Wednesday funday

Good, solid scrimmage tonight with St. Francis intermediate team at Manoa gym. We were 11 strong (wow!) and had a good mix of guys who have been coming to practice and learning the new plays, and some guys who have been busy and not at practice lately. But we'll all get on the same page eventually.

It was cool of St. Francis and their coach, Peter Haliniak, to invite us in. Hopefully, we helped them prepare for their playoff game coming this Saturday (vs. Punahou). We got a lot of work in with man-to-man defense. When we got the chance to press, we were so solid, keeping the reach-ins to a minimum. Our halfcourt offense against zone and man were pretty solid, too.

Most of all, it's great to see (almost) everybody again. Together. Lubbing the game. Moving the ball to their open teammates, being smart and aggressive.

The only bad news: Kyle tweaked his right ankle early in the scrimmage and was out for the rest of the night. Hopefully, it's not too bad of an injury and he can return strong real soon.

BIG MAHALO to Coach Roy for picking up Jared. Didn't have enough room in my car. BIG MAHALO to Lehua Nishimura for shooting the scrimmage video. And BIG MAHALO to Cliff Smith (Jared's dad) for getting us invited to scrimmage St. Francis. We gained a lot from this with our league opener in just three days.

Today's lineup: Javan Montiho, Ryan Higashionna, Felcris Jay Corpuz, Jared Elwin, Joshua de Jesus (Josh), Kapaa Nishimura, Chris Afe, Manoa Kualii Moe, Kali'a Mielke, Kyle Moraga and Micah Visoria. Not sure about everybody else, but I think this is a potentially great team. This is already a great group of young people. That makes everything so much funner.

WE LUB THIS GAAAAME!!

Next: H1 Thunder vs. Ali‘i, Saturday, 11 am, Aiea District Park gym. Call/text me for ride 551-1054. I'm picking up Jared, Josh, Felcris, Chris 9:00-9:15 am. We can fit in one more guy.

ALSO: Car Wash, Sunday, 8 am to 3 pm. I forgot to give parents the pre-sale tickets today. Let me know and I'll drop them off with you guys in the morning.

ALSO: If you guys want to go to the ‘Iolani Classic on Friday and watch the slam dunk contest at the end, let me know. We'll organize it. I work that night covering the Classic semifinals, but I can give guys a ride to the tourney in the afternoon. I'll be videotaping the dunk contest, too, for work.