Wahluke Eagles

This blog describes the joys of coaching an AAU basketball team from Mattawa, WA. Our team and town is roughly 90% Mexican. The blog celebrates and describes life in a central Washington town through the eyes of the players and their coaches.

Name:
Location: Mattawa, Washington, United States

I work as a School Psychologist in the Wahluke School District. When I am not coaching I enjoy fishing, reading, and riding my bike.

16 January, 2006

Moving on up

When we entered AAU in the fall, we were placed in the lowest division. Out of 28 teams, we were ranked 28th. After enjoying the successes of the last six games and going undefeated, the boys and the coaches were eager to be moved up to stiffer competition. Well, we got our wish.

The newest rankings put our team in the second highest division as the 11th team out of 31. The lowest team in our division in Mabton, the same team that we barely beat with a winning shot with 20 second remaining in the game.

I shared the news with the boys and reminded them that our days of easy games and twenty point wins have to come to an end. Freddy (back from Mexico) shrugged and said, "Oh well, I guess will just win all our games by one point then."

Later as they were lined up to run suicides, Mr. Martinez and I told the boys about the importance of facing challenges and overcoming obstacles. Being an educator, I couldn't resist using a concrete example. Resorting to the tried and true analogy of bike riding, I reminded them how the CYO league was like training wheels, and being in the lowest division was like riding a bike with no gears. Now we're on a mountain bike and going faster. I think they got the point.

Here's the link to the league standings. http://www.ieaau.org/yakimaleague/2006/winter/4boys.pdf

Pax

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