The Blues was a good name for our basketball team not because of music. I believe we went down in St. Michael’s basketball history as the worst team they have had. Our first few years we only won three games and lost about thirty. As I’m walking to the gym after school for the first practice of my eighth grade season I’m thinking to myself about our season and how we can change how the school will remember our team. I walked into the gym, as usual I was the first one there. My coach walks up as I’m lacing my shoes and the rest of my teammates start to pour in not far behind. I notice there is another coach this year and I wonder how he could make us into a good team in one season.

When everyone arrives coach Schmitz yells, “Bring it in fellas” As he was talking about the way we ended last season how we would improve, and then he went on to introduce the new coach.

“Hi I’m John, but you can call me coach Hennen.” He had an instant impact on everyone as he told us that he played for UMD in college and in high school was one of the top players in Minnesota. I looked around and everyone was actually listening something that coach Schmitz alone never really got from our team, because we were just a bunch of characters who just wanted to goof around and have fun, but there were a few of us who wanted to win as well.

I was probably the most serious about winning because I hated losing more than I loved winning. Coach Schmitz’s son Ricky was a goon in practice didn’t care just wanted to have fun which is probably why he got so flustered during the games when we would be losing by a lot. Christian or “big chris” as we called him was very serious and always gave his best effort even though he wasn’t the best on the court. Will was a big kid too, but he like most of the other kids didn’t care about whether we won or lost he just signed up to be with his friends. Alex tried to make everyone think he didn’t care even though he really did and came up big in moments when we were very close. Ryan and David were newcomers this season and they just wanted to have fun as well.

At the end of the first practice coach Hennen came up to me and said, “I can see that you really enjoy basketball.”
“Yes one of my goals this year is to get some sort of trophy in the case because we are the only team in the school who hasn’t won anything” I said frustrated. I could already tell he didn’t do this for anything he volunteered and his son was way too young to play yet, and this is when I realized how much he cared.

Now talking in a more stern voice he said, “If you truly want to win and play basketball through  high school, and into college you are going to have to get in better shape, the only way we will win is if our best players are on the court for the whole game.” He told that to four of us that day after practice. Me, Rick, Chris, and Alex. He made us feel like we could not only win more than one game this season he made all of us think we could win the championship.

That first month the four of us worked very hard ran sprints, ate right, and worked on our techniques. It was finally time for the first game. We had a confidence we never had before and it felt different walking out on that court thinking we could really take it to the other team. I sat once that game because I didn’t really need any breaks. I scored fifteen points all on three pointers, and we won about forty four two twenty two.

We had gone undefeated in the regular season in big part to our new coach, but most of the reason was our work ethic some people who weren’t getting as much playing time came into the gym with me in the mornings before school and we just played basketball because we would need the depth for the playoffs because Alex who was always a tough person on our team had broken his arm snowboarding. we won the first three games in the playoffs, and the last game we knew was going to be tough because we had only won by one last game because someone on the other team missed two free throws at the end.

Coach circled us up at the beginning of the game and told us we didn’t need to win the game and he passed out awards like Most improved Player to will because he showed he cared this year and truly improved himself. The effort award went to Big chris because of how hard he worked on his skills. He gave me a leadership award because of the way I wanted to win and made my team want it too. I was so proud to get that award, Ricky got MVP which didn’t bother me because leadership is an important skill in life and I knew that.

When the game started we were ready to play because we knew no matter what win or lose it was our last game. We ended up winning by fifteen points and for the first time I think ever everyone scored at least two baskets. When we got in the parking lot we thanked our coaches and stayed and talked. coach Hennen went on to say, “I am proud of you guys because of how hard you guys have worked over the course of the season In close games you pulled through and stuck to the gameplan. I have never seen a team as close as you guys are.” I wanted to cry because my teammates were all close we had grown up together and done almost everything together, and it felt really good to have achieved what we had worked so hard for.