Our son's Church League Basketball season came to an end yesterday, but it did so with joy and a sense of accomplishment that no one expected just a week ago.
Our boys, who had formerly played in our local school system before either being cut or opting out of playing in a system that rewards only 5 to 8 percent of the kids who play with varsity playing time, came together this season for some fun and to extend their basketball playing days a bit. So they joined Church League, a huge operation here that is run by volunteers and supported by churches, and businesses who are friendly of churches.
Church League is so big that it draws more than 30 teams of 8 to 10 boys each, and means that far more kids get playing time than of those kids who play for the seven or eight high schools in our metro area. And it is so fun to see these kids getting together in empty gyms on Friday nights and Saturday mornings to do something active that they love.
And the Church League is different ... way different. The boys coach themselves, or they ask a friend to do so. Oftentimes, it's another friend who might still be on the local high school team, but is willing to help out his buddies. ... Yes, really, there's no adults on the sidelines.
In addition, the boys police their own playing time, and they do so more fairly than in any high school program I've ever seen.
And there is prayer at the beginning of every session. The Church League commissioner gathers all of the kids playing that night and they form a big circle and get on bended knee, and it is so Spirit-filled. ... Just gives me tingles every time I see it.
But the other big difference is that Church League is played more like street basketball or a pick-up game at the local YMCA. It's physical, scrappy and there's a lot of physicality that never draws a foul call from the referees. And in their short season of eight games, our boys couldn't adapt to this new form of play.
They were in every game and never lost a game by more than five points. But they still finished 1-7 on the season. So going into the tournament they were seeded 30th ... of 31 teams. That's right ... 30th.
That means they drew the No. 2-seeded team, a team they lost in overtime to in the last game of the regular season. Our kids were psyched about this. They wanted this game. They felt that they could take that team, and they wanted to oust them simply because the other team was a mouthy bunch of dirty players. ... But I don't think many people gave them a chance. ... Admittedly even me, I'm afraid to say.
So tournament time arrived on Friday, and it was win or go home. No double elimination in this tournament. They don't have the funds to pay for facilities and refs and others costs to run a double elimination tournament. This organization exists on a shoe string.
But lo and behold, our kids shocked the gym. They knocked off this showy bunch of yappers, and moved into the second round of the tournament. And then they won again later that night and found themselves in the quarterfinals. And in the quarterfinal, though they spent much of the game playing from behind there was a point late in the game that they pulled to within 24-21, and they seemed to have the momentum.
A couple of bad passes and defensive breakdowns and they ended up losing. ... But not in shame.
Even after the loss, these kids knew they had accomplished big at the end of the season. They had turned around a season of frustration to finish on a high. ... And I was happy to be able to share with our son later that after the game, I talked with the league commissioner who told me a seed that low had never finished that high in the tournament, adding it was fun to watch the boys do it in style and with class. ... That's enough to make a dad's heart soar!
I dearly hope that these boys can hang together through the next and put this same team out on the court. It'll be a blast watching them again with a little experience under their belts.
But more importantly it was heartwarming to see these boys grow through their adversity and play with genuine smiles on their faces again. And that is why today I'm finding faith in Church League Basketball.
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