It’s a thin line…

by Christy McCauley

Tis the season for gym rats to lace up their sneakers and hit the floor running.  The Woods basketball players are filled with excitement for the upcoming basketball season.  All of our teams have been practicing hard, working on both the offensive and defensive sides of the coin. The JV team players could barely contain their excitement in anticipation of today’s games.  

Both of the Woods JV teams dominated their opponents today. It is a thin line in knowing when to hold your team back to keep from running up the score while at the same time trying not to be insulting to the other team by slowing the ball down by just passing it around. Does doing this make the opponents feel as though they are not worthy of our full effort? I honestly felt as though I rotated my players equally throughout the game and at some point in the game commanded that they pass the ball around 8-10 times before scoring. After the game, a parent of the Sheridan team accused me of running up the score.  Maybe my efforts to not run up the score were taken too late in the game due to my lack of watching the score.   In a perfect world, all of our opponents will be competitive and worthy of our full efforts and I will not have to unfairly sit players who have worked so hard in practice to be able to shine in games.  

None of The Woods coaches, including myself, are in the business of trying to humiliate young children by running up the score.  I do believe in my heart, that we all (coaches) take as much precaution as possible to keep from making our opponents feel humiliated. There is only so much that can be done when playing a poorly skilled team.  Win or lose, I am praying that we have tougher opponents for the remainder of the season.  

Game Highlights…

From Coach Washington...The boys executed our offense as well as expected for a first game. I was very proud of how well they transitioned up and down the court from defense to offense.  Overall it was a great game. Ugo E. led the team with 10 points, while David-Gem dominated the boards with 5 rebounds 2 blocks and 3 assists. Patrick D. scoring 8 points, had a perfect shooting game, he was 3 for 3 from the floor and 2 for 2 on the free throw line. The boys worked hard as a unit on defense as well as offense.  We beat Sheridan 37-20.  I look forward to a productive and fun season.

From Coach McCauley… My girls played their hearts out today, beating Sheridan 40-6.  We generated many points by running our motion offense and playing a great defensive game. Nicole B. led the team with 6 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.  Inez grabbed her share of rebounds by snagging 5.  Megan L. had her say in the matter of rebounds by grabbing 4. Sidra S. led the team in assist (2) and Briana had 5 steals.  Three players scored 8 points each; Catherine H, Briana L, and Nicole B.  This was a great effort by all players. Job well done!

Remaining games this week...

12-Dec	Varsity A Boys @ Sheridan	3:30pm	Return: 6:00pm
12-Dec	Varsity A Girls @ Sheridan	4:30pm	Return: 6:00pm

13-Dec

JV Boys A vs. Heights

3:30pm

Due to a conflict, the JV Boys B game against Jewish Primary Day School (12/13) has been cancelled. JPDS did not have enough players to send over due to a Hanukkah celebration conflict. We are working hard trying to find a date to reschedule the game. 

Don't forget to check out our new Athletic Hot-line 240-395-1551