positive results manifested in the form of not only wins in league play, but the team’s first championships. Several of them.
As the local wins became more consistent, thoughts of the next level of development, and the next challenge surfaced. Some travel tournaments during the next tournament season were introduced. There, even higher levels of competition where faced and the boys were pushed even harder. Meeting the challenge, the team did very well relatively quickly producing wins across the Southern Region of the US. An introduction to National Tournament exposure came next traveling to New Orleans for the NOLA Super 60, San Antonio for AAS Nationals, and then back home to Primetime Nationals locally in Dallas. The team garnered moderate success making it to the silver bracket in each as 4th graders but acquiring a multitude of experience along the way. Experience that would prove fruitful in the coming season as their 4th grade tournament season came to a close.
As the team matured into 5th graders, the focus became to gel more as a team and focus more on fundamentals. They had an overall grasp of the game, the coach’s expectations, and played with a high level of IQ and energy. But Coach Tony’s detail oriented nature wanted to close some of the gaps discovered in his team’s development. He wanted the team to slow the game down mentally a bit for the betterment of their long term development and not focus on the immediate gratification of wins. He also wanted the team develop a true identity, be able to teach the kids the philosophy behind the things they do. This decision proved to be an insightful one and was a turning point for the
team’s confidence and development. They adopted an identity as team that took pride in their defense. The games became about not how many points they each scored individually, but how few a team could score on them. A “Defense First” mantra reinvigorated the team and produced overwhelming wins and leaders emerged among our team. Anthony Walls, Tre Scott, and Trey Cheatham were our first named captains in the team’s history. During the course of a Christmas tournament, they scored 89 points and 102 points in consecutive games and held their opponents to 0 in both. They also put together an undefeated league season on their way to a league championship for a “perfect season.”
Fast forward to now, the team has completed the 5th grade heading to 6th and is in full tournament swing and attacking all competition as a veteran and respected tournament team. They have already superseded their victory count of past seasons in league and tournament play. They played a grade up and won the 6th grade division of their league play