Ares Basketball attended a AAU basketball tournament in the Pleasanton and San Ramon areas hosted by Top Notch Tournaments this past Saturday. This was our club’s second time attending this tournament both times seeing some competitive match ups. This time around we brought our 13/14u and our 11u teams.
Ares Basketball 13/14u Team
This team has shown great improvement since their last time out at a Top Notch Tournament. The first game had a great offensive start to it. Our newest member, Torey, seemed to start trusting his team. Everyone knows Torey can easily drop 20-30 points a game, but what made a huge differance in the first game was passing. The entire team knew where to be. Torey drew the defense and opened up the rest of the team to do some work dropping a collective 50+ points in that one game.
In games 2 and 3 the group was not as fortunate. They fought well on both games giving it their all for the first half only to lose their legs into the second. Most of the issues came from the defense. Reacting instead of reading really played a role in their fatigue.
Fighting fatigue is hard when playing basketball. This is where repetition is important and why we push our athletes when mistakes are made in practice. We believe in practicing how you play. If you practice like you play then the mistakes made when practicing are less likely to happen on the court.
Ares Basketball 11u Team
Our newly 11u squad had an impressive first game. With only 5 on the court, they rocked it. Coming out the gates, it took a little while before the 5 on the court became loose playing with each other. We went down 6 quickly but bounced back quickly and took the lead 10-6 and ended up walking away with a demanding win.
Like the other team, the next two games didn’t come as easy. Our first half with the scholars was a defensive battle. Our defense answered back every time we had a turn over, we forced a turnover. However, with the court longer and still a bunch of new players on the team, there was only so long we could keep the defensive intensity up without scoring a bucket.
At the end of the day, if you take each game win or lose as a learning experience, you are already a winner. As a coach and director, I already knew that the 11u was not walking away with a medal. The opportunity rose for us to play against a 12u for our last game, and as I expected, we lost but walked away with a lot of experience and knowledge.
Looking for a team?
Do you live in the Tracy, Stockton, Patterson, Manteca areas and looking for a travel basketball team? Visit aresbasketball.com to sign up for tryout information.