Sarah Basketball Games 1 - 4 (First Half)

**GUEST BLOGGER**

 ~ Eric Hendrickson ~ 

Game 1 - January 21st - 11:30

This year I am helping coach Upward Basketball for 4th-6th grade girls.  Our team is the Jazz.  We had our first game on Saturday the 21st.  We have (8) girls on our team and this is the first year for playing basketball for (3) of them.  I must be honest, I didn't know what to expect with the first game, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Even though we have only had three practices our girls didn't play like it was our first game.  They made some good passes, set pics, and played aggressively.

Sarah is wears #1 on her jersey this year.  She loves offense.  As long as she is dribbling the ball, she is in control.  We need to work with her on what to do when she picks up her dribble.

Our team is going to be the smallest/shortest team this year, but we should be the fastest and most aggressive.

Sarah had 5 points, including a made free throw.

Stacee was able to catch a picture of me giving Sarah a hug after the game.  I was very pleased with her and the rest of the team.  We won 19-12.  Go Jazz!

Game 2 - January 28th - 11:30

The girls are introduced individually before the game.  The lights are down and the spotlight is on them as they each run out onto the court with their team.

We played this game without one of our best players.  We knew going into this game that the other girls would have to step up their play.  Sarah did this in a big way.  She played hard the entire game.

Sarah was the point guard for much of the game.  She continually drove to the basket.

Look at that nice form on her shot, (above).

We ended up winning 31-28 and Sarah had 16 points.  Great job girls and great job, Sarah!

Game 3 - February 4th - 12:30

For game 3, we played against the second best team in the league (I claim that we are the first).  Actually, this team is the best team in the league.  They are tall, quick, and well coached.  We also were without one of our best players, Georgia.  Also, another one of our best players, Morgan, was battling an illness.

Our girls played some great, tough defense, specifically Angelica and Sarah.

The game was hard fought and close the entire game.

Our girls played extremely hard.  The other team was very aggressive.  One of our girls, Cari, was landed on by a big girl on the other team and broke her collar bone.  She may be back for our team by the end of the season.

We ended up losing 18-14 but we are the only team that has been close to competing with this team.  We faced the giants and did very well.  I look forward to the rematch in 3 weeks and to having Georgia for that one.  Should be good.  Sarah had 7 points and played tough defense.  She is one of the best players and is only a 4th grader. 

Game 4 - February 11th - 11:30

We have played the last few games without one of our best players, Georgia.  This game we played without another one of our best players, Angelica.

Overall, we played alright, but we played flat.

Like all the other teams, these girls are taller than us.  However, they are not near as fast.

Sarah shot (2) free throws and made (1).  She had 7 points for the game.  She had some steals and did a good job rebounding this game.

Just before the game, I worked with the girls on our end bound plays.  Unfortunately, they didn't use them during the game.  We will need to keep working on that.  We did win the game.

Since Cari broke her collar bone in the last game, she is now helping as one of the coaches.  She decided what stars each girl was to receive for this game.

Coach is passing out the stars to Sarah.

Savannah is getting better and coach even acknowledged this week at practice that she is the most improved player so far from the start of the season.

The fan club, Popee, Nanee, Aunt Jan, and Uncle Dale went to eat with us at Nu-way after the game.