Carson's first year of High School Basketball is finished! What a season it was.
Carson wore his Griffin Jersey with Pride and had a great season. Ernest Manning High School was a Div 3 school as far as basketball went until this year. They were moved up into the top Division and played against the best teams in the city. There were many high schools who didn't know what hit them when the Griffins came to visit their gyms. They were taken lightly until the boys showed their stuff on the court. In league play they finished 8 and 2 loosing their first league game by 4 points (to the team who won cities this year) and then their last game of the season against Scarlett (we were coming into it on a 16-0 run). They won their own home tournament playing a team from Lethbridge in the final and also won on the road in Red Deer where they played the home team in Red Deer (who were undefeated until the Griffins came to town!)
We had a strong 5 starters on this team and Carson managed to rank #1 in most areas of the game with his buddy Brody very close behind (except for foul shooting, which his dad/coach teased him about all season :). He was our best defensive player getting the most steals and deflections and assists every game. Even when he wasn't having a strong offensive game he always made a difference on the defensive end. It was fun to watch how many points these guys would score in their transition game. They passed the ball so well to each other.
This is a fun picture if you know what Carson is doing here. Aidan had passed him the ball on a fast break and Carson made a quick set pass back to Aidan for the basket. When Carson's volleyball coach saw this picture he laughed and said "Once a setter, always a setter!" Carson has almost perfect setting form in this picture of him playing basketball.
The Cheerleaders enjoyed the games as well. The Griffins had their own cheerleads and it added a lot of excitement to the home games. Except they weren't there the first night of playoffs or when our boys were playing in our own home tournament final - go figure?
Carson had the highest percentage of 3 point shots on our team and also scored the most 3 points in the whole season. When his shot was on, he was on fire. Despite scoring 4 3-pointers in our quarter final game we ended the season on a very sad note loosing by 1 point after having a 14 point lead in the first half. We had 2 of our starters playing on sprained ankles and we lost our momentum in the second half of the game. It was a devastating loss for these boys because they were a favoured Div 1 city finalist team. Carson cried on my shoulder after this loss and I haven't seen him cry for quite a few years. That kid puts his heart and soul into every basketball game he plays. He left his blood, sweat, AND tears on the court that night.
But that is the way it goes with sports. You win some and you loose some. Loosing is not fun but it is part of life and the better you learn to deal with the loss the better off you are. It stung for a few days and then Carson started dreaming about next year playing on the senior team and even before that will be his Genesis team for the spring. He is excited because 3 of his teammates are coming to play Genesis with him this year.
These pictures were taken at our home tournament. Carson won the Heart and Hustle Award for our team. And they won the championship trophy as a team. It was a good day when his little cousin Bryson can come cheer for Carson on the court!
Darcy coached these boys this year and did an extremely good job. The athletic department at the High School were so proud of what a successful season this team had and it was in large part thanks to the coaching. All of the boys and even the grade 11 boys from the senior team are begging him to coach the senior team next year. We will see what happens.
