The Road to Reno Chapter I

Chapter I:  How We Grew

Strength and conditioning

The road to Reno begins.  Everyone attending is excited, enthusiastic, nervous and a little bit fearful.  We take the time to note our path to the Jam On It tournament in Reno, NV.  Where did we start?  Let's take a minute to reflect on what we've accomplished this season thus far. 
In an earlier blog post, I remember how this organization started out with little more than a dream.  Maybe less than that, maybe just a mention of a good idea.  One year later, we've blossomed into a competitive and respected organization.  We grew.

4th Grade waiting for team bags

I remember the tryouts.  I remember being in awe of the talent who sought out to be part of Uptempo Hoops.  I felt nervous for the players trying out and in the end I wanted everyone to be part of the UH Family.  As hard as it was to decide on the core players, the decision was made with no regrets.  Onto the strength and conditioning unique to UH by Precision Athletics.   It was a few weeks of hard boot camp style training.  Watching the players made the parents tired (as amused as we were).  That seems ages ago.  We grew stronger.

5th Grade watching and cheering on 4th Grade

Since then, we were able to raise enough money to buy each player a team bag.  This was through the hard efforts of our members soliciting donations, sponsorships, etc.  As a reminder, 100% of money gathered goes to the kids.  That has always been part of our philosophy. What we do, we do together and for the players.  We grew closer.  

In groups, we watched and cheered for our other teams, and we learned from them.  We faced a number of tournaments.  We won some.  We lost some.  However, we learned from each matchup.  The players increasingly got better and better.  We learned plays, understood positions, learned to play with strangers and make them brothers.  Even coaches learned and matured in the process, growing close to their players turning the organization into a brethren.  We grew smarter. 

6th Grade fighting for a rebound in a tournament

7th Grade scrimmage

We faced friends and previous teammates, as well as strangers in scrimmages.  We played them hard like any other game.  We pushed.  We stood strong.  We dribbled hard.  Our rebounding couldn't be matched as we blocked out and grabbed second chance points.  Moreover, we played with unrivaled discipline.  We walked off the court, win or lose, head's high because we never lacked class.  We grew respectfully.

The excitement and anticipation for the road to Reno is shared by the whole group.  Through the training, the practices, the tournaments, the scrimmages, we've prepared ourselves for something more than the largest AAU tournament.  We prepared ourselves for what it means to be a team.  Not TEAMS.  The 4th grade will cheer on the 6th grade, the 7th grade will cheer on the 5th grade and so on.  We started out in tryouts as a bunch of kids who loved basketball and just wanted to play.  We enter Reno as one team in support, camaraderie.  This is how we got here.  This is the beginning of our road.  We grew.  We grew stronger.  We grew closer.   We grew smarter.  We grew respectfully.  We grew into FAMILY (on 3!!). 

All Uptempo Hoops huddle and listen