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So a couple friends had been after me to put together another basketball team and we elected to go co-ed since it is less intense. So I put it together, needed some people, posted on Craigslist, filled out the team, 10 people. The games are 2 twenty minute running time halves. As a result, you expend a LOT of energy. Most teams run 7-8 players, I like to run 10. 5 people start, play 10 minutes, come out, the other 5 finish the half, then do the same thing in the second half. Equal playing time for all, everyone gets rest.

Well, Friday 1 person said they had a new job and could not play, another one was out of town, another caught a bug, and I ended up thinking I would have just me and the Kyles. I posted again on c-list and had 4 people say they would show. Only one did but Jess, one of our early sign-ups I thought would not be there also showed so we had 5 people.

Now, when I was younger and...well, I have never been "in shape" but I could, when younger, play basketball for hours without a problem. Now I can play 6 - 8 minutes and the excess 50 - 70 pounds really wears on my wind, my knees, my ankles, and the sole of my left foot. I was not liking having just 5....

We started out okay. Jess is a little studette. I had 7 of our first 11, she had the other points. Took the Kyles a while to get going and C.T. never did get into the offensive flow. Meanwhile, the other team was really abusing the co-ed rule. See, a guy can't block a girls shot so they would work the girls inside then crash the boards with their guys. It did not help that their shortest guy had about 3" on our tallest guy who is about 4" taller than me. So we had height issues, personnel shortage issues, and had never played together while they were running set plays. This was not good.

Well, Kyle C started crashing the boards, creating some possessions, Kyle F took a few shots so we now had 4 people they had to defend. We were playing good initial defense but giving up too many 3rd and 4th shots. They were getting good rebounding position as we were A) playing man to man and B) a couple of our guys have never really been coached on boxing out. So we gave up a lot of points. Fortunately, 3 of us were scoring pretty well with Jess and I leading the way. But I ran out of gas about 8 minutes in and started resting at the defensive end for 2 and 3 possession stretches. When you run 4 on 5 offense and one of the guys won't shoot, that puts on a lot of pressure.

We were down 7 at the half. To slow their rebounding we switched to a zone for the second half. I took the foul circle, the Kyle's took the blocks and Jess and CT were out front. The idea was to prevent the girls penetrating for their short shots and simultaneously make the guys shoot from further out. Only problem was we were too tired to deny the entries and the girls just did not miss. We did essentially stop the rebound problems and in the last three or four minutes we picked off a few entry passes but Kyle C was really struggling with his shot, I started to miss and Kyle F was scoring better but not a lot. Jess could not carry us alone, though she was certainly our offensive star. We ended up getting crushed by 20+.

Overall I played pretty well. I am still able to get my shot off. I was getting hammered pretty good...it would have been helpful if it were getting called. In one stretch I took 4 shots in 8 trips down the floor, which was only not excessive because Kyle C got gun shy and would not shoot, Kyle F was only shooting intermittently, and CT was not shooting at all. Well, I made 2 and was hammered pretty good on both. I was hammered harder on two others and missed those. Not one of those did I get a foul call.

For the night from a scoring standpoint I did all right. I hit 2 threes in 4 tries, missed both of my favorite drive left, stop, pop from the inside free throw circle, had 4 put backs off of offensive rebounds, and a slashing reverse lay-up to go with a baseline jumper.

My passing was pretty crisp and I was finding the open people...they just seldom put up the shots.

Defensively I was not good. When we were in man I held my guy in check but I was not able to help on the boards. In zone I was too tired to make the moves I needed to deny the girls entry into the lane. With more energy I can use my still-fast hands to knock loose a lot of balls but this time I was a step too late and too many times was relegated to standing there with hands straight up just hoping they would miss. I should have made a couple of "purpose goal-tends" where I planted the ball back out to mid-court but I was too fatigued to get off my feet.

For the game I feel disappointed with my play. I scored well and shot okay but I did not make my team better and scoring is just a small part of the game. Oh, well, next week we should have more players so that will help with the fatigue. Additionally, I know more what we have in Jess (stud), I already knew Kyle C is a good board-crasher, and I know I have a little game left. Fischer will be in China which will hurt us because he is good at both driving and the little 12-15 foot baseline jumper. But we have the potential to improve.