Joshua practicing before the 'Big Game"Joshua's basketball team, the "Hot Shots" was awarded an invitation to play in a Recreational Tournament of Champions (RTOC) over the weekend for coming in second place in our season. There were many teams from two youth leagues, with divisions from 1/2 grade to high school. The tournament was held at Showcase Sports Center in Rocklin. Here is my report..
First the important stuff...how did we do? Our first game was against a team from Roseville. We started of VERY slow, and quickly we were down. With just about half a game to go, we were down by as much as 14 points (BIG margin at this age group). So, to stuff the momentum...we called time out. My simple instructions were "without the ball, we cannot score, and the only way we can get the ball is to play defense and get aggressive!". I'd like to say that helped...because the kids went out and soon, we hit a three pointer, then a two pointer, and as time was winding down - we found ourselves on the winning side of an exciting 1-point win. March Madness in full effect! Since it was a single elimination tournament, of course the kids were ecstatic to move on to the Championship Game!
The top team from Roseville was our opponent in the Championship game, and they were clearly the better team. While our game plan was - dribble, pass and shoot when open...theirs consisted of two plays (Number 1 and Number 2) and running kids off of screens - very advanced for this age. I was impressed, and they handled our team easily. Nontheless, I was proud of our team, and was happy they got the "experience" of the RTOC - more on that next.
The facility - Showcase Sports Center - was incredible! Six adult full-sized courts, and two full courts set up for youths (lower baskets, and shorter in length). All courts were hardwood floors with bleachers to watch the games, elevated viewing area, video game room, full pizza deli, and snack bar sitting area with two big screens. Truly impressive. I was told by a former partner in the investment facility that it took over $2.1 mil to build it, and takes $50k a month to keep it running. That's a lot of basketball tournaments and clinics!
There were games running from 9am until 8pm at night, and with well over 50 teams participating - you can imagine the 'hustle and bustle'. I would've loved to have had a facility like that back when I was playing! This place also will be running camps, training sessions, etc. for the youth (ages pre-school to highschool, as well as adult leagues)
Closing thoughts...seeing the "talent" in this tournament made me think about a couple of things...at Joshua's age (7) there are some kids with outstanding basketball abilities. Though I believe that the more you play, the better you get...I still believe that a child can still be competitive if they get a bit of a late start...BUT...they have to be exposed to basketball, through little camps and more importantly through the parent spending time with their child and working with them on the fundamentals - dribbling, passing, shooting. But - if the parent doesn't have time, or if the child doesn't get exposed to basketball and goes into a league "cold turkey" it could be a rough experience.
Last note: I participated in a coaches/staff basketball game - first time playing in a game situation in years - final line: 3 steals, 3 rebs, 2 points. Biggest accomplishment: being able to walk the next day!!
Joshua wishing dad "good luck", dad
smiling prior to gasping for air and yelling "Sub!!!!"
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