A-Maize-ing Weekend

What a long weekend we had! As I described before, the time between our games seemed to drag out the weekend. But it was a fun weekend. We played a t0tal of six games and went 5-1 for the weekend and took home a second place medal. We played a couple of pretty competitive teams, and we played some new teams that we've never played before. That's always fun. We were a little short handed this weekend, due to State baseball games We had to pick up some siblings to play with us, due to state baseball tournaments. So with our 5 fourth graders, we had to 3rd graders and a second grader play with us. They had a good time also.
We ended up losing in the championship game to a team we beat earlier in the tournament the Wichita Rockets. It was good to play someone on the same competition level we were at. They were one of those teams that we will play each other 10 times and each of us would win five of them.
Our next tournament is the Sunflower State Games in Topeka.

WCS vs Wichita Eagles 62-15
WCS vs Hesston 45-13
WCS vs Rockets 31-21
WCS vs Wichita Jr Buffs 40-19
WCS vs Runnin' Rebels 45-21
WCS vs Wichita Rockets 24-34

Fisherman's Tales

Despite having a few basketball games this weekend, we also had a lot of time to kill. Luckily, by way of the generosity of a player's grandparents, we were able to spend most of that time out at a private pond for boating, swimming, fishing, and eating. There was enough around there to keep the boys busy for days.
After trying their hand at paddling a canoe, a long swimming trip out to the famous "Goose Poop Island", and a hearty lunch consisting of hot dogs, ribs, beans, mac-n-cheese, and watermelon; the boys decided to try their hands at becoming fishermen. Everyone gave fishing a try and almost everybody eventually caught something. Sunpirch, bass, and wipers were among the fish being caught. The boys would just drop the line in the water, no need to cast, and shake the pole up and down a bit, and BAMM, a fish had taken the bait. Among the day's big catches were an 8 pound wiper caught by BB. Nice catch man! JT and MG also hit the jackpot with some gigantic fish.
Even though we were there to play basketball, we are also here to have fun. There is no doubt that the boys had fun out at the pond. It took it's toll on them eventually, being kept busy, but if you ask me...we'll play more games, not often will you get fish with a bunch of your friends.
Thanks for the generous invitation. We are all very appreciative of it.

WCS Basketball Cards - Series One

They are here. After two years of pictures and playing, we've finally found a way to bring all the action as a collectible for our players. Let me introduce to you our first WCS Basketball Cards - Series One. These cards feature mini versions of some of the photos we've taken over the years. Players will be able to earn cards during practices by completing challenges and winning competitions. There are 14 different cards in Series One. Series Two will be coming soon. Try to collect them all.

First Summer Tournament

After about a month of skill workouts and open gym shooting practices, the first tournament of the summer started off with a bang. We got placed in the 5th grade division because there were not enough teams in our own, so they combined. We played a total of 5 games in two days. And some of the boys had a baseball tournament that they played in too. Luckily it was in the same town. All that hard work in practice on defense surely paid off, our man to man defense was tough. We had the hot shooting hand all weekend too. We ended up taking first going 5-0 over the weekend. We got to play one of the good 4th grade teams we always seemed to avoid over the winter (not by choice). We beat them pretty soundly, but I'm willing to bet they'll be ready for us next tournament. Our record was a follows:

Game 1 - WCS 43 vs Hoxie 28
Game 2 - WCS 76 vs Barton County 28
Game 3 - WCS 48 vs Ellsworth 22
Game 4 - WCS 37 vs Mid Kansas 21
Game 5 - WCS 43 vs Wichita Eagles 31


Some pictures from our games:

Spring Fling

The 4th and 5th grade teams combined for one weekend here in our hometown and ended up getting stuck playing some 6th grade teams in the process. We did pretty well considering we were outsized by every team we played. Out of 5 games, we did manage to win three of them. The boys were pretty proud of themselves for beating teams older than they were. They were pretty humble about it though. We ended up taking 2nd place and the silver medal. Not bad for a quick weekend of fun. The boys enjoyed playing with kids from other teams and hopefully we'll be able to do it again in the future.

Season in Review Videos

Well, the winter season is over and we have a little bit of a break before we start in on our summer schedule. I've created a couple of videos that highlight and sum up our season.



And this video was chosen by the players as their favorite on our trip to Kearney, NE. It was a fun tournament and we hope to go back next year.

Winter Season comes to a close.

With a silver medal in the Kearney, NE tournament, the WCS 4th grade season draws to a close. The boys have showcased their heart and talent in a total of nine tournaments from November to February. That's a lot of basketball. The 4th graders finished their second full season with a record of 22-10. And if that's not impressive enough, let's break it down a little further. Unfortunately, in a lot of our tournaments, there were not enough 4th grade teams our age to compete, so we had to play 5th grade teams some of the time. Our record against those 5th grade teams was 2-6, so comparing us with teams in our 4th grade division, we had a record of 20-4. That just goes to show how all the hard work that these boys exhibited has paid off. Everyone has improved immensely and are going to be exciting to watch once we start to grow a little taller.
A special thanks goes out to all of the parents who have supported us throughout the year, regardless how hectic or chaotic our practice and tournament schedules became. Our success could not have been possible without your support.
A very special thank you for our sponsors. Without you help, a lot of the privledges and opprotunities we provided would not have been possible.
A personal thank you goes to the players themselves. I appreciate your patience and willingness to work hard and listen to what we had to say. I know that there were times when we were loud and obnoxious, sometimes confusing, and you probably go tired of hearing us say the same thing over and over again, but you boys managed to improve and work hard which helped to your success. I am very proud of you and look forward to being your coach for the next few years. This has been a fun ride so far, and we've only just begun.
And finally, thanks to Coach Gardner who has helped all of us see our full potential. From my side of things it is great to have an assistant coach who is as knowledgable and supportive as he is. I feel comfortable listening to his thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. We've been doing this as a team for a number of years now and I'm gad to know that we'll be doing this for a few more years to come. We're just getting started.
Let's take a couple of months off and we'll get ready at the end of April to begin our summer season in which we will see some more incredible improvements. Again, great season boys, I'll see you in a few months.

