4th Grade December 5th

Our last tournament, our team played smart and hard and placed first in our bracket.....This week, our team surpassed my expectations once again.......


Our goal as a team is to continue to work to keep improving our skill level all awhile we have fun and grow stronger as a family. Exceeding the coach's expectation regarding how each player plays individually and, most important, as a team, is thought of continuously by every good or decent coach. Once again, our boys played a strong game both offensively and defensively. During the game this Saturday, I spoke to the boys about a their "fire" or passion for defense each and every second of the game. Every player proved that they had a "fire".....and then some! Along with the passion to play good fundamentally sound and hard defense, all of our boys played unselfishly, smart, and fundamentally sound offense.

Our opponents for this tournament was our one and only team, or game, for the tournament........the Davis Wildcats. Although our Dawgs had played in one tournament this season already as a 4th grade team, I was excited to see 7 players instead of only 5 playing in this game. The boys knew that we would always have two players on the bench anxious to get into the game. Knowing this, I reminding the boys that we do not rest on defense and to never give less than 100%.....and what a success the boys proved to be by doing this.

The Wildcats were no match for our Dawgs team. Every Dawg player contributed offensively scoring in this game. Every Dawg player contributed tremendously by being unselfish and passing the ball for many assist in the game. Every player played like a top notch defensive player never giving less than 100%. All of our boys kept their hips low, knees bent, on their toes, and moved their feet fast. As I watched each player on the court, I was impressed by how each player watched the ball to anticipate passes while on defense. All of our Dawgs had steals while on defense and reacted quickly as a team to either set up the offense or quickly get the ball down the court to score with, almost always, a lay up. I was impressed with how the boys kept their heads up while "pushing" the ball up the court which allowed them to see the other players working hard to get open for either an outlet pass or a quick score. Every player played with a big heart for other brother Dawgs sharing the ball offensively. Our boys ran our offense very well, using all of the "pass and cut" or "backdoor cuts" extremely well.......especially for a young team.

I was impressed with how our boys used their "help" defense or "weak side" defensive help to keep the Wildcats to a low scoring game. Our boys did a great job and denied passes, anticipated passes for steals, used great footwork to prevent drives into the middle or down the baseline, and worked as one unit to keep the Wildcats from ever being in the game. Great job boys!

Our final outcome for the game was 52 points for our Big Little Dawgs (Wruff, Wruff!) and 4 points for the Davis Wildcats.........



Coach Martinez