Goodbye, Part II

Sorry it has been sooo long and I see several people keep checking the site to see if I have posted anything new....one neighbor from church nicely reminded me a few weeks ago that he was still waiting for Part Two!!

After I wrote Part One I realized that I'm just really telling the same story that this blog did over the past three years....I will write some more and if anyone doesn't want to read, just click out I guess....

I ended with the girls winning the tournament in Nashwauk and how that is when some of the parents got together and discussed starting a traveling team with these young girls. I wrote a letter with pictures no less, and sent it out to businesses and family and friends asking for any type of donations to help with the girls getting uniforms and paying tournament fees. Well it worked out and the girls were fortunate to receive over $2,000!! There were three businesses in Grand Rapids that were very helpful and Rick Ferguson of Swanson Motors actually came to the house to hand deliver a check that paid for the girls' uniforms....Rick ended up following the girls closely and actually played a part in their story as he was a sports commentator for KMFY with Mark Masters and they broadcast the girls' games ever since the girls all started on Varsity. The sad part was they both quit broadcasting the year that the girls actually made it to State....that was sad because they had been a big part of the story.

So the girls got their uniforms and their first ever Pacesetter tournament was in Bemidji at the new high school....I remember the girls all wanted their hair braided and also remember having that famous "basketball stomach" that never quit until after the State tournament!

The girls ended up winning their first game against Clearbrook-Gonvick in double OT....it was a fun game and I have it on tape. It is one of my favorites to watch because the 9th grade Red Lake boys team was waiting in the wings to play on that court and they were really getting into the game....Megan stole the ball and got to the three point line and swished a 3! Mind you she was in 5th grade....the Red Lake players were jumping up and down and bowing to her...it was really exciting. They ended up losing the second game against Bagley at the buzzer on a 3 point shot by Lise that rolled in and came out....they bawled their eyes out. That was a team that the girls ended up playing a few more times and we got to know some of them and the coach pretty well over the years. Just the start of many, many Pacesetter tournaments and tons of memories. I have the stat book somewhere for that summer and I believe the girls played in about 30 games!

This went on for about three spring and summers, so you can see why these girls played so well together. They did it for a LONG time!

There are so many memories of road trips, hotel stays and eating at fun and new restaurants and of course shopping....we used to find hotels that had pools, but the girls rarely swam as they were too tired or we got in too late from games. We finally figured out that we didn't to find a hotel with a pool and spend the extra money. We found ways to carpool, bring our snacks and waters, room share (tons) and on and on.

I have to throw this one in for Andi...we were driving home from a tournament and going through Garrison....it was the first time she had seen that Lake and asked us if it was the ocean!! We laughed and laughed and still tease her about it today....

Shelby and Adrianna were the first two to sign up for AAU with Tim Mayclin out of Bemidji. Along with Jenna who played on an older team. Shelby and Adrianna played together for two years on the same team with girls from Bemidji, Bagley, Pelican Rapids and Hawley. We finally got Megan and Annalise to play on the Gym Rats for one year and it was alot of fun, even going to Chicago for the Nike Summer Showcase...Menominee (sp) and several in the cities, including the North Tartan Meltdown, which was truly a meltdown of sorts. It was at Bloomington Kennedy and the air conditioning was not working the end of July...VERY, VERY hot to point of the fans (us) dripping with sweat! I couldn't believe the girls had to play in that heat and it was very hard on them as well as the other players. They sat on the bench with bags of ice on their heads and necks to try and cool them down...a few players even collapsing with heat exhaustion and having to be taken away in an ambulance!

The girls did however qualify for the AAU State Championship tournament in the cities, so were in the Elite Eight....it was during and after these tournaments that we as parents knew they had something very special....they had to play some very tough city teams and actually teams from all over the country, and always played right with them...they lost some close ones, won some close ones, and had a few blowouts on the losing end and the winning end....BUT all of these games made them stronger and tougher when it came to the regular season of Basketball in Bigfork and Section 7A.

Better get off and get something done here....more to follow later.