It’s not often that an elementary school girl’s JV basketball makes it to the sports pages or any section of the newspaper. With that in mind, I felt compelled to write and acknowledge the girls from the St. Mary-St. Michael School in Derby, Girls JV basketball team. Yes, this is a sports story, but the themes of pride, honor, history, and appreciation affected me in a way that is difficult to express.
Most of us are familiar with the film, Rocky. In Rocky, Sylvester Stallone plays a fighter who is given the opportunity of a lifetime when he is offered to fight for the heavyweight championship. Stallone doesn’t have the best equipment, manager, girlfriend or lifestyle, yet as the story progresses his character grows into one of the most beloved characters in motion picture history.
The St. Mary-St. Michael Girls JV basketball team is part of the Greater New Haven Parochial Athletic League. In the 2009-2010 season with only one 6th grade student and a core group of 5th graders, our team finished with 2 wins and 12 losses. To say the competition was fierce would be an understatement. The girls played hard every night but were outsized and we found it difficult to compete. This year the team consisted of five 6th graders, four 5th graders and a whole slew of 4th graders
An issue that has made the headlines lately is the whole “pay-to-play” argument many athletic departments in the public sector are condemning. In private schools, “pay-to-play” is a given. In fact, “pay-to-learn,” “pay-to-be-in-the-band,” “pay-to-be- in-an-after-school-program” is a way of life. Our team had to pay the league entry fees and then divide the cost by the number of players on the roster. In other words, if we wanted a team, we had to be self-sufficient.
Since we do not have a gym of our own, a primary concern was where to practice? The former St. Michael campus building has a small gym, however, since that location had been leased to an outside party we were presented with logistical, insurance, and other problems. By the time we had our roster in place and the league fees paid, the schedule had been made.
With no place to practice and two days before our first game we took advantage of some unseasonably warm December weather, blew the leaves out of my driveway, and went to work. The girls arrived wearing their winter coats and their parents watched as we practiced. Two days later we played our first game, and through sheer effort won.
Three days later we were scheduled to play a school from West Haven that has its own gym, so we knew they would be well prepared. We went to our parents and raised enough money to rent the Derby Veteran’s Memorial Community Center gym for a couple of hours. Despite our best effort, we lost our second game. Shortly thereafter, we were granted permission to use the Irving School gym for 2 hours each week.
To make a long story short, we rolled to an impressive 13-3 regular season record. We were seeded number 3 in the tournament and won two playoff games in the same day (including knocking the number 2 seed out) in order to advance to the championship game.
Moments before tip-off, as we tried to get the girls ready to play for the championship, we figured the girls didn’t need to take any more foul shots or layups. We spent the final five minutes reminding the girls of how far they had come. How we started in December in a driveway wearing our winter coats. How their parents had to reach into their own pockets so they could play on a real floor. How we had played 16 games and how each and every one of them were away games in places like Madison, Branford, New Haven, and Milford.
I would like to say we won the game and brought home the championship, however, we did lose in the finals to St. Rita’s of Hamden. There's no disgrace in losing to a more talented, better coached, and disciplined team.
In Rocky, Stallone loses the fight, but gets respect. Today, we applaud St. Rita’s for a job well done, but we need to remind our foes in the Greater New Haven Parochial Athletic League that in Rocky II, Stallone wins the championship…so we’ll see you all next year.
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The girls with their individual and 2nd place team trophy. |
I would like to thank all the girls, parents, and fans of the St. Mary-St. Michael School Girls JV basketball team for a memorable year.
Bravo Girls!!!
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