One season ends & another begins.

I've been following a countdown for the past couple of months very intently: the day in which pitchers and catchers report to spring training.  Thankfully, that day is today.  The regular season may not have started yet, but in my eyes it is baseball season once again.  Perhaps this year is "Next Year" for my Cubs.  There weren't many that correctly predicted the success the Athletics and Orioles would have last year. So why not the Cubs in 2013?

It just so happens that another season would end on the eve of the reporting date for pitchers and catchers: my freshmen girls basketball season.

It started in early fall.  The Cubs were completely useless by September, so I had no qualms about staying after school to put the girls basketball program through off season workouts and conditioning.  Before long, tryouts kicked off in late October and I was fortunate to have nine players for my squad. 

Time became scarce once the game playing schedule got into full swing, especially since I helped coach the sophomore and varsity squads as well.  Basketball is the longest sports season of all the school sports, but the freshmen girls were a pleasure to work with day in and day out.

In all, we played a twenty-two game schedule which culminated in a freshmen conference tournament yesterday.  The team lost the first game yesterday morning, but they rebounded well (figuratively and literally) and won the next two contests by a total of thirty-seven points.  In all, we finished up with a record of 11-11 on the season and we were crowned Consolation Champions of the tournament.  Hey, we even got a trophy!

I've taught and coached many, many hours the past four months, and I'm excited to get some free time back.  I always feel like family, friends, exercise, and my hobbies play second fiddle when I'm in a coaching season. 

Go Cubs, Go!