Saturday, January 28, 2017

Cooper's Comeback (7th Grade)

While you can't find a bigger fan (he knows all the stats, watches all the games) and he's got the skills, Cooper has struggled a bit actually playing on a team in a competitive setting. Even rec ball and Junior Jazz proved to be a bit too intense (he bailed on his season back in 4th grade, didn't play 5th, then couldn't quite finish the season in 6th). I was honestly surprised when he said he wanted to play again this year ... and he says he's ready and committed.

Coming in with a group of friends (basically the same team as 6th grade, although they haven't practiced or played together since the season ended last year), they are playing in the "team/experienced" division, so I hope it's not too hard (competitive teams SHOULD be playing in leagues other than Junior Jazz, but it's not always the case). All their games are  close  (Joel P.) 


and will also include a list and some highlights here.

A video posted by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on


It was a successful season! I had been a bit worried going in. This was the "Team Division" not the regular rec Junior Jazz. I was worried that there might be some superleague teams, good players and teams who had been working together for a while. Our boys were just a group of school buddies and hadn't played together since last year. But ... I think that was the case with all the teams (superleague teams had gone to the superleagues, as it should be). Our boys won all but one game. 7-1 for the season. Poor Ryan broke his ankle halfway through the season and was out (but still came and cheered). Cooper got a little extra playing time filling in (as Ryan was also point guard) so Cooper often managed 20 points in the final few games. Pretty impressive!
I only caught half of Cooper's final (8th) game. We had back-to-back games that day, with Colton playing before at Eastmont. On a previous back-to-back day (Cooper first) I'd sent Colton with teammates and hadn't even planned on attempting the trek (it was at Indian Hills, a little further away). But then Cooper's game wrapped up so quick that I quickly arranged for a teammate to give him a ride home and booked it the moment the final buzzer buzzed. While I missed a couple minutes, I really hadn't missed much. I had HOPED this day would be the same ... had arranged for Cooper to get a ride to his game with a teammate and told Colton's coach we'd be rushing right after. It didn't work out well ... I missed the entire first half. Here's the highlights from the second half ...



The boys got together a few times to play ball on their own too.
I'm so grateful to this group of friends Cooper has!