1997 8-and-under basketball championship

Well, you might ask why I am always talking about sports, this is because it is in my blood. My first thought of playing basketball was in the first grade. It started with my immediate brother Phillip, when some man came knocking on our front door and asked my parents for permission for him to play. Even though I also had an interest, I wasn't worried about that particular day's visit by the coach because I expected my parents to say no. I was totally wrong!! My parents agreed to allow my brother to play and I wanted to play as well. I was only six-years-old though and the team was an 8-and-under team. This really meant a team for 7 and 8 year olds, and also 9 year olds if their birthdays came before the 8-and-under deadline. After all the crying while the coach was there, he said it was up to my parents to say if I could play or not. My parents also agreed and that was the beginning of my athletic career.

I played with the MLK (Martin Luther King) Wildcats' 8-and-under team for four years. My first three years was playing a guard's position and that only changed my fourth year because the coach needed me to play forward because of my height. I took the team to so many playoff games and even championships. Even though I have forgotten some of these games because they were so long ago, there is one I will never forget unless I am totally brainwashed. It was the championship game in 1997 against City-wide Allstars. Their team was not as good as ours, but they had one player who was so good that he played with an 16-and-under team. He was a short guard that ran all over the court and continually scored. When my coach saw that no one on our team could stop him, he pulled me from playing forward to guard this kid on defense; so I was still playing forward when we were on offence.

I was able to slow down the pace a little bit, but the human body can only take so much. This kid was more like a machine. This was the closest game we had all season. The outcome of other games we played for an average was usually 77-30, but this game was so tough that the score was 18-16 in the fourth quarter. This remained the score throughout the whole fourth quarter and everyone pretty much believed that the Allstars overturned the undefeated season's title of the Wildcats. Being the best ball-handler on the team, my coach brought me back to be a guard for the last play of the game. With 12seconds left, and the Allstars' crowd already going wild, my coach signaled for a time out but I was so focused on the court. I brought the ball down court and saw that I was not going to make it to the other half before the buzzard rang so I lounged the ball from half court..... Buuuhhhhhhnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!! The buzzard went off and all eyes followed the ball; nothing but net, and the Wildcats remain undefeated!!! We won the game 19-18.

This game was so important to me because it was my last with the 8-and-under leauge but I was so happy to win it for my team. I was given MVP of the game and also almost broke my leg from the team and crowd jumping on me. I have tapes of that game, so if you want to see me in action as a little kid, let me know and I'll make you a copy!!! LOL