Cal and crew (including the occasional Colton) continue playing the game ... ball is life! The guys tried out a Gene Fullmer league during the summer, but that was a mistake, as it was pretty much a rec league. These guys need at least semi-competitive ... so it was back to Taylorsville, where there are some teams that can at least give them a challenge.
I didn't make it to all the games, but I went to a few.
As the high school season ended, the "off-season" starts up. The Wolves were getting back together for a final season, the West Jordan team had some games, a clinic, a carwash ... and Colton got an invite to Metro, a club/college recruitment team. While it was a great opportunity, we didn't feel it was in the cards for Spring 2022 - but he will be playing with them next year after high school basketball ends.
The Wolves got new jerseys and started up with Thursday night practices. As all the Wolves except Colton will be seniors next year, they are playing in the Varsity division. They had some ball in Spring, Summer and Fall. For West Jordan there was some post-season play with the "new" Varsity squad, Colton (and Ethan/Carter) are playing up with the seniors. Colton got an invite (from Coach Sawyer) to step in on a St. George team (Ignite) playing JV (his age group) and then played way up, when Callahan's men's league team needed a sub. I didn't make it to all the games, but tried to hit the ones that were closer to home. Video links are posted where highlight reels were made.
March 18/19 Wolves at Riverbend (3 games) Highlights from one game HERE
April 1/2 Wolves at Jordan/Alta (Colton didn't play, PROM priority)
April 11 ... West Jordan Basketball Banquet at the High School
April 15/16 Wolves at Riverbend (3 games)
April 27/28/29 Wolves at Riverbend (3 games) vs Premiere
April 28/29 Ignite at Riverbend/Sport City (5 games)
Cooper's Crew in 2022 ... Dixon Davis, Jacob Earl, Ryan Van Lewen, Hunter Olchewsky, Bridger Magelby, Caleb Cox ... and Cooper Blackham (no #4, Mommy likes her boys to have "their" number!) Coach was Carter Davis, not much older than the boys.
Cooper played several seasons of Junior Jazz, but he really prefers just playing for fun, not anything competitive. Even rec ball would get a little stressful for him, and there was more than one season where he bowed out early. Here's a peek (links to posts) at his previous basketball days...
So it had been over three years since he'd played Junior Jazz with his buddies. Although he'd seen them, and even played some pickup ball here and there, Coop had transferred schools and didn't see his old crew that often. He had been asked, and said no, to playing Junior Jazz in recent years. I was pretty surprised when he said he was signing up for his senior year (does that make it Senior Jazz?)
They practiced at the Taylorsville Rec Center on Thursday nights at 5:30, which was a bit of a challenge to get to with his work (usually getting off a little after 5:00). Games were Saturdays at Hunter High School (one switched to Magna, Mom had him get a ride to that one as that drive is a bit out of her comfort zone). Mom did try to attend most of the other games, coming with camera in hand, just like the old days. Coop missed a couple of the games mid-season (skin issues/anxiety issues) and while he enjoyed practices, he would stress about the upcoming games. It was a bit of a relief when the season was over. Hopefully there will still be some pickup games in the future.
They won the game in the picture above (and video below) ...
They lost more than they won - but it's all about just having fun!
Here's two more highlight reels (February 26, 2022 & March 5, 2022). These were the two final games of the season and very similar in that the first half was rough, with the ball not going in the hoop. The boys managed to do a lot better in the second half of both games.
Colton had a great sophomore season with the West Jordan Jags. There was a solid senior presence, filling seven varsity spots. Several of these boys had been playing together since the 5th grade. Although Colton was a sophomore, he didn't play any sophomore games, but was saved for JV and Varsity. As mentioned in the post about Freshman year, Coach Sawyer had left West Jordan (but he and the school will remain True Blue!) and Christian Wouden was named head coach.
Here's a link to the JV playlist (11 highlight videos). Because the HUDL hit the highlights of the varsity games, and while Colton got quite a bit of playing time, it wasn't as much as in the JV games, I didn't make as many varsity videos. I made a Colton Clips video of the Murray game, and one from the Holiday preseason (WJ vs WoodsX @ JuanDiego). There was an early game against Olympus (the team lost, but Colton did really well - nabbed some HUDL video as I hadn't been there in person) and then the super exciting Battle of the Belt rivalry game of WJ vs CHHS that KSL broadcast. The KSL stream with commentary is fun, but the various school streams were appreciated as family would often watch from home ... including Jen, after she knocked herself silly and wasn't able to get out for a month or so.
One of the parents was always taking pictures and got quite a few good shots.
The win against CHHS was HUGE!
... more team shots
While Covid continued, it didn't impact the season the way it had the previous year. There weren't limitations on tickets (although WJ and several other school would ONLY use digital purchases, no cash or credit card at entrance) and masks weren't required. We didn't have any games cancelled, and the social stuff (like team dinners, concessions) resumed.
... and a few photos from the team dinners.
We hosted serving homemade personal pizzas at the end of January.
... Colton even made one of the pictures in the little local paper.
