Junior Jazz - Cooper's Crew

Coach: Stephanie Wimber

Dallas, Preston, Marc, Oha

Cooper, Jaxon, Tyler, Lukas, Kail

When it was time to sign up for Junior Jazz, I honestly didn't know what to do about Cooper. Last year he didn't seem interested in signing up, so I didn't ... when it got a little closer, he said he DID want to play, and luckily they were accepting late registrations. Cooper played and did great and became obsessed with basketball.

He had loved soccer too ... until the broken arm and the weather phobia Spring/Summer 2011. Fall soccer was rough, he didn't want to play, but I wanted him to try. Every game was a struggle and it was a relief when the season was over. Basketball didn't have the same issues (inside, out of the weather, he'd never been hurt while playing it) but still, he said he did NOT want to get signed up. As we've been dealing with his anxiety, I really felt getting out and playing once a week would be a good thing for him. I debated ... should I sign him up or not.

I decided to risk it and hope for the best. We signed up with friends so Cooper knew almost every kid on his team. The coach was the neighbor down the street. The games were played at his school gym. I really couldn't have asked for a better setup. As the first game approached, I tried to get Cooper excited, but every time I would bring it up he would cry and say he didn't want to play. The morning of the first game he cried for an hour ... Gray took him to the game and ... HE DID GREAT! He likes basketball and admits he's glad I signed him up. WHEW! It's been a good season!

You'll find a few videos with game highlights below ...

Game Video #1
Game Video #2
Game Video #3

Colton's Crew - Junior Jazz 2012

Colton joined the ranks of the Blackham Basketball Boys the Junior Jazz season. We signed up with Bradley and Randon and Colton knew one or two other kids from school. Colton's games were in the mornings (before Cooper) at Columbia. Grayson attended more than I did (as I was usually at games for Callahan or Keaton). They had a lot of fun. As I didn't get to a lot of games to get video (and the one or two I did didn't provide us with many highlights) I made just one little muvee of the first game - Gray caught the action on his Iphone for me. Video is HERE.

AAU MLK Tournament

I wasn't sure any of the teams would be up for participating in the Martin Luther King tournament,  as there were JuniorJazz games and the High School Prep League games going on ... but Brian's team decided to give it a try. I knew the schedules would be pretty crazy, but Cole's family said they could help get Callahan to any game I couldn't and I did have to take them up on that. Callahan had FIVE games on Saturday (Jan14), and I had three (Callahan's, Keaton's and Cooper's) at 2:00, plus that's when Landon's ref shift started. But it all worked out. The boys seemed a bit off for games 1 and 3. I missed the second game, but they really came together for the final game! Click on the "Game#" text for a link to the video highlights ...

Game 1 

January 13, 2012 

West Jordan Jam v Riverton White

Win 33-24

Game 2 (no video)

January 14, 2012

West Jordan Jam v Vikings

Win (wasn't there, so not sure of the score)

Game 3

January 14, 2012

West Jordan Jam v Lone Peak

Loss (35-48)

Game 4

January 16, 2012

West Jordan Jam v Juan Diego

Win (69-33)

Callahan's Triple Play

Callahan plays basketball year round, but Winter is basketball season, with more opportunities to play. The original plan was to play on two teams ... his SuperleagueUtes and Klint'sJuniorJazz as we'd done for the past couple years. Then the Superleague fell through :( so it looked like it was just going to be one game a week. As the Fall season (playing in the 7th/8th league) had been pretty easy, we decided to play up in the 8th grade league for a little more challenge.

Then Callahan heard about tryouts for a competitive high school prep league at the local high school. He went and tried out and made the top team. Back to two games and multiple practices a week. *Ü*

When the Junior Jazz schedules came out, we were sad to see some conflicts between the two teams (12:00 and 2:00 being the popular times). Callahan wished he had just played 7th grade Junior Jazz ... those games were all in the mornings, and he had many friends on various teams he would have liked to play against. When the kids he played with during the Thanksgiving AAU tournament told us there was an open spot on their 7th grade team, Callahan jumped in there.

So, multiple practices, 2-3 games a week ... lots of basketball ... Callahan couldn't be happier!

Callahan - Junior Jazz 7th Grade
Callahan - Junior Jazz 8th Grade
Callahan - Copper Hills High School Prep

Holiday Tournament

Porter, Luis, Parker, Brenden, Jared

Stockton, Bryson, Callahan

Right as basketball begins in full swing ... Christmas comes and there's a big break during the holidays. Not this year though, as we got to play in the AAU Holiday Tournament. It was the solid six that have played together for a while now, with two additions from Klint's CopperHills team. We had three games, starting the day after Christmas. One win, two losses, but a good experience and lots of video highlights ...

• (Game 1) Kolby's family was in town and the entire Blackham Clan had all just gone out to dinner. For dessert, much of the extended family came to watch Callahan play (it was a 9:00 game). It was a great game for him to have such an audience as he got a lot of shots. It was a nail-biter too!
• (Game 2) The opposing team (The Flash) had six boys that Callahan and Stockton had played with on the superleague for the past two years, so it was fun to see familiar faces. Another nail-biter!
• (Game 3) We weren't expecting a tough game (as the opposing team had lost both their games so far) ... but a tough game is what the boys got! Callahan got banged up a bit too ...