What's Up!
It's Malachi coming at you this week. School - one snow day, no school Friday.
This past weekend Team Final was in the Clash for the Cup Tournament. We never played Team Final ball, so we really just participated in this one. Our first game was against St. Michael's we played okay in that game, it was a blow out win for us, but I just felt we didn't run our sets like we usually do, and our rotations on defense wasn't good; but it was our first game in the tourney so I just felt things would get a lot better the next game.
Our 2nd game was against Cali, it was the game everybody in the gym was waiting to see. The game was scheduled for 5:30, we were hyped up and ready to get it on, one layup and a foul call later the game was stopped and pushed back to 7:30. The roof was leaking, and at both ends of the floor it was really slippery, so we had to wait to use another court. That two hours of down time was not a good thing for us, some of my teammates said they were a little tired; and hungry. I'm not using that as an excuse, because Cali had to wait just like us; when we started warming up again, it just seem like the excitement just wasn't there for our team. It showed in the game too, it just seem like we were a step behind, and we never got into a team rhythm offensively and defensively. To me, it had nothing to do with them; it was more about what we weren't doing as a team. We wind up losing by 7. This was my third time playing against T. Dorsey; I'm 0-3 against him and his teams. Cali was good, but I know we can beat them, no doubt about that.
Our 3rd game was against Team Scan, I'm still to this day mad about that loss. We never got it together after the game against Cali. How we loss the game, I don't know, what happened during the game, I don't remember, who did what, it doesn't matter....three games and out has never happened to me before, and I'm gonna make sure me and my team never, ever, ever let that happen again.
I stayed at the gym after our game, which is a first for me, usually after a loss I'm outta there quick, and I don't like to talk to anyone afterwards. But this time I stayed to watch the rest of the games. A few coaches came up to me and asked how we lost, and then walked away with a little smirk on their face, some players from other teams did the same thing, I'm not gonna forget that smirk when I workout and especially when we play against them (believe that!!). I know I have to stay within the team concept, but for me it's not business as usual anymore, I'm taking it personal. Thanks for the EXTRA motivation!
When I got home Sunday night, I did my stretching exercises, my boy Fresh turned me on to them, what a difference it makes when I get up in the morning. After that I turned my music on and went to bed; I needed my rest, because I was getting up at 5:30am to hit the gym before school. It's been a minute since I did the early morning workouts, but only winning one game in the Clash for the Cup tourney is enough motivation for me.
Check me out next week....
"Malachi"
PS: Shout out to Isaiah Briscoe's Dad and Nassir Barrino's Uncle....lol
