So Impressed with the MN Coaches Association All Star Series

What a wonderful couple of days I had with Shelby and her Grandma Max....this had to have been the classiest, most enjoyable All Star games I have ever attended! Not taking away from the other All Star Games' Shelby was in this year, but this event was very put together and just VERY nice all around. I was just so impressed with everything and even though the Class A team lost both of their games, it was an honor just to be a parent of one of the players and enjoy it all....

My mother-in-law and Shelby's Grandma, Maxene, came with us and we had a very nice time...we left Hibbing Thursday afternoon after Shelby and the Bigfork Choir competed in the State competition in Virginia and got to our hotel around 6:30 pm....my driving directions from Google worked just great!

We checked in and of course had to get off to the Mall of America right away as that was the only day Shelby would be able to get any shopping done...and if you know my Shelby, she LOVES to shop! But we did have a few things we needed to get for graduation, so it worked out great and we had fun. We took Grandma Max to the Bubba Gumps restaurant on Floor 3 and it was delicious. We were pretty tired after and headed to the hotel and went straight to bed....up early to get ready and get Shelby to the Minneapolis Hilton by 9:00 a.m. Traffic was a little busy at it was morning rush hour but we got there in plenty of time. Parked in the parking ramp and had to pay $5 just to walk her in and then be told to leave right as we dropped her off! The lady asked what Class she was in and when we said Class A, she said "okay, you can leave now!" So we did.....paid $5 for parking for about 15 minutes....

We left for IKEA to shop for some graduation party items and then to the Mall of America again...took Max to Johnny Rockets for lunch and she got a kick out of the old fashion diner as we ate at the counter and put our $.15 in for three songs from the jukebox. Roy Orbison, Dion and I can't remember the other one.....went back to the hotel and relaxed for about an hour and then off to the first game at MacCalester College. What a super nice venue that was...brand new. We walked in and Shelby's coach from Bigfork (Coach Greg Powell) was there with Adam Johnson, a UW-Superior asst coach. We went in with them and waited a bit for the teams to arrive....they walked in with their new Nike warmups and looking sharp. Visited with Amber Dvorak's parents for a bit and with Amber, as she couldn't play in the first game as she is a Division 1 recruit and can only play in two all star games. She played in the Border Battle with Shelby so that counted as one game and since this one had two games, she could only play in one of them and they decided she would play in the second game. She was told to play it cool and not attract attention could not even step on the playing floor!

Class A played Class AAA and lost that game 81-57. I believe both teams had 9 players but the Class AAA definately had height advantage and another 6'5" Gopher recruit. I was amazed at the talent and the majority of the girls playing were going to Div 1, 2 and 3 schools. There were a few that were undecided but most were commited. Each girl wore they own school jerseys and the Class A team were the home team, so they wore the dark jerseys....my favorite because they were all different colors! I will post pictures tomorrow as I just downloaded them and haven't gone through them yet....

The next game was Class AA vs. Class AAAA and that was a much closer game. I can't remember the final score but it was back and forth and close the whole game. AAAA might have won by 5? Can't remember! Fun game though and I thought Class AA was going to win it the first half.

Today Class A was shorthanded and only had six girls....very hard on them as the Class AA team had their 9 girls and all were very talent girls going to Division 1 and Division 2 schools. Class A actually played close for a bit but since there was no relief for the three guards (played the entire game), it was just too much for them. They subbed the three taller girls and the three guards stayed in the entire time. So Andrea Gould (Wrenshall), Alyssa Gullekson (Fertile Beltrami) and Jessica Benson (Grand Meadow) all took turns, each one sitting and taking their turns on the court. Nicole Smart had the hot hand today for Class A and was awarded MVP honors for their team while Brittany Chambers was awarded MVP for the Class AA team.

I will fill in some more info tomorrow as there is more to talk about....here are a few pictures of the girls from Shelby's camera and the banquet....I will fill in about the banquet tomorrow and go through my action shots tomorrow....late and ready to hit the sack! Here are some cute ones from today.....some are in the locker room from today's game and the others are from the banquet this morning...one has the four roommates with Gopher Emily Fox (guest speaker) and the other picture they are with Taylor Hill (Ms. Basketball winner). Shelby roomed with Nicole Smart (Ada-Borup), Sam Lynn (Adrian) and Alyssa Gullekson (Fertile-Beltrami). Ada-Borup was the Class A State winner this year and Adrian lost to Barnum in the first round game at State this year by only a few points.