Remarkably, and a feat in and of itself, the entire team showed up at the meeting spot at the designated time and we left ahead of schedule. I was quite proud. Unfortunately, some hot heads early in the tournament day made some of my pride fade away.
We played 3 games, all 40 minutes long. Our first game was against Sheki. We had an early lead, but our team got a bit too cocky and sloppy late in the game. We finished up 12-11 Mingechevir. The second game was against a new team, Tovuz. Tovuz had already won their first game against Gence at 7-6 and that was our fate, as well. This game, though, is quite notable because each team had an air of bad sportsmanship stinking up the field. It was the most intense game and, for me, the most frustrating. In a way, I wish both teams could've lost this one. The final game was the opposite of everything the 2nd game was and spirits were high as we went against our 'rivals,' Gence. After threatening to pull people out of the game, the team was able to push aside their attitudes and start supporting other teams. We were able to win the final game 13-7. Currently, we're tied for first with Tovuz with a 2-1 record.
I've been working with this project for 3 seasons now and it's still one of the most fun things I get to do. Even though this round had problems that we had never had before, we do have a fantastic group of kids. Sometimes, though, as much as I hate to admit it, this team needs to learn how to lose... something they've really never had to do before. Hopefully, they'll learn from this first tournament for the next 2 (of which I'll sadly be absent from) and come out on top the right way.
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