Friday, we had just three players in 15U (not including some of our 13U players). The deadline for the PAA 15U arrived and I had no choice but to pull our team out.
Saturday morning, Coach Roy informed me that Dan and some JV guys at McKinley were interested in playing 15U. Of course, it was too late. When I called PAA League (Lloyd Lee), he had already filled our spot. No surprise.
So, our next chance to play 15U (or 17U) wasn't until late March. Six weeks away.
It's Tuesday night now. Even though 15U doesn't have a game for a long while, Dan and four of the McKinley guys came to practice at Kalakaua tonight. It surprised me that we suddenly had so many players who love the game that much AND also play in 15U. Especially after the problems we had last year with deadbeat kids who stopped coming to practices.
But there we were. Five McKinley kids. Six of our 12U/13U. Our younger ballers taught our new guys our defenses. Our inbounds plays. Things went great. A lot of good listeners. Guys who hustle.
Then I got a phone call from Lloyd Lee before practice ended. Damien dropped out of the 15U. He wants us in. So we're in. (No schedule yet, but 15U will probably start playing next week.) We had about 30 minutes left of practice when I broke the good news to the guys. We spent the rest of practice working on halfcourt plays.
It'll take time to get cohesive, but for the first time in a long time, I feel good about our 15U.
We'll also have Sifo, Bill, Jimark (who's been busting his butt at practice for two months) and even Max. The cutoff date had been May 1, but PAA changed that to March 31 over the weekend, which means Max can play now.
This is the 15U lineup:
Max (Thunder returnee)
Sifo (Thunder returnee)
Brent (Thunder returnee)
Kyle (Thunder returnee)
Micah T. (Thunder-13U/12U/CAL League)
Jimark (Thunder-CAL League)Dan
Jonah (Boo-Boo)
Macjun
That's nine players. We also have Joseph, Ryan (both from McKinley). Sifo's cousin may also play.
That's 12 counting those three. (Tanielu and Chris are extremely busy with football, otherwise, I'd automatically count them on the roster.) If we're low in numbers for any reason, we have players available from our 13U team.
(Note: Brent has been sick and said he would not play again for awhile.)
When we practice on Sunday at McCully Gym (11 am), I'll talk more with everyone about this team and the roster. Though 12 is a good number to have, the reality is that some guys won't get the minutes they truthfully want, and they should know this ahead of time. I want everyone to be real, to be honest, and that'll save us any misunderstandings later.
I expect us to use 9-10 players each game. If someone can't make it one night, or another guy gets sick, grounded, etc., we'll probably have 9-10 players at each game even with a roster of 11.
But first, everyone needs to be at practice and jelling together with the team. We need that, being basically a brand new team.
For now, let's just appreciate having a 15U league to play in. With the way everyone worked tonight at practice, and with the help of our dad coaches (Coach Roy, Coach Reuben), 15U might have a lot of fun this season.
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