Other than a brief mention on our FAQ entry, I haven't given any love to my 5th Grade Avispones (Hornets) Basketball Team.  Our school offers a significant amount of sports and extra-curricular clubs.  However, the schedule is nothing like the States.  For starters, forget about each sport having a traditional time of year as its "season."  The season for all sports here is from Feb. to May.  Part of the reason for this is that while we are on a American school calendar, almost every other school in the county runs from Jan. to Oct.  Various schools end up hosting a "Cup," which in effect is a multi-sport, round-robin tournament held over the course of 3-4 months.  So all of our sports are currently mid-season with the Copa Americano.  My 5th grade basketball team also participated in the Copa Village at another school, which I think with a 3-0-1 record, we won;  I'm really not sure.

Our season started in September with practice 2 days a week.  Soccer is obviously the most popular sport here, but basketball surprisingly comes in a distant second.  Before the Copa in Feb., we finally had a scrimmage, or "friendship game" as they call it, with another international school.  Judging from practice, I didn't have high hopes, but thought maybe the competition was even worse given the players' claims about an undefeated season last year.  As it turned out, the friendship game wasn't too friendly.  We got smoked.  At one point, a player on the bench said, "Coach, we're getting slaughtered."  Thanks for the update, Rodrigo.  Our first real game was much closer, but the opponent's reputation still made it feel like a loss to Winthrop. 


The 2007 Avispones after a Village Cup game.

Since the inauspicious start, we've gotten better and they've gotten worse.  The Avispones currently hold a 5-2-1 (Yes, 1 tie...I guess overtime doesn't translate) record, and are riding high with a 4-game win streak.  We also avenged 2 of our losses (one being the scrimmage).

Overall we have a great group of kids and it's been a lot of fun.  I have 4 boys from my class and 8 from other 5th grade sections.  They had never been coached in English before, which I didn't think twice about since they do know the language.  But I didn't realize that it's a whole new ballgame when you start talking about a very specific subject matter with unique vocabulary (I run into the same problem when I work with the school's "Religion/CCD Club.")  It took me a while to figure out what words they weren't understanding.  Another culture shock came in the first game when the refs forced both teams to play man-to-man defense - full-court!  All youth leagues in the States usually force man-to-man, but they also do not allow teams to play defense until the offense crosses half-court.  This creates some order to the game that they are otherwise unable to create at a young age.  But not in Guatemala.  I guess they like chaos on the court; it's frustrating to watch and it makes no sense to force them to full-court press.  Luckily, I have a great point guard and I taught everyone else to just get out of his way so we can bring the ball up the court. 



The biggest shock has been how serious the game is taken at the 5th grade level.  You know I do enjoy winning, but my philosophy on equal playing time (other than reduced playing time for missing practice) was a new concept for the players and parents.  One opposing coach was kicked out of the game with 2 techs, one officiating crew boycotted the start of the 4th quarter until they were paid, and another coach has officially protested our 43-8 victory because the refs did not make my defense back off to half-court once we were up by 25.  (I actually did try to call off the dogs, but my players didn't understand because they've never played this way before).  This is 5th grade basketball people!  The parents are finally off my back, but I'm sure it has more to do with our winning streak than an epiphany on sportsmanship and youth development.  Oh well, it could be worse:  at least I'm not coaching cricket in Pakistan.