I have been procrastinating writing my final thoughts on the blog as I hate to end it. But, it has to be done...I had originally wanted to write a letter and read it the sports banquet with a slideshow but just did not have time with the graduation activities, etc. SO....I am going to try and explain to everyone just what these girls and these past few years have meant to me....it will take more than one writing as there are lots and lots of memories and I want to start from the beginning when they were itty bitty basketball players in the Saturday Ball program at Bigfork School.
We transferred Shelby to Bigfork in 2000 when she was a fourth grader unaware what adventures lie await for us there....she was welcomed warmly by her classmates and made new friends quite fast. It didn't take long to understand what basketball meant to BHS. Shelby's older sister and brother both played basketball so we started following their teams and were hooked....both squads had very good ball players, many who are on the 1,000 point board in the gym...I remember following the boys' team to Duluth for the Section 7A Championship game against Ely in which they lost and took 2nd place...it was an exciting experience and so sad to see those boys accepting their 2nd place medals and just "almost" making it to State. Shelby, Lise and Megan all dressed up and painted their faces and cheered along with Howler at UMD and that was the first taste for me....
December came and along with it came Saturday basketball....I have a picture of the three (Shelby, Lise and Megan) in their yellow team shirts and I remember putting it in a scrapbook along with the words "future Huskie basketball stars"....how ironic is that? This was the year before Adrianna came along and the four became close friends and got pretty serious about basketball. Of course there were many other young girls that played at that time, some that are still playing, some that left and came back and some that decided basketball wasn't their thing.
Another first memory was the very first "real" tournament the girls played in when Shelby was in fourth grade. It was Shelby, Britney Stewart, Ann Boessel, Morgan Scheff (can you believe that) as fourth graders, and Lise, Megan, Robin, Theresa and Ashley as third graders and of course Greg Powell was their coach. The tournament was at Kelliher and I have part of it on video...they are soooo cute running everyone in circles! Megan shot the lights out and Lise still dribbled low and around everyone....Shelby stole the ball alot and I can hear Morgan's mom Lisa in the background yelling the girls on....her mother passed away a couple of years after that so it's sentimental to hear her voice on that tape....my battery ran out so I didn't get to tape the whole game, but they did end up winning in a "free throw shootout" for first place. I posted the picture quite a while back and that was just the beginning....Britney and Theresa moved away for about five years and came back two years ago...Ann and Morgan quit playing and well, the rest are still playing except for Ashley her injured her knee and is still on the team, but unfortunately can no longer play.
The following year most of the same girls played Saturday ball and Adriana joined that year....this is the year that things got interesting and a light bulb went off in my head. The girls were signed up to play in a little tournament in Nashwauk and Rob (Megan's dad) was the coach. It was exciting because at that point (Shelby was in 5th and the rest were in 4th) you could see how competitive these little girls were...OMG. I remember watching them play from up above in Nashwauk's old gym and time after time Shelby would steal the ball at half court...she was so hungry for that ball...they easily beat the teams they played and then came Chisholm. Bob McDonald was coaching and we were a little nervous because it was "Chisholm" and Coach McDonald was their coach...the girls went out and played hungry and beat them by double digits. I remember they were a little shocked that they got beat by Bigfork...and the rivalry with those girls began. There was one little girl that we gave a nickname to that day that stuck until they were done playing her...."Mickey Mouse ears". She was a cutie and also a good basketball player. Ironically, she was the girl that a few years ago, with just seconds left, threw up a half court shot in which Megan fouled her....we were up by one point and she made two free throws to win the game by one point. That was also the year that Bigfork lost to Chisholm in the Section Championship....interesting, huh?
Anyway, the girls won that little Nashwauk tournament and I still have the notebook that Jesse Powell kept stats in....I also posted a picture of the girls from that tournament a while back on this blog....you know me, pictures of everything! I remember my sister-in-law came to watch one of the games and was very impressed with the girls..she had to leave and when the girls were done and had won the tournament I remember pulling off the road to call her to tell her they had won...I will NEVER forget the feeling I had at that moment. I was so proud of these little girls and was so totally impressed. That was when a thought went through my head that "one day these girls will have a shot at making it to the State Tournament". They were only in 5th and 4th grade, but I just knew they would get there one day.
That was the beginning of their little traveling team and endless spring and summer tournaments....I have no idea how I remember all of this stuff and I know lots of people think I'm crazy, but it brought me great joy to watch them over these past 8 years...and so the story began....
I will try and write a little more at a time....hope I'm not boring everyone! Just want the people that have followed this blog to understand why I even did it! Many reasons and many, many memories....
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