After a 3-hour drive through enough rain to put off a hosepipe ban for another 5 years, I thought I was hallucinating when I spotted one of our club minibuses in the car park yesterday. Had I driven around in circles and taken a wrong turn on the M6 to end up in Whalley Range? I hadn’t realized Magic U16s were playing at the same venue.
Unfortunately, Magic failed to produce enough of their name and couldn’t overcome a powerful Derby Trailblazers U18s. Mystics’ U14 game v Trailblazers U16 followed this but our opponents weren’t as powerful as the team Magic faced.(Water pistol compared to power washer.)
We began as tentatively as a vegetarian opening a tin of spam. This is often the case when playing on a strange court. (It wasn’t strange due to it being bright yellow, it was just that we had never played there before.) We missed a couple of early lay ups, possibly because the basketball was so bouncy that if there had been no roof, it would now on its way to the moon. The ball was as over-inflated as an American politician’s own opinion of his own fabulousness. (A word I’ve just made up.)
It soon became evident that our pace and range of passing would prove to be as problematic To Derby as I find trigonometry. Consequently, I was able to share court time equitably amongst the 11 Mystics on show. All 11 made positive contributions (over and above shelling out for their match fee.)
Without being at their very best (which, by all accounts they were the day before under James’s tutelage in their impressive 72-45 win over a strong Leicester Riders U16s), the girls did produce enough flashes of brilliance to secure a very comfortable 85-23 victory to maintain their excellent start to the season- U14 Northern Prem. 1-0, U16 Northern Conf. 3-0.
Many thanks to James, Annmarie and Lorna for all you do for our team plus to our fab parents for your support and taxi driving.
Please could you inform Annmarie of any unavailability re. training and games on 26 Oct and 2 and 3 Nov.