Their names are Sarah, Abby, Caroline, Sally, Kate, Lydia, Mary Claire, Sophie, Tiffany, Carly, Meredith, Asher, Taylor, Stephanie, Lindsey, Hannah, and Jane. They are the members of the Regents School of Austin Lady Knights Girls Basketball Team this year. Many of you might not know that I am back coaching basketball again this year. I have been given such a great opportunity to work with these wonderful young people and have learned so much from them already (hopefully they have learned from me as well!).
We have had a tough early part of the season against a tough non-district schedule. We have faced a 5A public school, a 5A private school, quite possibly the top home school team in America, and four 4A private schools early on. The combined winning percentage of the teams we have lost to this year is 67% so I think we are definitely battle tested.
We opened our TAPPS 3A District 6 season last night at home and struggled but pulled out a win, 47-42, against Austin San Juan Diego Catholic. We never trailed in the game but our girls had a ton of tense, learning moments. Regents has won two straight District 6 titles so anytime a game is close it is an adjustment. Leadership is a big deal at Regents and it is great to use basketball to help these young people see the “leadership moments.”
Today at practice I spoke with the team about a lot of things. However, the one thing that I stressed was to hit the “reset” button. I actually printed off this “reset” button and asked the entire team to “press” it (literally).
They all did and we quite possibly had the best practice of the year. We also had fun in practice. There are times when you just need to start over.
I have really focused on having our girls “focus on the process” and they are starting to get the concept. It is my wish that they will transfer this to their lives as well. The leaders of the team came up with a great scriptural verse that relates to this, I Samuel 2:4- “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.”
One thing that has been so impressive to me is how thankful the girls are. They thank me after each practice and game for coaching them. In all of the years I have done this I have never had this occur…God is so good!
We have won two in a row and are heading to San Antonio for another district game on Friday at Keystone School. If you are in the area, come out and check us out…game time is 5:30 pm. You can follow our team at this link: http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/3IsSntBA3kCa88oON2Ti8g/regents-knights/girls-basketball/home.htm. It has our season schedule, roster, and stats. You will see more about this group as the season progresses.
Candy just got back from Denver tonight and I am so happy to have her home. The last six months has led to many trips to Denver for her business and it is tough to not be with her. It has been a hard adjustment for us both but we know it is only temporary.
As always, keep following along…we will keep sharing from our experience on the Rices’ Radical Sabbatical.
by tim
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