morning and it is warm very quickly.  Onto the last day of free breakfast and hungrily standing in the waffle line.  Grade 4 plays at 8:00 am on court 51.  Grade 5 plays as 10:40 am for the championship on court 49.  Grade 6 plays at 9:20 right next to the 4th grade.  Grade 7 plays at 9:20 for 3rd place on court 19. Court 51 was one of the very last courts.  Historically, this team does not do well with early morning games. This was no exception.  The team lost to the Modesto Hornets.  The 4th grade team was very sluggish, maybe 4 games in 3 days was too much for them.  They had a very hard time waking up their bodies. 

Coach Narciso prepping the 5th grade

Onto the next game.  Right next to the 4th grade, the 6th grade played.  This was an exciting game from start to finish.  F. Tria stood tall as the ball was tossed into the air and action began.  Veteran players brought it today including M. Masulit, J. Irwin and R. Adekunle.  New members such as M. Rodriguez, D. Callan and M. San Juan gave stellar performances with great all handling skills and boxing out for rebounds.  The bench was deep.  The competition was fierce.  Time slipped away under the fast moving feet of the players.  No one could make the seconds slow down.  Possession changes.  Missed opportunities.  Made shots.  Both teams were competitive and equally matched.  The game went into overtime.  One fan couldn't handle the drama as he collapsed from the intensity.  He was safely removed from the floor and the game continued.  Overtime is a very quick 2 minutes.  UH lost by only 1 point.  Another heartbreaking loss.  These boys were amazing to watch.  They have great skills and lost of potential.  They fought hard.  They fought to the end and each player contributed out there on the court.

4th grade lunch at Johnny Rockets

Playing at the same time as the 6th grade was the 7th grade.  They were on the other end of the Convention Center playing on court 19.  The UH Family made their way to court 19 and started to cheer once again.  The 7th grade team played for the 3rd place title. As always, these games are fast.  Time seemed to escape.  The two teams were tied early in the game, equally matched.  Then the UH boys started to pull away in the second half.  B. Gisler swooshed in his free throws while N. Conner scored amazing reverses.  The 7th grade boys won earning them the 3rd place title.

How the 7th grade chills

From that court, we headed back to the other side of the Convention Center to court 49.  It's time to cheer and support our 5th grade team as they play for the championship.  They played hard.  Nice to have a far court, less distraction, especially the whistles.  They can be so distracting.  People were cheering on the 5th grade team.  Unfortunately, they lost.  But they were surrounded by the organization, by the Family, still cheering to the very end. 

Losses are hard to deal with.  These boys, all the grades want to win and not just want to win, they work to win.  They learned to work well with eachother, moving the ball down the court.  From this Reno experience, our players leave with more knowledge.  It's our first year.  There were surprises which were out of our control, like a 12 year old playing on a 10u team against our 10u team. Two days later, he played against the 7th grade team. Or the one team our 4th graders faced with facial hair already growing.  What we walk away with, I realize, is integrity.  I'd rather be with an organization that loses with integrity and  raises men (and someday women) than to be with an organization which has to "deceive" to win.  If you are an organizaiton who allows players to play down or enter a lower division for the sole purpose of winning, you are cheating those kids.  You are treating them as if they can't do it and it's not fair to them.  UH has faith in our players.  They CAN do it.  All of our teams faced tough heart breaking losses, but they leaned on their coaches and their UH Family for support.  Not just their biological families who came to cheer them on, but their newfound brothers.  They can say they stepped onto the court, ball in hand, heart pounding in chest.  If they lost, they walked off heads high.  They can look their opponents in the face and say "yeah...I DID beat you"...even if the score didn't reflect it.

Family!!