The Kearney Experience (Day 2)

After waking up early from a long evening of swimming and fun, we got ready to play our first game of the day against the Fighting Elk of Elkhorn, NE. As I said before, we figured that they would be a good match and it would be a very competitive game. It was. After spotting them a 9-1 lead to start the first quarter, and being down by 14 points at one point. we battled back and came within 6 points of them. but, that lead we gave them at the first proved to be too much for us to overcome as we ended up losing by 7. Very competive game against two very good teams. Both teams were very fundamentally sound and everyone enjoyed watching a group of boys working their tails off.
We then had one more game to go and we played a team from Ravenna, NE. After starting off a little cold in the first quarter (what is it about the first quarter?) and with the score being 2-4, we were down. We decided to clamp down on defense and it was over. After only allowing one field goal in the second half, we finished the game with a 29-7 win. This win gave us a silver medal. We played man to man defense the whole game and it worked out in our favor. What a great way to end the winter season.

The Kearney Experience (Day 1)

Well, we all made it to where we were supposed to be in Kearney, NE. Except for one whom got sick on the way and had to return home (we miss ya, Brooks-Get well soon). Upon our arrival, we had a few hours to wait until we played our first game, which began almost a whole half hour earlier than scheduled. Our first game was against the Lightning from Grand Island, NE. Not all that good of a team and we won rather easily 43-10. I actually think everyone scored in this game. Our first game tomorrow should be a tough one against the Fighting Elk of Elkhorn, NE. They looked like they were pretty good and hopefully be competition we've been looking for coming all this way. Our second game is against a team called Ravenna. We'll see how that one turns out too.
We had a great time swimming at the pool and hanging out around the pool area, what a fun hotel. The boys enjoyed having Malcom beat them in NBA Street for the XBox and they even blew a bunch of quarters in the arcade, which might as well be called the Kids Casino. Man they can put down the quarters.
We'll keep you posted on today's events.

Medals all Around!

This past weekend World Class Sports teams participated in tournaments all throughout the Midwest. The 4th grade boys were featured in Junction City, Kansas; 5th Grade traveled to Omaha, Nebraska; and the 7th graders were represented in Hutchinson.
During their travels and adventures, World Class Sports teams faired well for themselves in their respective tournaments. The 7th grade boys walked away with a Gold medal for the second tournament in a row. The group is on a seven game winning streak and have one more tournament to go before their winter season draws to a close.
The 5th grade boys made a trip to Omaha, Nebraska and ended up with a second place finish and a Silver medal. This makes the seventh tournament this season in which the team has placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. World Class hopes to add to this total with a successful run in the MAYB National tournament in March.
And finally, in Junction City, the 4th grade group was able to turn back a couple of hungry teams on their way to a Gold medal finish. This makes their 3rd gold medal this season. The team hopes to continue their winning ways as they finish up their season by traveling to Kearney, Nebraska for the Mister Basketball Snow Jam tournament.
Congratulations to all teams for their successful efforts. It's great to see that World Class Sports is making a positive impact on te basketball tournaments in our area and making WCS Basketball a well respected organization in youth basketball. Keep up the good work players and coaches.

WE ARE WORLD CLASS!

Update on Little Apple Tournament

I've just received confirmation that the 5th grade World Class team placed 1st at the Little Apple Tournament in Manhattan! Congratulations boys, keep up the good work! I'm sorry I can't give you any more of a detailed description about the games, but I was only able to watch one of them as our games always conflicted with each other. Thank you for doing World Class Sports proud.

Flexing our muscles in Manhattan

Well, just finished with another tournament in Manhattan. All three WCS teams fared successfully and placed either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. The tournament has gotten a lot smaller than what is has been in the past. The 4th grade WCS won each one of their games by 50 points or more. And that is without playing really tough defense, we backed off. Unfortunately the teams kind of gave up and didn't really give us much resistance. In my opinion, if a team isn't going to play any defense, then they deserve to have points scored on them, down by a lot or not. I was very proud of the way our boys played this weekend. They played hard even though they were up big on all three teams. We had the opprotunity to work on our offense and move the ball around to get different people some open shots. Hopefully this tournament will give a confidence boost that we can carry through the rest of our season.
The 7th grade WCS group was able to capture third place as they stayed competitve with the teams in their brackets and the losses they did suffer were very close. The team finished off the tournament with a good 20 point win, so hopefully that will continue on to their next tournament in Hutchinson in two weeks.
I haven't heard for sure how the 5th graders ended up for the weekend, but I'm guessing they did really well. We were able to watch their first game in which they won. So with that win, they were at least guaranteed 3rd place. I will keep everyone posted as I learn more.
Congratulations to all teams for their effort this past weekend and making the WORLD CLASS SPORTS name look good.