WE'RE HEADED TO STATE!!

For the first time EVER in our high school's history, our golf team is headed to STATE!  The team placed 6th to become the final team out of 12 to make the cut yesterday!  Congratulations, boys!

For our family, this is extra-special, because our two middle boys play on the team together.  Jacob isn't quite as big of a golf fan as his older brother, but decided to play, anyway.  We're glad he did! He's improved tremendously and is now enjoying the sport and techniques of improving his play.

Zachary is passionate about golf. He has been on the golf team for all five years of its existence, beginning in junior high.  Now, in his Junior year in high school, his (and other's) hard work has paid off!

As a fan, golf is interesting.  You don't pay an entrance fee, but you can pay for - or bring - a golf cart. Pretty comfy seats for this sporting event!  But, the event lasts several hours. This even was 36 holes, beginning at 8:00 a.m. in the morning and ending about 5:30 p.m.

But then we played the waiting game.....
For an hour and a half we waited to find out the results of the other teams.  Can you imagine waiting an hour and a half to see if a team won a basketball game or football game?  How about not knowing how your team was doing until after each quarter?  What about not knowing your standings until half-time?  What if you couldn't tell how your teammates were doing?  Golf is an interesting sport!

So we made it!  By two shots....beating out two other teams by just that little bit....to get the final 6th placing to make it to State.  We made it!  I say "we", but I didn't do any of the work :).  THEY MADE IT! What a GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT!  But "we", as a community, as a school, as the golf family as a whole....made it!

And we're excited!  

The State games will be long, too.  Thirty-six holes one day. Eighteen the next.  Two days of play.  We're not sure how the teams will be ranked.  We're not sure what will happen.  We do know we're glad to get to be there.  We know that our boys will play hard and try their best.  And that's what matters!

Here are a few other pictures from the golf game.  There were tons of ladybugs on the greens!  I wonder if they placed many there intentionally - for the greens health?

And this picture: Little brother helping his older brothers by taking their pull carts to the vehicle for them.  Our daughter is out of college, so so was able to be there, too. Our WHOLE family was there together.  Very special! And we will be for the State games, too! That's pretty neat.

Congratulations, Tigers! We're proud of you!

ALL THE WAY TO STATE!

This picture is from City League Basketball 7 or 8 years ago.  We knew then - well, even before then - that this group of boys had amazing talent, and that we would see them go far in sports when they were in high school. And they haven't proved us wrong one bit!

They've dropped a few teammates (one being my son, who is pictured here, but decided that he would rather play golf than the other sports) and added a few, but they've just continued to grow and mature, and added some discipline and control along the way, to make them get to where they have gotten so far.

This year, for the first time EVER, the Tipton Tigers won the Area Championship!  That meant they got to go to the STATE basketball tournament in Oklahoma City!  We played last Thursday.  It was an exciting time, and although we didn't get past the first game of the State Tournament, it was still a great accomplishment to get there. We are all looking forward to getting back there next year, and getting past that first game.  We want to play at THE BIG HOUSE!  They will do so next year, just by getting to the State Tournament.  But they will play there on Friday night, too.  They will do it! I just know it!

              

Our nephew, Travis (pictured right), is the coach for the boys' basketball team.  Taking them to State hadn't been done in Tipton basketball for 40 years! Coach Chambers, pictured left, accomplished that task through the losers' bracket, in 1974!  How neat that he was able to go cheer on Travis' team this year! He is a great supporter of our schools' athletics. I'm sure he could easily remember the excitement he felt, himself, 40 years ago!

Growing up in a smaller town than Tipton, basketball was our "big" sport. I'm always sad when the basketball season is over.  And for Tipton, since we made it to State in football, it shortens the basketball season by a month.  That makes it extra-fast!  So, I don't like to hurry things up or see my children's lives go any faster, but I must admit that I'm ready to shout again, "ALL THE WAY TO STATE!" :)  Go, Tigers!