Independence Tournament

6:30 AM.....

Yes 6:30 AM was the time we needed our young men to show up so we could play our first game at 8 AM. Guess what? We had 12 young men headed to Independence that morning and little did we know what a special day and weekend it would turn out to be!

PERSEVERANCE
This is one of our core values. Many times, urban youth quit when things get difficult. We spell this core value out at practice. We emphasize it every practice, game, and time we meet. Why? This core value will help indicate the future success of any person.

This weekend our young men persevered through all of our games:

FIRST GAME: We were down 4-6 points the entire game. With one minute left, we cut the lead to 2. Then with 15 seconds left, we tie the game. We pressed, got a steal, and scored the game-winner with two seconds left. Check out the last minute at right.

SECOND GAME: We were down 10 before half. Michael Brown hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to put us down 7. Then we adjusted our zone, and our young men dominated the game, winning by 10. You could see the belief and confidence in our young men's faces as we played slowly made the other team crumble.

THIRD GAME: We dominated the entire game and won by 20.

FOURTH GAME (CHAMPIONSHIP): We persevered through the entire game and didn't give up. It was fun to see them play so hard even though they lost. Our young men took 2nd place beating every team in the tournament except for the champions. We had nothing but praises for our young men as this was the best tournament in our two years. They played with heart, showed their character throughout the entire tournament, and lastly they played with perseverance.

Great job Ballin' Bears!