Keepin' It 100

It was a busy weekend of games with three trips to the coast and one game in Xela (which we won't talk about on this blog). Our final trip was late Sunday afternoon to the town of Mazate.

The court at Mazate has to be one of the nicest onces that we've seen, it's also a bit off the beaten path, which is why there were very few spectators in attendance, which probably pleased the Young Guns and the Mazate Old Heads.

Young Guns 42 vs. Mazate 48
Despite their best efforts, unfortunately the Young Guns fell to the team from Mazate. Everyone gave it their best efforts, but the Mazate team (which also had a few over 21 players on it) prevailed in the end.

Brandon 17p/1a/17r
Jailen 7p/2r
Gibril 9p/1a/6r
Phillip 9p/2a/10r
Shanice 1r
Manny 2r

Old Heads 101 vs. Mazate 71
The theme of this year's trip is Hoops Sagrado: Keepin' it 100...and that's just what the Old Heads did by scoring 101 points against the team from Mazate. Everyone who played for the Old Heads scored giving Hoops its first "everybody eats" game of the trip.

Bryan 17p/7a/3r
Sam 10p/3a/4r
Aniekan 11p/2a/2r
Dario 15p/5a/10r
Josh 10p/3a/9r
Diggs 19p/1a/3r
Stan 7p/3a/5r
Phillip 2p/3a/4r
Brandon 10p/2r

EVERYBODY EATS!

Hoops Sagrado vs. San Felipe

San Felipe, about an hour and half from Xela is known for two things: chicharron and carnitas and losing to Hoops Sagrado! :)

Sadly, all the chicharron tiendas were closed by the time we hit town on Saturday night, but we were able to keep one of the traditions alive!

Young Guns 52 vs. San Felipe 44
At first glace we thought for sure that the Young Guns were going to be out-matched by the much taller group from San Felipe and while there were some close moments, the Young Guns held it together for an 8-point victory--a victory which included the scoring debut of Kia!**

Brandon 16p/6a/19r
Jailen 18p/1a/2r
Gibril 9p/2a/2r
Manny 3p/2r
Phillip 8p/7r
Kia 3p
Canethia 1r
Antar 1a/1r

Old Heads 78 vs. San Felipe 59
Things were a bit different from the start with the Old Heads clearly dominating the game against San Felipe. Despite the commanding lead, tempers flared amongs members of the Old Heads team with a few angry words tossed about, but fortunately no shoes were thrown. In the end, everyone kissed and made up the Old Heads won by almost 20**.

Bryan 13p/5a/2r
Sam 5p/1a/2r
Aniekan 8p/2a/3r
Josh 11p/4a/9r
Stan 4p/1a/1r
Diggs 7p/1a/3r
Dario 27p/4a/15r
Phillp 2p/2a/3r

**Apologies to all the Hoops Sagrado players as these stats may not tell the complete story since Stat Girl was also responsible for running the board for the both games.

Hoops Sagrado vs. D'Antoni

A very good friend of ours is a teacher at D'Antoni, a private school in the coastal town of Reu. Each year as part of their anniversary celebrations, Hoops spends the morning at D'Antoni playing a couple of basketball games and signing autographs.



The Young Guns were the first group up and we weren't really sure what to expect since D'Antoni's team was made up of students, alumni and a couple of teachers. But proving that age and size don't matter, the Young Guns proved victorious with Shanice making her scoring debut!

Young Guns 52 vs. D'Antoni 32
Brandon 18p/1a/10r
Jailen 12p/2a
Gibril 5p/1a/4r
Manny 3r/2a
Phillip 13p/10r
Antar 1r
Shanice 3p/2r
Canethia 1r




The Old Heads played another selection team from Reu (different from the one they played back at the beginning of the trip and although it was close in the beginning, the Old Heads quick go ahold of things and put the game away.

Old Heads 50 vs. Reu 42
Bryan 13p/4a/2r
Sam 2p/3a/5r
Aniekan 6p/1a/1r
Diggs 3p/5r
Dario 11p/3a/11r
Josh 8p/6r
Stan 7p/1a/4r
Phillip 1/1r

A Day at the Beach

Friday was a day at the beach for Hoops Sagrado.

After playing a couple of games at a school in Reu (game posts coming soon), we boarded Marisol for the 45 minute trip to Champerico, a small town on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala.

Unfortunately, it seems like the municipal government in the coastal area of Guatemala was taking lessons from D.C. (no offense to all of our friends who work for DDOT) because the potholes in the road to the beach were outrageous. Our normal 45 minute trip took about 90 minutes because you can't hit those suckers too hard...To say they are in need of a potholepalooza would be putting it mildly.

