Colton - Junior Jazz Tournament

Colton's team had played in the regular Junior Jazz season. At the end, there is a tournament for teams who would like to play a bit more. Instead of just going against the teams in your immediate area, you play teams from various rec centers. It's generally a bit more competitive, as the winning teams, those who have had a good season, are usually the ones that decide to move forward. 

We were playing in the 4th grade division (half the team was in 3rd grade) and when the schedule came out, many of the games were downtown. I don't drive downtown. I was able to catch rides with team members and hit almost all of the games. Surprisingly, several of them were easy wins. We did have a few challenges, and ended up in the championships. That was a close game! The rules did NOT allow a press at all ... and we were able to use that to clinch the win (although I can see why they do allow a press in the final moments, because it did consist of our boys running the clock down, and it did lack excitement ... although I'm sure any other coach in the situation would have done the same). The boys were pretty happy with their championship t-shirts! Here's highlights from the tournament games ...

The first two games ...

The final three games ...

Colton - 4th Grade Grizzlies

After our Fall League experience (playing in the rec 3rd/4th division and dominating every game) we decided to try the boys in a superleague. 4th grade division, as Colton and a few of the other boys were 4th graders (the rest were in 3rd, with Austin still in 2nd). Coach decided on the Murray Topflight League.

The games were Thursday nights ... often late (8:00 or 9:00 on a school night!) and this league had divisions (upper/lower) and yikes! This was the SUPERleague! These teams were good! And the competitiveness was high. Waiting for our first game, a yelling match ensued between coaches/refs and even parents until the game was called and people were ejected. It was a little intimidating.

The schedule ...

• January 7 - Elite
• January 14 - Hoosiers
• January 21 - Murray
• January 28 - Cyprus
• February 4 - Titans
• February 18 - Olympus

Only one win in the regular season (right in the middle, vs Murray). In the playoffs, we faced Murray again (and won again) and advanced. Unfortunately, the next playoff game conflicted with our Junior Jazz Tournament game. Our boys were winning, when five of them had to take off to the other game, leaving just four players to attempt to hold the score (they weren't able to). So that was the end of the Murray league.

Here's the highlights from the regular season ...

 ... and here's the first playoff game (a win!)