BSA Basketball End-of-Year Party

The three of us BSA Basketball coaches decided we wanted to celebrate a wonderful season. We threw together some juice & snacks & planned fun games for Friday afternoon. We also awarded a certificate for each player’s participation (which the kids were really excited about). Former BSA players were invited to join in some silly games, and recognize the up-&-coming athletes; I was really happy the ‘older’ guys were around to support not only us, but their friends at BSA. I don’t know how many photos I took but I’ve tried to pare down to the favourites…& I’ll try to attach wee stories so you get a taste of the afternoon.

I loved this shot of "Air Teza". Another team had come to compete to open the afternoon festivities- fun fun.
















In the right-hand line these guys are former players, or will be former players in 2009- but they came to enjoy the day with us; I'm hoping to recruit a couple to coach...















Snack-time. And yes, we did mix a bunch of juice in that green bucket...

















Here Coach Alinafe is explaining a silly team-building game- I love the facial expressions on some of the players "You want us to do what???"
















For fun, we had our under 12 team play the "big guys"- those who have moved on to higher-level basketball. It was fun to watch the little ones play their hearts out while the more senior players admired the skills that these kids are gaining at such a young age.















We had a bump-out competition for the under 12 players and then for the older guys.
Here are some shots of the competition

Nganga won for the under 12s

& Sogi won the combo under 15/18 category.

Alfred cracked me up because he came runner up in a couple of competitions- what a kid- just lost out & is still smiling. I admire his attitude & hope that some of the younger guys look up to him.

Sogi's post-win celebration

Elvis surprised us all during the 3-point competition because he was on fire. (The guys had earlier been teasing him for his red out fit- calling him Santa Claus; I thought it fitting that he also won a red t-shirt for his record: 6 out of 7 three-pointers in the preliminary round and in the final). Thanks to the folks at Bellerose (Sue!!!) for your continued contributions to making our small BSA events memorable!
The competition

And the winner (Elvis a.k.a. Santa Claus)

One player stood out to all three coaches this year. Rather than giving “MVP, Best defensive player” etc awards for each team, we decided to recognize only one player- the “BSA Player of the Year”. Bupe (pronounced more like woo-pay, meaning gift) had quite the season. He wrote his grade 12 exams this year but never missed a beat on the basketball court. He was our most consistent player, attending all training sessions & never missing Saturday games, the team jokester’s attitude also improved this year- he became that goofy but confident leader. His basic skills also improved drastically- what more could we ask for?! I get the sense that he was a bit surprised to be recognized, but all the guys were happy & I’m sure he loves his new tracksuit (thanks Mabvuto)!

All-in-all we think the day was a great success & it’s nice to introduce a few of the players to my on-line friends (loyal readers)*giggling*. Next we get some more serious feedback from the players, focus on the ups & downs of 2008 so that we can plan for an even more successful 2009. I love it!