Friday, March 5, 2010

Season Finale

We finished the season with a second-place finish in the Washington freshman tournament. Washington finished its season with an undefeated record, and justifiably so.

The final record was 15-6, including trophies in all three tournaments that we played. There were a host of signs of improvement as a team tonight, but perhaps my favorite highlight was before the game even started. Coach Goldman and I watched the last few minutes of the consolation game before heading into the locker room to rouse the team onto the floor. "Let's go get them fired up," Coach said.

Only, we didn't need to do that.

As we approached the door, we could hear the sounds of singing, whooping and banging from within. Inside, the team was loose, almost dancing, and ready to go. When we hit the floor, we stunned their home crowd into near silence in the first half with a series of clever interior passes that gave us the lead by mid game.

In basketball like other places, winners aren't truly measured by numbers, but by conduct. In that sense we were the champions here, overcoming hometown crowds and refereeing to support each other unfailingly in the locker room and on the court.

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