My Basketball Guys!

As part of my "second job" (not really, it's an after school program through Boys and Girls Club at my school so I just stay there until 6:00 for the program), our Program Director decided it would be fun to start a basketball league with all of the Palm Springs Elementary Schools. Since there wasn't much enthusiasm from anyone to coach, I decided to take on the job - and of course, our team was "the Pistons".
The season consisted of 6 games and then the Play-offs. There were 22 kids on my team 3rd-5th grade (8-12 years old). I turned out to be one of those coaches who had the philosophy "everyone plays". It was great because there were some kids who may NEVER play "organized" sports again and they all got to play in almost every game. Our "regular season" record was 2-4. I was proud because everyone had a chance to learn and bit and play in a real game.
BUT... once the play-offs rolled around, I was only allowed to travel with 9 kids - how was I going to pick? I decided to take my 5th graders only because it will be their last year at the school. Well, in round one, we played the #2 team who we had lost to twice AND upset them moving onto the Championship game vs, the #1 team in our little league. The final game ended in a loss for us but it was the closest game the Champions had had all season and we truly gave them a run for their money. (that winners ended up undefeated the whole season so I'm not sad)
Tonight (Wednesday) was our banquet it was great! The kids all got their awards and really cool basketball pins - we all wore our Pistons t-shirts that the Pistons organizations sold to me for a VERY affordable price. The kids looked great and I think we had the biggest group there!
It's things like this that remind me of why I do this teaching thing! (I would include some pictures, but with the kids, I can't because it's a privacy issue).
Anyway, just wanted to gloat a bit...

(on a bit of a side note, I ended up getting and Honorable Mention for Jr. NBA Coach of the Year - didn't know I was nominated, but excited to accept!)