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.

04 March, 2006

Big Cat


The Wahluke Eagles won their last game of the winter season with a 29-16 win over the Wapato Lil Wolves. When the game started, my boys were overcome with nerves. Wapato was second in our division and I think the boys still hadn't recovered from loosing two close game when the season began.

We shot too quickly and missed while Wapato cruised right through our defense and made shots. After the first quarter it was 9-2 Wapato's lead. The second quarter began, and we climb up and closed the half 10-9 their lead.

During the half, Mr. Martinez instructed Freddy to leave his spot in the zone defense and come up to meet their shooter. Wapato had one player who brought the ball up and made the shots, and now we put our most aggressive player on him. The change was sudden and good to see.

Freddy stood there like a cat, arms swinging looking for a loose ball. Freddy loves to fight. His exploits around the trailer park are legion, every kid in the fourth grade knows Freddy loves to scrap, so here he was ready to pounce with the hint of a Cheshire grin. The player came up, Freddy went for it, the other boy falters, Oscar makes a dash, gets the ball, he passes, and we make a shot. Freddy ended the game with two points but his defense was the spark.

When Wapato pushed the ball in the paint, Freddy's defense forced them to pass the ball to another player, and the other boys couldn't stick the shot. Wapato was a one-gun team, and they couldn't adjust.

Antonio played as well. It's amazing that when we meet at the 76 gas station, he's in perfect health but as the game nears something starts to hurt. Today it was his pinky. But give him a couple passes, and room to move and he becomes the picture of health. He finished the game with four points.

Jesus came in off the bench and made a tremendous effort as well. He has intensity on offense and defense. His rebounding skills are improving every game and his willingness to play physical ball helps compensate for our size. He was the high scorer with 11 points.

Our co-captain Gabino finished with four points as well. And Oscar ended up with 9 points. His last one was a three-pointer at the top of the arc. Caedyn had a good look but his shot bounced off. The team was disappointed as we all enjoy his thousand watt smile when he hits a basket.

After the game, the boys headed to McDonald's to eat, play, and enjoy the last game of a hard fought season. Tomorrow we have practice at noon, we'll enjoy the win a bit more and then get back to work.

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