more basketball pictures

Andrew and the twins share their birthday, so I baked some cupcakes for the team.  Yup, PV colors, haha!  

Pre game warm ups!

Pleasant Valley shirt?

The reason this picture is so funny for me (everyone else, too) is because the shirts the tournament gave away say "Viking" and it's in PV colors, and Andrew's team is Chico High, the cross town rival school. 

PV is just a really arrogant school, I'm pretty sure they were expecting to win their tournament.  The sizes of the shirts were a few XL, lots of L, and a couple M.  Most of our players are tiny!  Most of PV players are large.  

I do really like when tournaments give out t shirts to the players for winning!  

Tournament Champs!!!

I will try to find more pictures later, but want to blog about the tournament these past few days.  I have no idea why a tournament would be held in the day time in the middle of the week, during vacation, but I guess that's high school basketball for you (so little gym time to go around for all the teams).  I told my work I would work full time these two weeks, not realizing that the games were going to be on Wed and Thurs (most tournaments are Fri (evening) and all day Saturday).  I didn't miss any games though, well, because I left work early today, but I got to watch yesterday's first game on my lunch break and the late game started after I got off work.  I am SO glad I got to watch because Andrew got to play a lot.  His regular coach wasn't at the tournament, so one of his friends coached instead.  He didn't know the kids names and have never practiced with them (and I heard he was rooting for PV when we played them last week), but he did an excellent job.  He totally let EVERYONE play.  He had really great rotations, great strategies, very positive, and I don't think there is a player or a parent who would say anything bad about his coaching this tournament.  (Although I'm not sure if he was supposed to coach practice on Monday or Tues, but no one showed up to coach those, so a dad had to do it on Mon and the school's principal ran practice on Tues.  Not sure if the real coach or this guy let us down for those miscommunications!)  Who needs practice before the last tournament of the season, right?  Haha.  Not these guys.  They played so well, actually better than we have ever seen them!  It was so fun to watch them compete and win and look so happy playing!

The first game was a blow out, Andrew's team was much better than Corning, but the second game (against a team from Sacramento) was super close, as was today's game.  Today they played Shasta and the game went into overtime.  The entire game went back and forth.  Shasta was big and rough.  We are NOT.  Our big guys are nice.  We have about 8 "ball handlers", a few "shooters", and only 2 "big guys".  We have some fast guys, some good on defense, some ball hogs, even, but the coach was able to find some really good combinations all while giving everyone playing time.  Two kids werent there, so he had 13 to get play time, while the other guy has 15, but, seriously, the other coach has about 4 kids who rarely get in the game.  We would not have won with the other coach, I'm pretty sure.  By playing everyone, the team was a lot more unified and seemed happier.  By playing everyone, the players could go all out, work hard, then get some rest.  They did the full court press, something the other coach never tried.  I hope I am describing how pleased I was with the coach and the team.

The boys wanted to go to B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) after the game as a team. Most of them went and about 1/3 of the moms.  We sat together and the kids sat together.  It was kinda funny, and very unplanned, but 3 of Shasta's players and their parents were also at B-Dubs, right at a table near us!  Awkward!!!  How many restaurants are in Chico?  TONS!

All of Andrew's baskets lately have been from shots, not just put back rebounds.  This is unusual because his coach told him last year that if he attempted a shot from outside the paint, he'd get benched.  It's so great to see him attempting and making shots!  I also love that his teammates pass to him a lot.  He's not the star or even a regular starter, but I think he's having an excellent season so far.  I hope when his coach comes back (and the two players who were missing) he gets just as much playing time as he did these past three games!

Andrew is 15?!?!!!!?? What?

Andrew had a birthday a few days ago and I had to work all day.  He had basketball practice.  Lots of other stuff was going on and it was just a few days after Christmas, so really, it was not a big, great, wonderful, special day.  But, I think he was happy with it.  He got a Costco cake (big deal in our family, we LOVE them, haha), he got to go out to dinner at Olive Garden, and he got the best gift any 15 year old would want....cash, from both grandparents!!!  

He's a great kid.  He really has a good heart.  He always does the right thing.  We are lucky to have him in our family.  He's a lot of fun.  He's a joy.  I am very proud of him.  

He is well loved by many, especially me!!!

Andrew's Basketball Game

Andrew's team had a game tonight in Grass Valley a school that's almost 2 hours from Chico.  It was a beautiful drive, though!  I kept seeing scenery that I thought would make a good jigsaw puzzle.  (My grandma always used to have a puzzle going at her house when we'd visit).  

Andrew got to start tonight.  He got a lot of rebounds, two blocked shots, and two points.  He played well.  Hope the coach was impressed.

I took some photos to share with Melanee and my dad (and William, if he reads this, haha).  

Andrew is number 22.

 Smiles even though they lost.  I am so glad he is having fun!!!