At The (I)HOP

We still go to IHOP! This is from May 25, 2011 and is a poignant look at being on a team and being in middle school. The lovely Mary is now all grown up!

On Monday, I took the eighth grade girls on my basketball team to lunch at IHOP. It's a tradition I've had with teams for more than two decades but the tradition has been tweaked as my high school players became middle school kids. We now go on the first day of finals and it's something I look forward to and so do the kids. (When I took a sabbatical from coaching last year, Raven, one of the freshmen-to-be, asked if we were still going out to eat. Traditions are not easily cast aside!) We had a great time at the pancake place. This bunch who after tomorrow are high schoolers get along amazingly well. The talk at the pushed together tables was about everything but basketball as it usually is with girls in non-athletic settings. They laughed and giggled because they are girls and that's what girls do. It was a bittersweet moment for me, knowing these eight would never be together exclusively as a group again and I would never again be so highly favored as to be called their coach. It was a memorable season in so many ways and as you might expect, the wins (12) and losses (10) don't qualify as even the preface to the story. Five of the eight I coached in sixth grade and two of the eight I have known since their infancy. We pray as a group every morning and though they won't pray together again, I'll bring this roster of young ladies before the Lord and ask His blessings on them. It's the least a coach can do..... and the most a coach can do. On Monday evening, Mary, one of the two in my life since they were babies, wrote a FACEBOOK post about her team. With her permission, it is reprinted below. Mary, a good student and writer, a great singer, and a much improved player, did not write this with the intention of it being published. She wrote it as a tribute to her friends and her teammates. It would be an injustice to display it in anything but it's original form, middle school slang and spelling and punctuation and grammar and all. It is the definition of life as a newly teenage girl and a til death do us part sibling of the family that is a team.

ragged old shoes

by Mary Matic on Monday, May 23, 2011 at 3:26pm

a couple days ago i put my basketball shoes in my closet for the last time i looked at them and remembered all the times i have had with my friends. 
ruby helped me with soooo much and made me a better player and person. we have grown up together and i love her sooo much
taylor edens has always made me laugh on the bench and offf i love her soo much 
taylor scott is one of the funniest people i ever met she has given me advice for basketball and gave me some of the best tattoos.
aeriel holiday she can be serius and crazy all at the same time i have known her for a long time and i love her soooo much
jada autman and i have too many memories to count
ashlee mclellen is a girl who will tell you like it is 
laura is quiet but unforgettable she has changed so many lives for the better
autumn oliver my bestfriend who is with me through everything

to all these girls i wish the best of luck in high school. this whole time i have taken it all for granted and i wish i could get it back. who really knew a worn out pair of shoes could hold so many memmories. basketball has taught me so many tings and i cant believe it is over i love you all so much i will miss these memmories and it is true we will miss this   times up

God bless and love,
Coach Hawley
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com