Boys' Varsity Basketball
1/4/2012
“Wow, check out those shirts!”
As my teammates and I hit the court for our pregame warm-up, we noticed the championship t-shirts—more coveted than the championship plaque—adorning the scorer’s table. We were without our head coach who couldn’t make it up to Sonoma for the tournament due to the birth of his newborn son and we thought, “Wouldn’t this championship be a nice newborn gift for coach!”
Although we may have been down one head coach, our assistant coach, Mr. Whitmore, certainly stepped in and filled the void. With one of his motivating speeches filled with his keys to the game, we entered the game with confidence and excitement. We played with hustle, heart, and passion and won our second consecutive Coyote Classic Championship. Following the win, we headed out of the stadium and rushed over to the nearest In-N-Out to celebrate the victory.
While I have certainly cherished the wins during my past four years on the Crystal basketball team, I have probably enjoyed the overnight trips to different tournaments more. As a freshman, I remember traveling up to Booneville for the Redwood Classic. Even though the yellow lights in the Booneville gym were way too bright and because of our first game ended at 1:30am I had to study for a Macbeth passage analysis on the three hour ride back, our team dinner was the best part. It was filled with drinking root-beer that was, quite surprisingly, clear; a waitress questioning one of my teammates named Max after he ordered a chocolate sundae with strawberry sauce; and swimming in the hotel pool with the guys when we found ourselves wondering “Where did Max go?”. We eventually found him outside in the parking lot, where he was presumably sick from the questionable sundae.
These last two years, our team traveled up to Sonoma for trips as memorable as the one to Booneville. Trying to fill the free time in our schedule, we visited the local arcade where we were amazed by the most incredible Dance Dance Revolution player I have ever seen. We watched the close and frantic finish to the Kentucky-North Carolina basketball game. We celebrated our coach’s “birthday” at a nearby Chile’s restaurant. We even got haircuts in our hotel room before the championship game. Unfortunately, there were a couple of mishaps, bald spots, and alarming haircuts so everyone on the team ended up opting to get the unifying buzz-cut.
After winning the Coyote Classic, I feel that our team is finally meshing and finding our identity. As we look forward to league games, we know we will face tough opponents, but we continue to work hard everyday to reach our goal of hopefully making CCS for a second straight year. The season is off to a great start and now with Coach Diamond back we can also welcome a new member, his son, to our big basketball family.