Keaton - Cheering Them On

 This is Keaton.

This particular dress up (pictured above) was a school "sports" themed activity. He's got his Space Jam jersey (actually, it's Callahan's) and his sports socks. He always enjoys dressing up for themed events to cheer on the school. Senior year was filled with a lot of fun!

Starting with football ...

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While waiting out the evacuation (lightening at Friday’s football game) Keaton and Cameron provided some entertainment ...

A post shared by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Aug 18, 2018 at 7:08pm PDT

... and then basketball season started up

… and it culminated with Keaton and the crew doing a drill performance

 Keaton has been great coming to a lot of Colton's games
to cheer on his brother too.

But he generally doesn't dress up for those ...

Keaton - Senior Junior Jazz

Keaton and the KFC Crew  put together a team for Junior Jazz their senior year. Not every single guy on the team works at KFC, but most of them do. That did make for some difficult scheduling on Saturdays. Cooper wasn't playing this year :( but Colton was on two teams ... but I still managed to hit all of Keaton's games. At least all the ones he did. He missed a couple (he went to watch the drill team compete at region on 01/12, and state was 02/02 ... but Keaton missed that as well as he and the family were off on a cruise).  Here's the highlights I have ...

• Game #1 (December 8, 2018)
• Game #2 (December 15, 2018)
• Game #3 (January 12, 2019)
• Game #4 (January 19, 2019)
• Game #5 (January 26, 2019) 
• Game #6 (February 2, 2019)
• Game #7 (February 9, 2019)

I can't believe they didn't get a good team photo!

Keaton - JUNIOR Jazz

Keaton had enjoyed his sophomore year playing on the school team, but decided to not try out this year. He and Cameron are still working out in the 4th period basketball class, but cheering from the sidelines when it comes to games. Still wanting to get some playing in, they put together a team with friends and joined Junior Jazz ... and proceeded to blow away all the other teams!

I just caught up with Keaton and posted a few videos of his recent games on YouTube. Here are all the Keaton clips I could cram into one minute ... #keatonclips #juniorjazz

A post shared by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Jan 21, 2018 at 8:01pm PST

Here's some Keaton Clips ... and you can see highlights from all the games, well, from six of the seven anyway. Unfortunately the last game landed at 7:00 in the evening on the same Saturday as Sweethearts, and as all the boys had been nabbed by girls as dates, they didn't make it to their seventh and final game.

This team picture is with their favorite teacher (from Sports Med) and is missing Charles. James's dad was the coach ... and they wore green EVERY game, whether they were listed first or not. They were the GREEN BEANS. I was sad to see the season end!

Keaton - Spring & Summer 2017

Once the regular season came to a close, Copper Hills and the other schools play in a Spring League to prep the continuing kids (sorry seniors!) for next year. While still sophomores, Keaton's crew were now considered JV. There were still lots of boys, so there were two JV teams, and some kids played on both. 

I didn't make it to every game, and didn't make highlight videos of every game I did ... here's a link to the playlist (Keaton Spring JV).  Here's highlights, just Keaton Clips, of one of his best games ...

Catching up with Keaton ... clips from last Monday's game. He had 23 points (I didn't include all his foul shots). Had to sit out some in the second half with four fouls. I think the other team would have liked him to foul out 😜🏀 #keatonclips

A post shared by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on May 7, 2017 at 7:18pm PDT

Then in the Summer, the boys did the Ute's camp/tournament, the Grizzlies camp and of course the favorite, St. George Tournament.  There, the boys took the three-minute tournament and scored some t-shirts.

... and thus ended Keaton's high school basketball days. He decided not to try out for the team come Fall ... but he and some friends are still going to play in Junior Jazz.

Keaton - Sophomore Season

Tryouts for the high school sophomore team were the second week of November. Keaton was pretty nervous, and was glad he made the cut. There was quite a bit of competition. Seven sophomores, five freshmen. Twelve total. 

He's #3 ... which thrills his mommy (because he's child #3 and she refers to her children numerically quite often).

The boys in blue ... (when away)

While JV and Varsity practice together, sophomores have their own time, so I am back to picking him up from school on B days (A days, practice is right after school), and then running him to and from practice. 

Keaton Clips ...

Quick clips of Keaton in action today! I love to see him play. I will be posting full game highlights tomorrow.

