Hello old friends

Thursday was a big day for Hoops Sagrado. In the morning we met at the school where the students will spend the next few studying Spanish and about Guatemala and the Mayan culture.

We were greeted by our old friends and long-time partners Tito Morales Sam, Jaime Garcia, Malba Raymundo, Maria Salanic and Yanira Yaxon as well as some new friends who have joined the program to teach. Following an introductory lecture about Xela and Guatemala the students split up into several groups and went on a tour of Xela with their teachers.

In the afternoon, the directors of the four aldeas we work with: Xejuyup, Pachaj, Chiriquiac and Chuisuic met us at the school and took the students to their respective villages where they will be spending the next 10 days running the basketball clinics. The students seemed to have a really great time on their first day of camps. We'll have each camp write a post for the blog as the days go by.

Following the camps and dinner we all walked to the gym for two games versus our old frenemies, the local Xela team. Over the years, we've become more friends than enemies with the Xela team, but that still doesn't mean we want them to win the games when we play each other!

The Young Guns were up first and they were quickly introduced to the side of Guatemala basketball that we tried to warn them about. Fortunately, despite the many obvious fouls (that of course weren't called) everyone remained calm and they worked together as a team against the Xela sub-21 team. Unfortunately though it wasn't enough for a win and the Young Guns fell to Xela.

Young Guns: 31 vs. Xela: 46
Alec: 3R
Daniel: 5P/1R/1A
Demani: 5P/1R/1A
Sanu: 13P/10R/1A
Carlton: 2P/2R/
Carlos: 1R
Manny: 1R
Nigel: 1R
Malik: 6P/6R

While the Hoops Sagrado Old Heads were on a bit of a winning streak against Xela in the past few years, this year the streak was broken. Yesterday was the birthday of our friend Alex who plays on the Xela team, so we'll say it was our birthday gift to him.

Old Heads: 52 vs. Xela: 56
Bryan: 8P/3R/3A
Hitch: 5P/4R/2A
Josh: 17P/7R/2A
Mark: 12P/5R/4A
Diggs: 2P/3R
Alex: 5R
Malik: 6P/4R
Daniel: 1R/1A
Sanu: 2P

On Friday, it will be the first "normal" day for the students: Classes in the morning, camps in the afternoon and dinner at the school Friday night.