Athletes of the Week - Erica and Miguel

The JV girls played their first game of the year on 12/9 against Most Precious Blood. The varsity boys B played right before the girls, so between the JV girls crowd, the leftover varsity boys crowd, and the MPB crowd, the game was well attended. This year’s JV girls team only has two 6th graders. It has six 5th graders. Of these eight girls, three have never played before, so it has a little bit of the feel of a widgets team, trying to fit a bunch of girls together and make a cohesive team. With that said, it wasn’t a big surprise to see a slow start. After a quarter, our girls were down 2-0. We were playing very hard defense, and getting a ton of steals, but we couldn’t get good looks on offense and knock them down. I saw a sign last night at St Vincent de Paul that said “Hustle requires no talent.” I like that sign and that motto was on display early with our girls. All eight players were playing as hard as they possibly could, and that effort was keeping us in it until a few shots started to fall. Erica is not only the tallest girl on the JV team, she’s one of the tallest girls in the whole school. Some tall girls let their height do all the work for them, but not Erica. Erica was playing all out, getting her hands on tons of balls, blocking shots, tipping passes, and generally making life miserable for the MPB girls. She also helped with ball handling, rebounded aggressively, and scored the majority of our points. As she hopefully continues to grow, and works on her offensive skills, she has a chance to be one of the best girls basketball players St Rose has seen, and she is well deserving of the athlete of the week honor.

The two widget boys teams play the same teams through the season, but they play them at different times. So far, the black team has had the tougher schedule, and they’re currently 1-2. The red team has played a couple 3rd grade teams, and they’ve had easy wins, and have had a chance to really work on Play Like a Champion concepts (sharing the ball, playing unselfishly, equal playing time, etc). Last week, our red team beat St James 28-8, to run their record to 3-0. Diallo played very well again, but another 4th grader, Miguel, really stood out. Miguel has as much energy as anyone in the school, and he’s always had lots of athletic ability. He’s starting to harness that energy and ability into a controlled basketball setting, and his basketball skills are really starting to emerge. Miguel can score, and he runs the floor very well. He also runs the point when Diallo’s out. He knows the plays, and he does a good job directing traffic. Miguel’s main strength though is his defense. He is so fast, and so instinctual, that he gets tons of steals. Widget rules require that you stay on your man, and Miguel follows these rules, but you can tell that next year, when he’s allowed to double team, or play zone, or jump the ball, he will be an absolute terror on defense. With Miguel and Diallo as red team leaders, our widget boys red team is in a good position (1st place) going into the Christmas break.

Athletes of the Week - Diallo, Stephan, Mia

Written by AD Mike Thomas
Nov 28 - Dec 5

Girl Athlete of the Week

The widget girls’ team has been steadily improving since the beginning of last year. Coach Slater has remained patient, and kept a long term view, emphasizing skills, teamwork, and defense. It started paying off toward the end of last year, and this year, it’s really starting to pay dividends. In week one, we lost a heartbreaker 10-8 to Blessed Sacrament, but last Friday, our girls finally broke through with a 26-7 win over St Therese. The girls played stifling defense all night long, and got offensive contributions from the whole team. Mia led the way with 10 points, which I believe is a widget girls record for St Rose. Mia is always cheerful, and works to lift the spirits of her teammates. She is a team leader in practice and in games. With Mia, Brooklin, and Madi leading the way for the Raiders, the future looks bright for Coach Slater’s squad.  

Boy Athlete(s) of the Week

It was a clean sweep last Friday for the three St Rose widgets teams. Our girls beat St Therese, our boys red team beat St Pius 3^rd grade 30-17, and our boys black team beat St Pius 4^th grade 24-18. St Rose red is now 2-0, and St Rose black is 1-1. Having one week of game experience definitely showed for our 3^rd graders, as they were much more comfortable and aware on the floor. The way was led though by two fourth graders, Diallo and Stephan. This is the first time we’ve had co-athletes of the week, but I just couldn’t choose between Diallo and Stephan. Diallo has been a leader on the floor for two years now for St Rose, but it has taken him some time to embrace the role of always getting his teammates involved, as well as getting his own points. Last week, St Rose red played a 3^rd grade team, and Diallo could have scored as many points as he wanted to. He scored 4 or 5 baskets early, and then not only started making sweet passes to his teammates, but also directing them around the floor, and putting them in the best positions to receive passes and be able to make shots. Diallo always gets lots of rebounds, and lots of steals, to go along with his assists and points, and is becoming an all-around player who can shine in all aspects of the game, including leadership and being unselfish.

Last year, when we broke up the teams and tried to make two equal teams, we put Diallo on one team, and Jose on the other. With Jose a 5^th grader now, and no longer eligible to play widgets, we had to find a new leader for St Rose black, and Stephan was the choice that jumped out. We knew he was absolutely one of the nicest, politest, and best behaved, most focused, smartest students in the school, and now we know something else. He’s one of the best basketball players in the school. Last week, leading a mixed 3^rd and 4^th grade St Rose black against St Pius’ all 4^th grade team, Stephan led the way with 17 points. He ran the floor extremely well, made a bunch of tough, contested lay ups, and hit his free throws as well. Stephan runs the point for St Rose black, is the defensive leader, and now has grown into a true scoring option. If you get a chance to come watch widget boys games this year, come on out. With Diallo and Stephan leading the way, the widgets are a lot of fun.