A video posted by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Jan 3, 2017 at 9:08pm PST

Highlights of Keaton's games may be a little more hit and miss ... he doesn't seem to care if I make highlight reels (and it's a lot of work if he doesn't care) and at times he's specifically asked me NOT to video or take pictures.  He also didn't get a lot of playing time in the pre-season, and I do tend to like to make videos that feature MY kid ;)   I'm very glad I went to the final preseason game against Hunter, because it was a great win! (Instagram Keaton clips above, full highlights HERE).

Here's the Sophomore Season playlist.

... and a couple Keaton Collages.

Dropbox photos of the Sophomore season!

Summer Stuff for Keaton and Cal

 Summer means basketball camps! 

June was busy, with Dixie, the U camp and Copper Hills High School camp...

Dixie is a favorite with the boys. A week long camp, hanging out with basketball buddies 24/7 and getting some games in. Originally, we had a family vacation planned at the same time. Callahan still committed to the Dixie camp, but Dad wanted Keaton on the vacation. At the last minute, we had to back out of our Seattle plans, and happily Keaton was able to squeeze in a spot still. So both boys were off one early morning ... begrudgingly posing for a picture.

Sophomores in the Sun

Both boys had a blast and came home with the annual t-shirt.

Callahan and crew earned a second t-shirt for taking the 2-min tournament!

I had a text conversation with the coach that first night there. Callahan had been struck hard in the face, a cut just above his lip that went all the way through. There was some question as to whether it needed stitches ... Callahan just opted for some superglue.

I was hoping for a few more pictures documenting their days ... 

Keaton took ONE for me at least, on the bus ride home.

The Utes Basketball Camp is held at the University grounds. This one always stresses me out a bit, because I don't drive downtown, so it's a little hard to commit to getting my kid there. Teams weren't announced, so was couldn't plan carpools (Callahan can drive now, but even he was getting rides and couldn't commit to taking Keaton, even if their schedules would have lined up). Luckily it worked out with Keaton getting on a team with some friends that I felt comfortable with imposing (the ride to/from and hanging with, as it's an all day activity). I really would have liked to go watch and video some of the games ... but not enough to actually go downtown myself.

At least the Grizzly camp was nice and close to home, just over at the high school. It was nice that Keaton's age group was combined with Callahan's (10-12th together) so that I didn't have to provide chauffeur services. Skills and drills and teamwork ... prep for making the team come Fall.

All this took place in June ... July felt a little bereft of basketball!

Spring Ball for Keaton&Cal

Callahan &Co continued to play in the Spring season. They had several games in April and May. I went to all I could (the close ones) and got video, but didn't get around to making the highlight reels for most of them. Here's one ...

Keaton had broken his wrist in the early spring (playing basketball in gym class at school). He'd been asked to be on the all-star team for state, reunited with all his best buds, and was crushed when he wasn't able to play. The cast came off right as the Spring season started up. He got bumped to the B team, which was disappointing (and a lot harder to find carpools for game conflicts) but he made the best of it ... even though they got pretty trounced! They did the Spring Fling (AAU, games all over) and the Spring Slam (at CHHS).

Keaton didn't even want me to video his games ... so I didn't. Mostly. I had my camera in my purse one game where he did SO awesome, I felt bad I hadn't been filming I brought the video camera to another game, and again, Keaton did great, so he was grudgingly pleased to have it captured on film 

We were both quite relieved when the Spring season was over though.

 Things could get a little crazy ... some Saturday schedules looked like this!

 In addition to playing, the boys would also run clocks and keep stats.

I'd discovered audiobooks during this time, so me with  my headphones on was a common sight at all the games. I could video, watch, and listen to my book all at the same time! Talk about multi-tasking, right? We even got Maga and Colton out to come watch (Keaton was there for many of Cal's games).

Spring has sprung and now is done ... on to Summer!

Keaton - West Hills 9th Grade Team

During this 2015-2016 season, Keaton is playing on the West Hills Middle School team. They play in the district league on Saturdays, against the other middle schools in the Jordan District. To get a little more playing time in, they are also on a trimmed team playing Thursdays in the Salt Lake Superleague. It keeps us busy! Happily, practices are generally right after school, so that helps out, saving extra trips. 

I don't know that I'll catch every game (with three other boys in basketball, there are bound to be some conflicts) but those I do, I'll try to video and make a muvee of the highlights. I'll be posting to my "Basketball" Facebook page (Twitter & Instagram too). Of course, you can always check in directly with YouTube via the playlists below, or simply subscribe for instant notification of any uploads. 

