Proud of Those Boys

Proud Dad alert:  My 16-year-old twins, along with one of their friends, coached my 12-year-old's city league basketball team this year.  On Saturday, they won the championship, beating the Orange Team 36-12. 

This was an impressive little team.  They could play defense like no other 6th-7th grade non-school team I've ever seen.  By chance or by plan, this team was a perfect storm defensively.  Quick guards, smart forwards who understand how to play help defense, the boys' ability to play either a zone or man defense, and play both in either a half-court set or a full-court press, and a really tall kid (a 6'2" sixth grader) to play safety were the ingredients.  Look at the halftime score in this photo-

They finished with an 8-1 record, with the only loss coming when our leading scorer was absent.  My wife and I have coached Ryan's teams for the past few years, but decided this year to turn it over to the big brothers, as all were in favor (Ryan says he has the best coaches EVER this season!) and Jennifer and I thought the older boys needed a 'growth opportunity'.  Funny, I've only won a single championship in all my years of coaching basketball, and the boys win one their first try.  Good on them.  (They've got some work to do to catch me in baseball championships, though!)

Here are the team members:
#1    Kyler Strain, F
#2    Nick Lowry, G
#3    Bobby Williams, G
#4    Greg Garrison, F
#5    Hayden Willeford, G
#11  Michael Truitt, C
#12  Ryan Boren, F
#13  Tommy Williams, F

The coaches are Tyler Stary, and my sons Will Boren and Brice Boren.  (Will isn't in the bottom photo because he had to leave for a HS baseball game.  He's in the purple jacket in the middle photo. Brice is in the blue shirt and Tyler in the grey shirt.)

Good job, boys!!  Very proud!!