April 10, 2015 at 2:02 p.m.
Young team, big opportunity
RBA 5th-grade boys' basketball team headed to state
Young team, big opportunity
The Rhinelander Basketball Association's fifth-grade boys' team, following in the footsteps of their female counterparts, are prepping for the year's biggest tournament.
Coach Shaun Smith said the team will be playing against a large field chock-full of quality competition.
"The tournament is going to be in Appleton and Kimberly, and there are 21 teams competing in Division 2," he said. "There are a lot of teams from around Milwaukee. There's West De Pere and Beaver Dam. It's a lot of the teams the varsity boys have to go through. The tournament is all fifth-grade teams and we have 11 boys going down to play."
The state tournament represents the cherry on top of an incredibly positive year. Smith said for a team with as little experience as his squad had, a 19-5 record is very impressive. In fact, he thinks his guys could have posted an even better mark.
"This was their first season playing games," he said. "For most of the boys, it was their first time picking up a ball at all. They went 19-5 in their season. We had 14 kids on the team, but we would only take 10 players to each tournament to help with playing time, so a lot of times, we were competing without some of our better players. I think if we would have had a roster of 10 with our best kids at each tournament, we could have easily gone 22-2 (as) opposed to 19-5."
All those wins earned the Hodags some positive attention and ultimately a trip to state. Smith said it's a testament to their hard work.
"There's a group of individuals that keep an eye on the teams and how you do in league play," he said. "Once they see you, they send out an invite if they think you're a good team and can play with the other good teams in the state."
Preparation has been a problem for the team though. With so much time between their last game and the state tournament, Smith said he's a little concerned they'll be a little rusty.
"The biggest challenge we've had is this is a little later than this tournament is usually held," he said. "It went over spring break, so we haven't had a lot of time to practice between the end of our season in February and this weekend's tournament, so as far as being prepared, I think we could be a little better, but I just want them to enjoy the moment and have lots of fun."
The Hodags will face Pewaukee and Monroe during pool play Saturday in Kimberly. Finishing either first or second in their pool would assure the Hodags a trip to the round of 16 later Saturday evening. The tournament will conclude with position rounds on Sunday. Regardless of where they place, the Hodags are guaranteed six games during the tournament.
Although they'll do their best to walk away with as many wins as possible, Smith said that's not the real objective. Instead, he wants his team to continue to cultivate a love for the game and enjoy being around their teammates.
"I think our goal for this weekend is mainly just to have fun and finish the year on a fun note," he said. "Winning would be good, but it's not about winning for us. We want everybody to get in and see lots of action in their first experience at a state tournament. The main goal is to have fun."
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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