Tough Game and Stories

The Wahluke Eagles lost a close game at home on Saturday against the East Valley Pistols. The final score was 25-20. We started the game strong and at the end of the first quarter it was 6-0 Eagles. But the Pistols kept coming and captitalized on our errors. They pulled ahead. We rallied at the end but like the Seahawks we just ran out of time.

Our biggest errors were turn-overs and not making our lay-ins. To remedy this, we started having scrimmages with 5 against 4. We want the team with 4 to get used to the pressure and force them into making quick passes. We also adapted a new lay-in drill. The boys have to make 10 lay-ins in one minute, if they don't they have to run.

At practice today and yesterday, the boys seemed down. After going undefeated for a year, they are taking two consecutive losses hard. Today we had them come in for a chat after we noticed even our starters slowing down and giving up. We started off reminding them that even though our opponents had been playing longer we could still take them. We reminded them that they are sons of campesinos. They have dealt with things in life that would make other kids cave. I started reminding them about how they're parents had to quit school and work as young kids and how they have remind themselves of the strength that resides in their families.

I think Freddy started by sharing about how is mom and dad quit school and came across the border to work. Tony shared that his dad came across when he was like 11 or 13 to work. And even Mr. Martinez shared how he and his brothers snuck under fence a long time ago.

I don't know if my speech worked but I wanted to remind the kids that they can't give-up and need to press on in basketball and in life.