We finally got to the beach and it was clearly just what the doctor ordered for everyone. After more than two weeks of Spanish classes, hard work in the basketball camps, basketball games and just learning a new country, everyone needed the break and everyone seemed to have a really good time.

The group spent the afternoon eating seafood fresh from the ocean (literally brought in via the pier about half a mile down the beach) and playing in on the black-sand beaches and in the warm Pacific.

After a full day and with the sun setting, bonfires burning on the beach and lightening in the distance we packed up headed back to the cooler climate of Xela.

Spanish Classes

One of the main components of the Hoops Sagrado program (besides basketball of course) is one-on-one Spanish immersion classes for the students. Each morning from 8am to 1pm, with a 30 minute break around mid-morning, the students study at MesoAmericas Spanish school in Xela. We also really encourage the students to get away from their desks and explore Xela with their teachers.

Although the five horus of class time is proving to be a bit difficult for some of the students this year, most have made the effort to show up relatively on time and pay attention to their teacher. If you listen carefully you can even hear some of them use their newly acquired Spanish-language skills in the afternoon basketball camps.

The students took their first tests last Friday and overall the results were quite good. One student even commented that he wished he had studied this much last year when he didn't pass his Spanish class!

Saturday Night Soccer

Hoops Sagrado is a basketball program. For the five weeks we are in Guatemala we pretty much eat, breath and sleep basketball. However, for two hours at some point during the five weeks, we take a break from basketball and enjoy "the beautiful game."

Xela's professional soccer team, the Super Chivos, has won four national championships throughout the years and is one of the better professional teams in the country. On this Saturday night they were playing Marquense, a rival from San Marcos. The game was fairly typical of La Liga Nacional with some goals, a lot of bad passing, a lot of diving, numerous yellow cards, two red cards and a fight. In the end Xela tied 2-2. Not a loss, but a win sure would have been nice.

This was the first professional soccer game that many of the Hoops students had ever attended and we sure did pick a good one. The stadium was absolutely rocking (probably due to the two for one ticket deal that night). Our seats were at one end of the stadium that is known for it's raucous cheering. There are two large suppport groups for the Super Chivos. One is sorta like DC United's Screaming Eagles and the other is like the Barra Brava. We sat with the Super Chivos Barra Brava.

We're never totally sure how the Hoops students will react to the soccer game, but they usually have a pretty good time. I would say (and I think based on the photo with this post) that this group of students embraced the experience probably more than any other group we've taken to a game.

While basketball will always be the focus of Hoops Sagrado and the students we bring to Guatemala, we may have just gotten a soccer convert or two out of this experience.

Hoops Sagrado vs. Totonicopan

Following a busy week of classes and camps (more to come about those in a future post), we boarded the bus amid a Friday night rain storm for the quick trip to Totonicopan for a couple of games.

We've talked about the uneven officiating in multiple posts and for multiple years, but the officiating on this chilly Friday evening really took the cake--especially in the Young Guns game. The Young Guns game was fairly close throughout with the team winning by as many as six and training by as many as seven throughout. With time running out (literally 7 seconds) Shaq hit three critical free-throws to tie the game at 60. Toto took the ball down court and got a shot off as time was running out, but the ball didn't go in. Then after the whistle on the scoreboard rang out indicating the game had ended in a tie and we would head to overtime, another whistle could be heard indicating a foul.

It's hard to argue with the hometown ref (and believe us, Bryan and Sam tried), but Toto was awarded two free throws with no time left on the clock. They made one. The Young Guns were without a doubt disappointed, but after the initial frustration wore off about the loss, they became a bit philosophical about the whole thing.



Young Guns 60 vs. Totonicopan 61
Shaq 12p/5a/3r
Brandon 15p/3a/7r
Malik 7p/1a/8r
Jailen 14p/1a
Gibril 9p/2a/2r
Manny 3p/1r
Phillip 2a/5r

The Old Heads game was far less controversial (a 40 point difference helps in this case). Hoops alumn and partner Stan Turner arrived in Guate on Friday in time for the Toto game and the Old Heads were also joined by yet another Jeff who is here in Xela studying Spanish and living in the same house as some of the students.



Old Heads 77 vs. Totonicopan 32
Bryan 10p/4a/3r
Sam 2p/4a/4r
Aniekan 10p/4r
Dario 24p/3a/18r
Josh 18p/5r
Stan 4p/2a/3r
Diggs 1a/2r
Phillp 8p/1r
Jeff 3p/1a/4r