Hello everyone,
I guess this will be the last "Coaches Corner" before Nationals in June. As most everyone knows, we played the Lone Star Regional Championship tournament this weekend. Some of our teams played and here's a few notes about how each team performed. In case you don't want to read through the entire note, here's a summary:
- We had 7 teams competing.
- After the play on Saturday, we had 5 teams with either zero losses or only one.
- After play on Sunday, three teams had only 1 loss in the tournament…and 1 team had only two losses.
- Two of our teams finished 2nd in the tournament for their divisions in "points ratio"....1 team finished 3rd.
Our teams demonstrated their competitiveness all weekend. This tournament was another good weekend for the club.
* 12Black - The team did Xtremely well in the tournament. We finished 5th in the Region! While it's true we were a bit disappointed we didn't earn a JO's bid, only 1st - 4th did, we have to keep our perspective on the bigger picture. Out of the 40 teams competing in the tournament, we only lost to one. The kids went 7-1, and finished with the 2nd highest points ratio in the tournament (behind the Tornados who won). The Tornados went 8-0…and Austin Jrs who won 2nd went 7-1 like us. The two teams that finished 3rd and 4th went 6-1 and 5-2. We just happened to lose the WRONG 1 GAME! When I look at the 4 teams ahead of us, they are all quality programs: The largest club in Houston, the largest club in Austin, the largest club in San Antonio, and a 2nd club in San Antonio. Again we finished higher than any other team from the Houston area. Overall, I was very proud of the girls. We overcame an emotional loss and won two more matches in the Silver Bracket, winning the finals 25-7….25-16. We still have an opportunity to receive at At Large Bid to JO's through the region if one is given. There are several factors that contribute to the opportunity…record and level of teams you lost to. We improved our record to 57-9…really impressive considering we've played 12 events. What's also impressive is to realize we've only lost to 5 different teams this year…4 of which have qualified for JO's. (we lost more than once to the same teams). We're still training for the AAU Nationals in June. The season is FAR FROM OVER!
* 12 Purple - The girls had a really good weekend. They finished 3rd in the Club division….losing to Alamo Jrs second team in the semi-finals. The went 2-1 in their pool on the first day, then came back and won the first match on Sunday. That put them in the semi-finals for their division. The girls went 3-2 in match play and ended their season in the Gold bracket of their division. Without going back through the tournaments, I believe that's the 3rd time the girls have finished in the top 3 teams at tournaments.
* 14 Black - The team played an outstanding tournament. They finished tied for 7th out of 56 teams in the National Division. They went 6-0 in match play (12-1 in games) until their challenge bracket match against Maverick 141. They won the first game 25-21…lost the second game 29-31…and lost the tiebreaker 13-15. Had they won that match, they'd have been one match away from a JO bid. After losing a 29-31 game, many teams would falter. The 13-15 final shows the character and strength of heart with which this team posesses. The team also finished 3rd in the points ratio in the National division. Although disappointing we didn't qualify, we have to remember the team finished 7th out of a total of 108 teams competing in the regional tournament. The team is also competing next month in the AAU National Tournament in Orlando.
* 14 Silver - The girls did awesome in the tournament. The team finished tied for 3rd in the Club division out of 52 teams! They lost in the semi-finals to the team that ended up winning. They went 7-1 in matches, going undefeated until the semis. They also had the 2nd highest points ratio in the division. The girls only split two times…after losing the second game…and came back both times to win the match. The team recently made two staffing changes and has done a great job of adjusting and playing at the GOLD bracket level.
* 14 White - The girls did great in the tournament. They finished tied for 15th out of 52 teams in the Club division. They won their pool the first day. That moved them up into the top group, where they had to face Brazos Valley's second team. We lost a heartbreaker 25-23 in the first game…and that was hard to overcome. (Brazos Valley went on to finally lose in the semi-finals of the GOLD bracket….we were THAT CLOSE!). Doing this well in the tournament was such a great way for the team to end their season.
* 14 Purple - The purple team must have set a record for the longest game at the tournament! They lost a game 29-31. As if that weren't stressfuly enough, they later won a game 29-27. We're going to have to take one of those portable AED heart machines to the tournaments next year for the parents! All kidding aside, these games demonstrate how competitive the girls have become. They did very well finishing tied for 29th out of 52 teams in the Club division. They had the bad luck of having to be in the pool on Saturday with the team that won the whole tournament. We scored 18 off them! They finished 2nd in their pool on Sunday, but only 1st had the opportunity to advance.
* 17 Black - The team competed in the National division of the tournament. They finished tied for 19th out of the 36 teams. They were second in their pool the first day, but then lost to two strong teams the 2nd round. Alamo Jr's top team was one…and we lost a nailbiter to TCA 26-24….32-30. We went on to beat Tornado's 2nd team, but then lost 25-23…25-22 to TEJV's top team in the semi's of the Flight 1 division. We also lost a game on Saturday 23-25. As you can see, they lost 5 games by a TOTAL of 10 points! Those are tough losses, but it just shows our kids compete well and fight all the way to the end.
Don't forget to come back in June and read the FINAL UPDATE FOR 2008!
GO XTREME!
Eddy Mize
12 Black Coach
12 Year Old Development Director
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