The Final Final

Dave and I have watched the girls play basketball for the past 15 years or so. I think we watched our last championship basketball game ever this past week. Here’s a short recap of those 15 years and our three players.

First Meagan. Hopefully she won’t kill me for this photo. Those shorts.

To be honest, she wasn’t much of a shooter mainly because her first instinct on offense seemed to be to get rid of the ball. But what a defender. She could catch anyone on a fast break and prevent the easy layup with a clean block or a foul. Sometimes a hard foul. (Yes, Meagan is very nice, but she has her streaks.) This usually worked out well since free throw percentages in rec basketball aren’t typically high. Of course, there were a few games where she fouled out. Her high school rec team played in the league finals every year and lost every year. I blame the last loss on Coach Moody. He wasn’t paying attention, and his assistant, who was responsible for the subs, had the best defender on the team (Meagan, IMHO) sitting on the bench at the end of a very close game. After that loss, she was disappointed, but she did a better job of keeping things in perspective than her parents did, as usual.

In my mind, Meagan was the champ that day.

Now Heather. She was the player typically being fouled. Sometimes flagrantly.

She played on multiple teams, and schedules were a bit harried. I don’t miss that time when driving to different corners of the state in the same day was common. Her varsity team made it to the district finals all four years and lost every year. The game we all remember, though, is the semi-final game against St. B’s her senior year. They had lost to St. B’s twice during the regular season quite handily. They were actually embarrassing losses. But they managed to pull out the win in the semi’s by 1 point. It was a collective effort where the team played as a team, and every girl played well.

In my mind, Heather and the other girls on the team were the champs that day.

Finally Nicole. As with Heather, Nicole played on multiple teams, and schedules continued to be harried. I am so glad that part is over with. She also suffered injuries over the years including a number of concussions (I’m not sure how many), a cast on her wrist, and a cast on her ankle. The injury which you can see a hint of on her chin in this photo, however, is from a slice of pizza that she was eating while with the team. She got burned by the cheese.

Her Junior year, the varsity team went to the finals and lost. But I missed that game. For a variety of reasons, Nicole made the very difficult decision to not attempt a return to the varsity team her Senior year. Instead, she played rec and pretty much smiled during every game the entire season. Her coach (not Dave) commented on her sense of humor. During most of the season, though, she seemed to be holding back. She might have been afraid of coming off as a showoff, or she might have been afraid of failing since, as the only former varsity player on the team, she might have felt pressure to succeed. The last few games of the season though, she finally loosened up. Yes, the team made it to the finals, and they lost. But Nicole was neither a showoff nor a failure in that game. She just played really good, sound basketball – the kind I like watching.

In my mind, Nicole was the champ that day.

Now, there is a possibility that we will witness one more Final. Heather and her friends from that championship varsity team are in a 3-on-3 tournament this weekend. Regardless of the outcome, I have a feeling I know who the champs will be. After all, we have a pretty good record.