Happy New Year to you all!
 

Five teams of brave Knights teams brought in the New Year by traveling the long and winding road to Pasadena for the Vikings New Year's Bash.

Please take some time in the next few days to read about all the action that happened out in ColdLand, USA with our Boys 6th Black, our Boys 6th Gold, our Boys 7th, Boys 8th, and our Girls 8th.

I know that you will all be thrilled to read about our performances.

One thing that you do need to read about now is:

BOYS 8TH TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

Our bad boyz did indeed weather the storm and take a well deserved championship in a very tough bracket.

After winning one and losing one on Saturday, our boys found themselves facing the #1 seed, our friends from AVAC, the first game Sunday morning.

To advance to the championship, we would have to vanquish an old, familiar foe that we have never been able to defeat.

This day was different, though, as our Boys 8th came out determined and smokin!

Full court, pressure man to man defense proved to be the catalyst to an impressive victory.

Highlight of the day was Air Jordan Shum, a plyo-nut, rising high into the air to block the layup attempt of AVAC's nationally renown 6-5 man-child center.

How about Quinn running full speed to challenge and block another layup attempt by the BIG man, with both players hitting the wall and the ground? Though Quinn fouled him, he did make a statement that he and his fellow Knights would not go away quietly this day.

This was a great game against a great foe and all Knights should be proud of the way our undersized Boys 8th hung in there to take the victory by 11 points.

The afternoon game against the Santa Anita Mountaineers was a good game, but lacked the excitement of the semi-final as Sam (the Man) led the team to victory by hitting 3 long range threes in a row to begin the blowout.

To take a championship game by 16 points is quite a feat...and that is just what our Boys 8th did. In fact, our boys won their games by 14, 11, and 16 points, with their lone loss a one pointer to AVAC on Saturday.

Hail to our championship caliber Knights.

Now they can join the Kool and the Gang (Girls 8th) and the Junkyard Dogs (Boys 3rd) as Champions of the Knight.

Both of those teams also won their titles in Pasadena.

Looks like we should play there more often!

Did you know that the plyometrics at the beach was a big success?

So much so that the plyo sessions on Sundays are being moved to the beach and welcoming adults to join in. C-mon all you moms who have been dying to do some of these exercises. Core training is foremost in this regimen and this low impact workout does produce results almost immediately.

The players who have committed to plyo have certainly shown the results.

As I have said before, the noticeable change is: speed, quickness, leaping, and strength. All of our players who are in the program have improved considerably from the Boys 3rd to the Girls 8th.

Most impressive lately is Kyle Farman. The change has been both dramatic and quick. It is as if he were suddenly in more control of his body, like he was given a boost of coordination. Kyle Farman, the newest Knights plyo-nut.

Please read your team e-mails on this subject and see you all there.

Everyone prepare for the AVAC tournament in Lancaster, the weekend of January 19-20. Most of the teams are traveling to Lancaster for a Friday stay to begin their weekend. This is going to be a huge tournament, with over 16 teams in most divisions. There are 10 teams in the Boys 3rd already!

The competition should be high and well as the fun level.

We are sending: Boys 3rd, Boys 4th, Boys 6th, Boys 7th, Boys 8th, Girls 8th.

See you all out there.