Hiked the Pine & Cedar Trail with Tomass today. All-time discussions ensued. I might be off by a year or so on some of them, the memory is starting to go (CRS). So here's my most fun sports teams I have coached:
1) 2007 LaVenture Middle School track team. What we lacked in quantity we made up for in quality. Just a wonderful collection of great kids who really cared for one another and always did their best. Seventeen of the 24 kids made it to the conference finals.
2) 1992 & 1993 Rainier Junior High Football team. I could have just as easily put them in the #1 spot. these were my guys! Got to coach them two years in a row and they played the most memorable game I have ever coached in any sport. Possibly the most fun class of kids I have ever worked with.
3) Goal Busters coed soccer team, I think it was 1984 in Federal Way. What a great group of fun little 1st-3rd graders. The banquet at Chucky Cheese was the best ever, too, with kids running up and dropping the balls into the targets. E-gads they're all in their thirties now!
4) 1988 Boys Shorewood elem. boys basketball. This was the most dominant sports team I have ever coached. A fun group of guys that goofed off during warm-ups but were all business during games. they won all of their games within the first ten minutes but were always respectful and merciful to their opponents. Practices were always a good time.
5) 2003 Wood River 8th grade boys basketball team. Not the most talented basketball wise, but by far the strongest defensive team I have ever coached. They were tough, great young men who loved to compete. Every practice was as hard-fought as any game, and they won 14 games.
6) 2005 Wood River girls basketball team. We only won 2 games all season, but I've never been around a more cohesive, positive, happy team. These young ladies will always be dear to my heart. I still smile just thinking of them.
7) 1991-93 Rainier Junior High boys basketball team. I feel sorry these guys had to be stuck with me for three years back when I had no clue what I was doing. Some of the faces changed during the three years, but the core group was a team I grew very fond of over time. It was a treat seeing them grow into young men by the time they were in ninth grade.
8) This year's 7th grade Blaine girls Basketball Team. Not the most vocal group, but what a sweet, kind group of girls. We have won almost all of our games, but that is the icing compared to how much I've enjoyed their happy energy in practice every day.
9) 1990 Lake View Elementary boys basketball. One of the undefeated teams. These guys all got along so well and truly always played as a team. We had so many of the little guys we had to split the team in half and each only played in half of the games. But play they did, none of the other schools came close to beating them.
10) 1993 Rainier Junior High 7th grade girls basketball team. My first all-girls coaching experience. I was lucky to get them. They were so much fun and played with such enthusiasm. Another scrappy team that won most of their games, I still remember the time they all fell asleep on the bus on the way back to school.
Honorable Mention:
2009 Blaine Track
2006 LaVenture Girls Basketball
1995, 2000, and 2001 Wood River Girls Basketball
1994 Rainier J.H. Football
1989 and 1991 Lake View El. Boys Basketball
1985 Boys Basketball Federal Way B & G Club
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Adding this year's (2013) basketball team and last year's track team to the list. A lucky coach, indeed.
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