West Hills Blue Team

Thursday Night Salt Lake SuperLeague Highlight Videos Playlist

Game Schedule

West Hills Middle School

Jordan School District League Highlight Video s Playlist

Game Schedule

The boys played in the Christmas AAU tournament in December 2015.
You can see the highlights from those three games at the link below.
West Hills/Christmas AAU

Keaton, James and Tyler

You can follow the team on TeamSnap too!

Keaton got sick for one of the last Saturdays in the tournament. Unfortunately it was a double header that day, so he missed two games. The team won one, lost the other, which eliminated them. It always feels like an "unfinished" season when you miss the last game!

The boys finished up with an end of season party.

Way to go Wildcats!

Keaton - 8th Grade Year

I know they took team pictures ... I'll have to track it down. I missed the end of the year banquet, but I did make it to almost all of Keaton's games. There were quite a few new kids, I was learning names at the start, but got to know all the boys by the end of the season. 

On this team ... James, Rowland, Tyler and Koby (all whom Keaton had played with before) then there was Bradley, Nathan, Brenner and Dawson.  Brian Allfrey was coach. They played in two leagues. A Wednesday superleague, and then the Bantam league on Saturdays. 

While I videoed all the games, I didn't make highlight reels of all the games. It just takes time to go through all the clips (Keaton isn't inclined to help out here), make the muvee, etc. Any losses ... well, they just aren't nearly as fun to relive, even though often there are still great highlights! I didn't even get to all the wins ... but there are six games of fun highlights to watch and remember this season. 

Keaton - Basketball 2015

Keaton - Up with the 9th Graders

During Keaton's 8th grade year, he not only played basketball with the Copper Hills Prep league, but also with the West Hills school team. The official team is all 9th graders, but then Coach Heagren taps a few younger players to come practice with the team, and augment it for the Thursday night league (when the boys split into two teams to allow for more playing time). 

There were many practices after school, and early on Friday mornings. Games were Thursday nights ... the same night as my Zumba class. I didn't make it to that many games, especially after Keaton's buddy Tyler joined the team and his parents were always willing to give Keaton a ride. So ... not much video footage. You can see a small clip (HERE) ... and Keaton did score as I had my camera out!

Keaton went to watch almost all the Saturday games the 9th graders played in the official district league. Always there, cheering them on (he didn't even come to Callahan's games as often when Cal was on the team last year!) They were able to win the tournament, and the BIG trophy! Even though Keaton didn't play in the Saturday games, he still got a t-shirt with the rest of the team.

Good luck to these guys as they try out for the sophomore team next year. I know Keaton sure had a good time getting to know them and having the opportunity to play along side them this year. 

Keaton - Fall Season 8th Grade

Summer ends, school starts ... and it's back to basketball! Keaton played with the Copper Hills Youth Basketball team again. This year, Coach Allfrey was in charge of both 8th grade teams, and they were practicing together at the high school. They played in the Wednesday night Salt Lake Superleague to prepare for the real basketball season coming up.

James was on the team, but he was the only one Keaton had played with before. I got to know Bradley, Dawson, Brenner and Nathan. Mitchell and Brayden were also on the team but then didn't completely finish out the season.

This season was great, in that all the games were at the same location. I would have liked it a little closer, but Eisenhower Jr. wasn't too far out of my comfort zone anyway. It was nice not having to find new schools each week. I like consistency.

The boys had quite a few wins this season, and I did video most of the games. I just never got around to making them into muvee highlight reels as Keaton just didn't seem to care much. I did do one game anyway, the first one. You can catch it here.

Keaton - Spring

The team Keaton had played with for Fall and Winter went their separate ways in Spring. He still wanted to play, so I signed him up at Gene Fullmer Rec. We ended up on the team with Zach Norman (who he had played with last year, and who is actually his 3rd cousin or something ... my mom and Zach's grandpa are cousins).  Being recreational (not competitive) basketball, it's not quite as hard core. I have one video from the season so far (here). 

Keaton also got the opportunity to play in the Spring Fling with the West Hills 8th grade team (they just had seven players and thought they might need any extra). He did really well, got quite a bit of playing time and did well.  Keaton hasn't cared too much about highlight videos (not enough to go through clips for me, which I do ask the boys to do) so I didn't get too much footage this season ... here's a quick video of some of the highlights (WestHillsSpringFling2014).

Keaton Winter 2013-2014

Keaton's team is playing together again (sans one, so just seven kids on the team) for Winter. They are playing in the Salt Lake Superleague on Wednesday nights, and in the Salt Lake Bantam League on Saturdays. Check the * for games with video highlights. 

