Mandatory AAU Basketball Rant: Week 5

Most parents would cringe at an away tournament on Mother's Day.  Not my wife, who lives and breathes the kid's accomplishments on the court.  With the exception of meals, going away actually simplifies Mother's Day for us.

This week's tournament brought back nostalgia for me, for all the weird reasons.   Spooky Nook is a huge sports complex outside of Lancaster/Manheim, PA.  Imagine a mega-warehouse converted into a gargantuan sports complex.  We saw 10 basketball courts, 4 volleyball courts, two climbing areas, a fitness area, a spectator area, a food court, and an arcade, we only were in the one corner of the building.  With our coed basketball tournament, and a girl's volleyball tournament going on at the same time, it was madness.   

The good news with one site was, despite conflicting times, everyone was only a few feet away during each game, no 40-minute drives to watch the other play.   The chaos around each court was mind-numbing, which the girls somehow managing through yelling, screaming, and multiple whistles from every direction.  

The expected added drama for this week?  I was put in charge of recording the 6th grade girls' game on the club's iPad.  Following my ever-developing respect for coaches and refs, the videographer's job ain't no picnic either.  There's no good angle to get the entire court, and if you pivot on a tripod, you're bound to get distracted by the play on the court and fail to adjust and capture the shot.   

I also learn that it's not that easy to stay quiet for four games over the weekend. Of course, the recording picks up everything you and the surrounding crowd says, so every bad joke, every carefully worded comment, even the time I joked to the father who wanted to avoid jumping in the shot and ruining, and I replied, "It's okay dude, you're beautiful."  Yeah, all that stuff will now be uploaded to Youtube.  Sigh.

So the 6th allegedly came down with five, and pulled up a fifth grader to fill in.  Luckily, their missing player skipped out of their other sporting even early to make it down.  

The very first game was a rematch of the team that knocked them out of semi-finals two weeks ago.  That team was missing two players, but they kept things uncomfortably close, but we got our revenge, 31-26.  

The second game of pool play was against that same club's B-Team, and it was no contest 25-2.  With the A-club splitting their game with a win against York, our girls needed to play that same B-Team on Sunday to advance to the championship.  They poured it on even harder, despite reaching the mercy rule (running clock) earlier, and moved on with 41-4 win. 

The other club's A-Team beat the team from York to move on.  They played hard, but our girls gradually wore them down, so by the time Maja hit a three pointer late in the first half, her team was finally up by 10, and stayed there for the rest of the game.  

Clutch win the championship, 32-16

Millie's fourth grade girls were primed for action.  They man-handled their opponents 28-2 and 25-14 in pool play, then rolled over their play-in game 34-5.  Then controversy struck.  The other team in the championship game was known for a giantess playing center.  Luckily, we was not too coordinated, and even the small kids were beating her on rebounds in their Saturday game.  For the championship game on Sunday, she was accompanied by two new girls of almost-similar height... and better ability.  

Millie's team kept things even in the first half, but ultimately, these tri-titans starting pulling down every rebound, and making their shots, helping their team win 25-13. 

Of course, calls for roster stacking and calls for birth certificates range out from the upset (and rule ignorant) parents. They quickly forget that our team's center is a "young" 5th grader who meets the rules requirements by a month.   Even if they were older players, the cutoff is by grade, so an 11 year old still in fourth grade counts.   Is it completely fair to the "regular" 4th graders?  Not particularly, but we could follow those rules to the letter as well, and chose to use it for only one player.  

The real controversy was caused by the 5th grade girl's team.  Short on players, a few 4th graders were called up to play on Sunday in their championship, and performed great to upset a team that had handedly beat them on Saturday.  Medals already around their necks, there may have been accusations from the coach (who coaches both teams) that those call-ups lacked heart and effort in the 4th grade championship.  They sure could have been gassed with the extra games, but I'm detecting what the coach is looking for.  I'm sure Millie will be called out for something at practice tonight, but she wasn't part of this crossover group, so I just advised her that they'll all run a bit more "as a team" until morale improves.   

The amusing thing for me was my wife grabbed a hotel all the way in Ronks.  The Sleep Inne had a dated remodel, but it still felt like Lancaster, and gave me a chance to be nostalgic with a quick view of the completed Wyndham (aka The Host) remodel, and the Cartoon Network Hotel (aka The Continental).   Everything looks very nice, except (a) The Wyndham's new front entrance ate up way too many parking spaces and (b) it appears the Cartoon Network didn't replace their roofs on the actually rooms, beckoning an early 70s rock-filled style.  

Back to King of Prussia for the next tournament (and hopefully one site!)