The Best Year For My High School Basketball Team

I walked off the floor with sweat dripping from my hair. So many thoughts flew through my head that I couldn’t focus on anything. My junior year of basketball felt like it ended as quickly as a blink. It was as if in seconds we went from the stars of the state tournament to the embarrassments of it. I tried to forget the disappointment of it but it still will not leave. My desire and love to win games comes from the more apparent hatred of losing them. Junior year we had a chance to win a state championship, but we lost that chance. That was when I realized that I had one chance left to win. Senior year our basketball success would only be as rewarding as we would make it. The pressure placed on ourselves was substantial, and we faced trials on the road to success. In the end, we stood alone, crowned as the champions, not letting our chance slip away.

On February 28, 2005, I experienced one of the most exciting events that anyone could ever experience – winning a State Championship. The day my soccer team made history is a day I’ll never forget. However it is not just that day we won the title, but the whole experience of the preceding season that got us there. From start to finish, my team’s 2004-2005 season taught me that the platitude is true. You can do anything you set your mind to.

My freshman year we entered playoffs with a hopeful optimism that in our first year in 3A, the largest division, we could make a statement that we were here to stay. In the end, the game didn’t go our way. There were some questionable calls made but in the end, it is what it is: we weren’t good enough to win. A tough reality but often times you learn more from a loss than from a win. Sophomore

You don't hear everyday a high school team winning state championships that often, but at Archbishop Wood it's sort of common. I proudly can say I am one of the few that has not one, but two state championship rings under my belt. As a sophomore AND a junior in high school, my basketball team accomplished being State Champions two years in a row. The first year we won was one of the best experiences of being apart of a team. After losing in the state championship the year before, we knew we had to somehow get back the next year and make sure we'd come out with the trophy. As the new season began in  November of 2016, we played in the Nike tournament of champions in Arizona. The trip was one of the most memorable trips ever with the best group of girls. We had a blast,

Our team went undefeated for our first 16 games, and then our 17th game we had our first tie. We were used to killed the team we tied to, but that proves if you don’t come ready not everything is going to go your way. Some of the kids kind of took it the wrong way. We won 14 more games after that and kept playing strong. Then we had our final playoff game to see who was going to state or not.

In 2016, more than ever, the team was committed to and had one goal of winning. One of our biggest rivals was St. John’s College High School (SJCHS). My doubles partner and I played the last match of the WCAC championships against SJCHS. During the season, SJCHS was one of the hardest competitors we faced but walking onto the court on the final day of championships, my partner and I knew we would fight and win. After 45 minutes, I hit an ace and we won the match that put us in the lead to win the championships. October 30, 2016 was the single most exciting and overwhelming day for the team all season. Everyone’s hard work paid off.

Throughout the season we had some big defeats from the tougher schools, however I was able to maintain our team’s morale throughout our wins and losses. And Fundraising. Oh boy those were tough. This year was very different from the previous with the new restrictions. However this brought out our teams creativity. These new obstacles brought pushed our team to think out of the box and work together in effort to raise money for the team.

I never though winning a championship would be so satisfying. When my high school, Michel-Gratton applied for WECSSAA (Windsor Essex County Secondary Schools Athletic Association), it was an ecstatic moment for my teammates and I. The funny thing is that year was also the first year Michel-Gratton was built, in 2011. As a result, we had no basketball uniforms, instead our coach, Taylor, had us go to Walmart and buy the same blue t-shirt, afterwards write M.G on it. We ended the first season with a score of zero wins and ten losses, basically in last place. Schools from the standings were mocking us, trying to damage the team, yet Taylor always reminded us that as long as we stay a family and

In the middle of June I’ll find myself on the football field drenched in sweat, hoping to make a “2-Peat”. I’ll be embraced by all the coaches and fellow players, we’ll all be like one big happy family. On game days the stands will be packed full of screaming fans, all confident that Monroe will win the game. After the win, the opposing team will leave with their heads held high, because we’re only good athletes, we don’t compare to the well rounded student-athletes at their school.

We went from having a losing record, and not even making the playoffs. To going thirty-five and six, and sweeping the playoffs. Our team chemistry was amazing; the team spent time together everyday after practice. Whether it was hitting, going to somebody's house and playing games, or even going out to eat. The team was literally together constantly. Another thing that helped our team change drastically was that many of us started to work out on our own. We became stronger and faster; which ultimately lead to us winning more games. We would step off the bus and intimidate our opponents. We were so much bigger than everybody else. We also bought into what our coach was preaching to us. We believed that we were better than anybody we played. Therefore, we went into the game with huge confidence, and in baseball confidence is

You'd think that ten years of summer leagues and two older brothers who'd been the stars of their teams would have rubbed off on me, but you'd be wrong. I mean, I wasn't completely hopeless. I was pretty fast, and I could hit my oldest brother's fastball maybe three or four times out of ten, but I wasn't about to be scouted for college teams.

The 13C basketball team had a great season despite only two games being played. From the two matches, the squad managed to split the win/loss column, going down to Scots College in the first match of the season before securing a memorable 19-13 victory against tough opponents Newington College. The disrupted season never hindered the boy’s effort in training and you could see the progression week to week. They did not just develop individual skills, but each player developed their basketball sense, improving their awareness and intangibles that will take them to next level as athletes.

After walking to the library during nap time with Jordan, I found I had a fair amount of downtime before the girls were up from a nap and fed. Josh often brings the car and whichever child is left at home to play at the library and drive me home. Sitting snuggled with my littlest, I picked up the book Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt. The title caught my eye because this was my mom's mantra in her final year as principal of her school. This book was a positive and inspiring read filled with a few poignant nuggets of knowledge to jump start my annual summer recharge and reflection muscles moving as the themes centered around goal setting, gratitude, and a growth mindset.

My seventh grade volleyball team had a fantastic season. We had won every game except one leading up to the postseason. We were so successful since we worked well together. We exceeded in multiple areas on and off the court. After we won all of the Regional and Sectional games, we were headed to Tri-Valley on a

The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.