Monday, July 27, 2009

What a weekend!

The Youth Basketball League had it's annual mid-season tournament over the weekend. And what a hoot; it was a weekend packed with upsets & surprises! The disappointment was the turnout of girls teams- we only had 2:-( But they played a best of three series & seem to enjoy cheering on the boys. We had six under12 teams which is the biggest turnout for the little tykes yet. I wasn't able to catch any of the u12 games but BSA ended up winning the round robin- yay! In the u15 & u18 categories we had 10 teams each (I don't remember having so many teams participate in a tournament ever- so we're all quite chuffed).

Pictured below are the under 15 champions- Magic (they were expected to take the title, they've had a strong u15 side for a few years now). A proud Coach Michael in light blue.















Here are the second place u15 team - the Hurricanes- with Coach Mwape, who put up a good fight but just couldn't de-throne the Magic team.
















I was responsible for the u18 court & was it ever a riot. Upset after upset- two of the most competitive teams in the league didn't even make it to the semi finals (I ended up laughing with the coaches- it was simply not a good weekend for the Chelstone Bullets or for Jamlek). Magic was also expected to take the final but the Buffaloes knocked them out in the semi-finals (pictured below with Coach Ozzie second from right- a former player for the Buffaloes).















Funny enough, we'd beaten the Buffaloes to take first spot in our pool- so we met again in the final. I'm so proud of my boys- we've had a season with plenty of ups & downs, but we took it to the Buffaloes in the final! Here are my winners!!! (I'm also partly excited because both Mulemwa & Kawana were with us for the whole weekend & they're my former players- nothing like having them take over coaching the u15 squad) Mulemwa far left, Kawana in the back row with a hood!!






















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, dear!
I've been reading your blog. Unfortunately I don't do it regularly, so I end up doing several months at a time, but it makes me miss you and Lusaka a lot. Great timing though as I am coming down soon!

I am so looking forward to seeing you again!

Thanks also for updating me on the YBL, with pictures and stories! I am so looking forward to seeing a U12 game!

See you soon! I'll be there on the 7th. Let me know if you know of any sofa or bed without a visitor for the weekend ;)