Heading to State

Being a teacher at a fairly new high school has its ups and downs. One of them is when we opened up the school…starting all the athletic teams was ROUGH! Players, parents, Administration…man it was a process that we were all trying to figure out how to work.

Yosh and I coached the aquatic program at Roosevelt until 2015.  That point we decided that it was enough…baby 3 was on the way…and it was just time for Yosh to hang it up (I had retired a few years prior…mommying and coaching is hard work). 

Over the years…all our programs on campus have expanded and gotten so much better! Most programs have gone through a few coaching staffs…some are still going through transitions.  But one program that REALLY came around was our boys basketball team.  They had an amazing season…taking league, beating our cross town rivals FIVE times and were then heading to Division 1 State CIF Finals!  Thats like a once in a lifetime trip! A school could possibly NEVER make it to state finals again.  Everyone was so excited for them!

And it just so happens that our niece Peyton…her basketball team was ALSO going to state finals…for division 4.  What are the odds?!?  So…we knew we HAD to make the trek to Sacramento to watch these games!

The boys game was on Friday the 24th…which is a rough day for us.  So I spent the morning with Mom before starting the road trip.

17 years later and it doesn’t get easier. Its a sad day…and its sad to watch my mother stare at her son’s grave. How does she function…how does she continue to be a happy positive person in life?!?  She’s an angel..and has the most strength I have ever seen!  We visited Paul and went to breakfast. And i felt really guilty asking her to stay with the kids while we went to Sacramento…but she seemed to be ok with it.

So away we went. Made the 7 hour drive…damn Sacramento is FAR!

The drive is very boring. But we had a co-worker drive up with us…one that we don’t get to chat with often enough.  He wasn’t staying in the same hotel as us..he decided to stay in a hostel.  I was scared for him. It looked like he was walking into a haunted house!

The excitement at the game was awesome. A few of us teachers went up…we were proud of the team…coaches and players!

Game time. I had goosebumps watching all these young men get themselves pumped for this game. It was surreal for them to be playing at the Golden 1 arena.

Seeing your buddy up on the big screen…like a pro…was so cool!

This give you an idea of the arena…which holds 17,000ish.  These boys were playin where the big boys get down!

We had the lead the whole game.  Matt Mitchell and Jemarl Baker were so fun to watch. And the rest of the squad all play a vital role in the success of these team. From stat girls/managers to the 2nd stringers to the starters…they all are equally important!

But when they won it was beautiful to watch. I love the celebrations after a win…its my favorite part!

We were happy for the team! We hung out…and waited up eating burgers and fries until 2am in Old Town Sacramento.

 

And when we woke up the next morning..we were hoping and praying that Los Osos would have the same luck and win the division 4 finals.

Unfortunately they didn’t take home 1st place.  My niece played amazing…was the 2nd leading point scorer. And since we were in the Golden 1 Center the girls go down to the locker rooms straight from the floor. And the buses get them from down there.  So I was sad that we didn’t get to see our girl and give her a big hug for playing a great game!!!

But we were HAPPY when we went to security to see if someone turned in Yosh’s jacket from Friday  night…and thankfully it was there! yay!

We then explored Sacramento for a hot minute, looking for somewhere to eat.  Then started the 7 hour drive back home. Ugh. BUT it was worth it…every second of it!