Saturday, October 30, 2021

Colton ~ Spring/Summer/Fall 2021

 


The official basketball season wrapped up in February, but there was NO downtime. Colton was playing again immediately, as his Wolves got back together, and he continued playing for West Jordan (Showtime during the Spring/Summer months).  Lots of practices and lots of games ... here's a little excerpt from my journal on Saturday, March 20th

FIVE games today (really six, but two were at the same time, so he missed one). The first was at 12:00 at the RedBarn ... and it was raining! The boys (Wolves) got beat pretty bad. Home for a bit then #5 and I headed out for his 4:00 game. Summit Academy High School ... first time at this location. Close to where I used to work with CK. That one started late, as there were no refs for a while. Not sure what happened there. Luckily it was okay, as we didn't have another game right after. The boys/Wolves won that, which meant another game at 6:00 at Sport City. We all just went straight there, no rush, but no time to do anything else. #5 had a 7:00 game with Showtime, which was going to be easy (based on previously playing that team) so we asked Coach Sawyer if he was okay with #5 being late, and he was fine with that - so #5 got to stay and play to the end, and it was close right up to the end, but the Wolves got the win. We then rushed to the 7:00 game, and they were doing fine. 20-5 when we arrived. Easy win. Then Showtime had a tough semi-final game at 9:00, and Wolves had a championship game at 9:00. We felt like we had to stay with Showtime, and Showtime got the win against Mountain Ridge. So we'll play again on Monday for the championship. The Wolves got the win, even without #5. Yea! Good basketball day, although long! #5's heel was hurting at the end.

So both the Wolves and Showtime won their respective championships in March (March Madness Tourney for the Wolves, State AAU/Freshman for Showtime).  Most of these games were local (Summit, Sport City, Jordan High) and I was there and filming ... I'm not sure why I don't have highlights from any of these games. I think I was still a bit behind on the high school season and was giving that priority. At the end of the month (March 26/27/28) the Wolves headed to St. George for a tournament there. 

April was busy with more practices and games for both teams as well as the end of year banquet for the Jags, saying farewell to the seniors and recapping the season. It was held at the school in the cafeteria. With Covid protocols still in place, there was no meal, just snacks.   Early in the Spring, we got the news that Coach Sawyer had accepted a position in St. George, so West Jordan was losing him as a coach. Coach Wouden took over coaching the remaining Showtime games, and he was named Head Coach at the school. Game play continued on for the next few months. West Jordan had a full varsity team for the next year, so it was only seniors playing varsity in these games. Colton played Soph and JV. 


The West Jordan team headed to St. George in June for the Crimson Cliffs Challenge (Colton wrote up his memories of that, see it HERE on the family blog). They'd had a car wash a little earlier to help raise funds for the trip. Thanks again to Berlin's for "adopting" Colton and getting him where he needed to be. The sad news about Coach Sawyer moving was eclipsed by tragedy, and there were several team gatherings in support of the family. 

In July, Colton and the Wolves went to Vegas for a tournament there. Colton hurt his shoulder in the first game and wasn't really able to play, but he still had fun and was glad he had gone. In the Fall, the Wolves had more tournaments, while West Jordan started up their basketball clinic, having the gym available for play and practice in prep for tryouts in November. Colton was going to school at 6 am to shoot, then staying after for the clinic, then often staying later for school activities. A few times I did a Little Caesar run to keep the boys fed.

Here's the hoop highlights I have from the "off-season" ...


Covid was still a concern, but after a full year, it wasn't oppressive anymore. Most of the spectator limitations were lifted, but masks were still required at games. The vaccine was becoming available  and finally, the mask requirement was lifted. There weren't any big basketball impacts (no Covid cancellations like last year). The rapid-testing that had been required during the official school season were not required for the off-season. Ticket prices for spectators kept going up ... the October tournament had a $25 entry fee for the two-day event. 

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