Aiea 13U League semifinals
They were tall, long and quick. Normally, we counteract that with our own speed, skill and defense.
Not the case today. We were flat, flat, flat, and I couldn't understand why. We got some good play from our bench, but overall, we simply didn't have the energy to put good on-ball pressure like we always do.
Then I find out after the game that a bunch of our 13U guys went to the Punahou Carnival and stayed out late last night. I guess that means it's not a good idea to stay out late the night before a MORNING playoff game.
It's too bad. If I'd known about that, I would've changed our game plan. We air balled 3-point shots. We missed easy layups. Those are the kind of shots we always want, and we simply whiffed. We attempted chest passes in the paint instead of bounce passes. Mindless basketball — and apparently, by TIRED players — doesn't work for us, not when we're 5-foot-6 going up against 6-footers.
I feel bad for everyone. We were in position to possibly win this league, but we just didn't have our normal strength, speed and aggression.
The two parents who informed about the guys staying out late both told me (separately) that it was a bad idea and that it totally affected their stamina this morning. Staying out late isn't too bad if you have an afternoon or night game the following day. But playing the next morning? Not even college and pro guys do that, not the ones who are serious about team success.
This one hurts. I expected better leadership from our guys, especially our returnees who are key contributors. Chalk it up as a big performance by Ali‘i and (hopefully) a valuable lesson for our Thunder.
It's getting more and more difficult to put my heart and soul into our team when stuff like this happens. I'm talking during practice or at a game, constantly getting interrupted. Guys yakking to each other while the rest of the team is trying to listen. Or yakking to themselves, making noise for the fun of it. I make the effort to pick up guys who need a ride, turns out they were up really late and weren't rested enough to play a big game. I would've been OK win or lose, but being far, far less than 100% with a championship run on the line ... this never happened with our 13U last year and the year before.
The sad thing is, this is the last 13U run for a lot of our guys. We've still got intermediate leagues to play in, yes. But many people just don't appreciate playing in 13U until it's over. They don't understand how rare it is to play with a team this unified, skilled and promising. Until they taste a championship, they might just be content to be average. They might be satisfied with so-so. They might truly believe that height is everything and that we didn't have a chance to win this title anyway.
They're wrong.
Moving on...
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