In a first for MMFS Athletics, the Lightning Varsity Basketball team traveled out of state to compete in the KSA Pre Holiday Tournament in Orlando, Florida—a sign of the growth and success of the program. The Dec. 17 to Dec. 21 trip was ostensibly about basketball skills, competition, and team bonding. But there was also a fair amount of fun on this trip, with visits to the Universal theme parks. Here is a recap of the trip:
Day 1
After settling in at our hotel in Orlando, we headed to the Gaylord Convention Center for practice. Walking in was a little overwhelming. There were six regulation sized courts, each with two teams practicing and two teams waiting. We got onto Court 3 and had a good hour of practice. We even had 20 minutes to ourselves on the full court, which was a great experience.
Day 2
Our first game of the tournament started out great as we quickly jumped out to a 10-2 lead. However, the team from Texas kept chipping away, and their high pressure defense caused us some problems. The competition was even but we were a little rusty, with the game ending in a loss.
All was not lost, however, as we ended the day at Islands of Adventure, one of the Universal theme parks. After dinner, we made it an early night because the next morning’s matchup was at 8:30.
Day 3
By 7:15 we were on a bus heading to the convention center. We were up against a powerful team from Georgia who had a ton of size on us, but we came to compete and played one of our better games of the season. We handled their pressure with ball movement and crisp passing while taking advantage of open space. We doubled effectively in the paint and kept the game close until the fourth quarter, where their 3 point shots were too much for us to handle. We were very proud of the boys for their effort and how they represented us.
After the game, it was back to the hotel before heading to the parks for a full day of fun in the sun.
Day 4
With lots of time to kill before our late afternoon game, we went to the hotel bowling lanes and learned that we are better basketball players than bowlers. We had a lot of fun, anyway. Then we headed to the convention center for our last game, versus a team from Miami, which we won in convincing fashion, with everyone getting a good amount of court time.
After our win, we watched the exciting championship game, which ended 64-63. The day ended with the KSA Events Celebration of Athletes party at the convention center, featuring a DJ, dance floor, and laser lights. It took the boys a little while to warm up, but some of them eventually braved the dance floor to dance the night away.
The consensus is that it was an awesome trip. The Lightning team represented themselves well both on and off the court, learning valuable lessons about basketball, life, travel, friendship, and, yes, bowling.
MMFS offers a competitive athletics program concentrating on skill development and training, teamwork, leadership, fitness, and health. For more information visit https://marymcdowell.org/student-life/athletics/.