Salt Lake Superleague

• Game 1*: Grizzlies vs SoJo Sonics (December 4, 2013) Win 45-22
• Game 2*: Grizzlies vs Bombers (December 11, 2013) Win 44-29
• Game 3: Grizzlies vs Nitro (December 18, 2013) Win 31-25
• Game 4*: Grizzlies vs Flyboys (January 8, 2014) Win 35-21
• Game 5*: Grizzlies vs The Swarm (January 15, 2014) Win 25-45
• Game 6: Grizzlies vs Herriman (January 22, 2014) Loss 25-34
• Game 7: Grizzlies vs Blue Ice (January 29, 2014) Loss 26-31
• Game 8*: Grizzlies vs Park City (February 5, 2014) Win 51-17
• Game 9*. Grizzlies vs E3 (February 19, 2014) Win 42-25
• Tournament: Grizzlies vs Herriman (February 26, 2014) Loss 25-31

E3 ended up winning the tournament ... (they were 9th seed going in!)

Salt Lake Bantam League

• Game 1*: Grizzlies vs Corner Canyon (December 7, 2013) Win 25-21
• Game 2: Grizzlies vs Brighton Orange (December 14, 2013) Loss 40-43
• Game 3*: Grizzlies vs Miners B (December 21, 2013) Win 44-27
• Game 4: Grizzlies vs Running Wildcats (December 21, 2013) Loss 11-28
• Game 5: Grizzlies vs Silverwolves (January 11, 2014) Win 48-23
• Game 6*: Grizzlies vs Herriman (January 18, 2014) Win 29-14
• Game 7: Grizzlies vs MinersB (January 25, 2014) Loss 24-34
• Game 8: Grizzlies vs Silverwolves Purple (February 8, 2014) Win 54-33
• Tournament 1: Grizzlies vs Herriman (March 1, 2014) Win 41-29
• Tournament 2: Grizzlies vs MinersB (March 8, 2014) Loss

Keaton Fall 2013

Keaton is on a new team with several of his West Hills buddies, and a few Sunset Ridge players as well. They are a short team ... Keaton is one of the taller players!  They are playing in the Salt Lake Superleague on Wednesday nights, and and the Dimple Dell Superleague on Saturdays as well.  There is probably NOT video highlights for losing games ... Keaton doesn't care about clips if they don't win, so I usually won't invest the time (even though the boys often did great, so many of the games were so close!) ** Games with video highlights are in all caps.

Salt Lake County Superleague

• GAME 1. CH7 vs Utah Warriors (Loss) 23-45
• GAME 2. CH7 vs PF Flyers (Win) 46-37
• GAME 3. CH7 vs Murray Hoops (Win) 34-29
• Game 4. CH7 vs Timpanogos (Loss) 42-43
• Game 5. CH7 vs Utah Warriors (Loss) 17-60
• Game 6. CH7 vs PF Flyers (Loss 30-51)
• Game 7. CH7 vs A-Train (Loss 27-57)

Dimple Dell Superleague

• GAME 1. CH7 vs Legends 6 (Loss) 37-45
• GAME 2. CH7 vs Cavemen (Win) 42-38
• Game 3. CH7 vs Leverage6th (Keaton missed this game ... Loss 49-50)
• Game 4. CH7 vs Lone Peak (Loss) 39-41
• Game 5. CH7 vs Leverage (Loss 38-55)

Summer Season

As summer was approaching, Callahan and Keaton definitely wanted to continue to play, but their CHHS teams were both taking a break for the summer season. I asked Callahan's old coach if he was planning on playing (rec ball was fine for Callahan's comeback). He really hadn't been, but he said that he would. We got a couple of Callahan's buddies to come join, and I ended up putting Keaton on the team too (he was playing up, a 6th grader in the 7th/8th league).  He wasn't the only 6th grader, nor the smallest ... although he was definitely the smallest on THIS team! One kid was in 7th, but all the rest were 8th graders. We were bigger and better than most of the teams out there and it was a pretty easy season. But it was perfect for Callahan to get back in the game, and Keaton really wasn't out of place playing up. It was a lot of fun watching the boys play together.  They had an undefeated season.  I didn't get any video, as I was busy jogging the track during their games. I probably should have taken one day off and made a muvee, but I'm sure there are many more games in the future.

Catching Up With Keaton

After Winter Season, the team (part of it anyway) entered the State AAU tournament. Missing some players and facing some harder teams, they were eliminated early. The boys (with our players returning, plus a couple others) then played in the Spring Season at Dimple Dell. They only lost one game during the regular season, and ended up taking first place!

New T-shirts for the Champs!

