Cinco De Mayo 4th Grade Tournament

Cinco De May was filled with excitement

For the 4th grade Uptempo Hoops team, there's another tournament today.  The setting of this match up is Paye's Place in San Carlos and first game, an early 8:00 am.  I don't know if early morning games are harder for our young players or our parents who enjoy the weekend sleeping in.  The positive thing is, with early morning games, the parking and traffic is excellent.  The parking at Paye's can fill pretty quick and there is not a lot of street parking either. 

Game #1 against Paye's begins

The morning was chilly and a few players got there just in time, like ourselves.  Luckily the tournament itself was running a little late.  This gave the boys enough time to warm up as a team.  Paye's has 3 very small courts.  It's a nice facility, but the seating and sidelines are very limited in space.  The scoreboard hung high above the bleachers causing fans to constantly turn around to check on time and score.  We are grateful for the opportunity to play anywhere, but Paye's could use some updating to accommodate AAU tournaments better.  Onto game #1. 

Duenas, Ravara and Brar sets up for the inbound

The 4th grade played one of Paye's teams.  They were tall and the team was composed of 4th and 5th graders.  They had 6 players.  UH with their deep bench pulled ahead quickly leading by10 points early. Part of me felt a little disheartened.  We are accustomed to playing older and bigger boys, however at one point, we would like to play real 4th graders.  Are there any in the tournaments we enter?  The boys were ready to play and face the challenge as always.  With their confidence and bright spirits, Uptempo Hoops 4th grade team walked onto the small court.  The game was strangely quiet for an AAU game.  The opposing team fans were fairly polite and demure.  We felt a little "obnoxious" shouting out.  The game wasn't as fast paced as we have seen in the past, but it was still a good game.  The players played hard and all of them got in good game time.  The ending score was 19-26 with UH coming out the winner of game #1. 

Uptempo Hoops plays a great game against the Thunderbirds

Game #2, on the other hand, turned out to be extremely fast paced, loud and exciting.  We faced the Thunderbirds, we we faced earlier this season.  We were familiar with them.  This game did not disappoint.  Players were aggressive, yet there was respect from the players as well as the fans.  One of our players wiped out into out of bounds, and #24 of the Tbirds assisted him back up.  That mere gesture of stretching out that helping hand goes a long way in character.  The game goes on with the ball changing hands, players putting their bodies in harm's way and both teams with more than their share of fouls.  At this young age, there is so much talent on the court.  Both teams played great, wanting a win.  Unfortunately, UH lost steam, maybe due to playing the first game of the day or because it was a very physical game.  Our 4th grade boys lost to the Tbirds.  Again, the boys should feel proud of themselves.  As we gathered outside deciding who was going to an after tournament picnic, the Tbirds passed by complimenting our players and thanking us for a great game.  Two match ups against the Tbirds, both losses, but full of lessons learned. 

UH 4th grade poses after their win

Our 4th grade still has a lot to learn.  On the court, there is hesitation and almost a nervousness that won't go away.  Watching them, makes me nervous.  With that being said, with every tournament, they are getting better and meshing well as a team.  It will take a few more tournaments for this team to flow well.  It's the future, the next tournament which we look forward to. We stay positive because our boys stay positive.  We know they will get better and we have to remember, after three tournaments last year, we didn't have any wins.  (ha ha).  Cinco De Mayo goes on and it's picnic time with the Uptempo Hoops 7th grade team.