ChurchBall 2013

Time for CHURCH ball! The Jordan Oaks 1st ward does seem to have a lot of basketball playing boys, with the Blackhams providing three. We are the only ward that was able to actually field both a priests team and a teachers/deacons team. All the other wards are combined with ALL the young men, and still often multiple wards combined as well. So our older group, being ALL priests, does dominate. Our younger group has it tough, as they don't have any older boys, yet do have to play against priests on other teams. 

Landon's Videos

Game 1 January 4, 2013

Game 3 January 17, 2013

Callahan and Keaton

Game 1 January 4, 2013

Game 2 January 17, 2013
Game 3 January 19, 2013

Winter Basketball Keaton

Fall ends, and the Winter season starts! The boys are playing in the Salt Lake Superleage, in the 6th grade upper division on Wednesday nights. On Saturdays, they are playing in the AAU High School Prep League.

AAU (Click on Game# for video links)  ** 2nd place in the league
Game 1 Copper Hills 6A vs Olympus (Win 42-36)
Game 2 Copper Hills 6A vs Richfield (Win 39-8)
Game 3 CopperHills 6A vs Bountiful (Win 39-18)
Game 4 CopperHills 6A vs Bountiful Red (Win 43-32)
Game 5 Copper Hills 6A vs Taylorsville (Win 50-29)
Game 6 Copper Hills 6A vs Bingham (Loss 22-49)
Game 7 Copper Hills 6A vs Juan Diego (Win 58-30)

Game 8 Copper Hills 6A vs Bountiful Red (Win 39-33)
Game 9 Copper Hills 6A vs Bingham (Loss 30-45)



SuperLeague  ** 2nd in the league
( I wasn't able to make it to all these games ... highlights on 1, 3, 8, 10)
Game 1 CH6A vs Eagles (Win 46-2) *
Game 2 CH6A vs Olympus (Loss 27-43)
Game 3 CH6A vs AlphaDogs (Win 39-26) *
Game 4 CH6A vs Eagles (Win 52-18)
Game 5 CH6A vs Pump N Run (Loss 51-21)
Game 6 CH6A vs Stealth (Loss 36-28)
Game 7 CH6A vs Pump N Run (Loss 61-30)
Game 8 CH6A vs Lehi (Win 33-30) *
Game 9 CH6A vs Alpha Dogs (Win 32-28)
Game 10 CH6A vs Stealth (Win 36-34)

Playoffs
Game 1 CH6A vs Eagles (Win 46-18)
Game 2 CH6A vs Olympus (Win 31-19)\
Game 3 CH6A vs Pump N Run (Loss 75-40)

Fall Superleagues with Keaton

It's been a great Fall season for Keaton, shifting from recreational ball to competitive play. I think he's the only one on the team who hasn't played competitively before. He's doing great and I'm very proud of him! The team is playing in two different leagues. The Salt Lake County Superleague (which plays on Wednesday nights) and the Dimple Dell Superleague (which plays on Saturdays). With Callahan out of commission, I've been able to attend all of Keaton's games and make muvees. Just move the mouse over the team names to find the link to the video highlights *Ü*

Salt Lake County Superleague (see schedule and standings HERE)  5th/6th Grade Division

• Game 1: CH6A vs Red Hawks (Win) 40-23
• Game 2: CH6A vs The Show (Win) 47-12
• Game 3: CH6A vs CH6B (Win) 47-22
• Game 4: CH6A vs A Train Magic (Win) 33-20
• Game 5: (Win by forfeit)
• Game 6: (Win by forfeit)
• Game 7: CH6A vs Ballerz (Loss) 36-48

Dimple Dell Superleague (see schedule and standings HERE) 6th/7th (lower) Division

• Game 1: CH6A vs Pump N Run (Loss) 42-49
• Game 2: CH6A vs Wolf Pack (Win) 52-18
• Game 3: CH6A vs Next Level (Win) 55-20
• Game 4: CH6a vs Tigers (Win) 43-30 
• Game 5: CH6A vs Fury (Win) 43-7

Copper Hills High School Prep League

So Copper Hills High School had tryouts for their prep league ... congrats to both Callahan and Keaton for making the top team in both of their grade groups (8th and 6th respectively). Callahan has played with everyone on his team before, but this will be his first time with Coach Heagren, who is the 9th grade coach at West Hills Middle School as well.  Keaton is pretty much on a completely new team (one former teammate, and he's played against most of these kids before), and is excited to learn and play.

New jerseys ... new leagues ... but it's still cheaper than most other sports out there!