One could only imagine the problems that would ensue if a school representative forgot to open a gym for a tournament. Well, that’s exactly what happen in the MP Elite 9th Annual SXSW Kickoff tournament.
The Gus Garcia staff member was a no show Saturday morning which left seventeen 6th, 7th and 8th grade teams, schedule to play over 20 games, out in the cold. Tournament director Herb Jones desperately tried to find other location options; however, spring break vacation made it impossible to find an alternative. While principals from other schools where willing to open their doors, no school officials were around to open the gyms.
So HTX Fire found themselves without games on Saturday. So they headed out to a local city center in Austin and ate at California Pizza. Then; followed that up with a short walk to the iPic Movie theater. The feature show, which was a incredible display of movie tech wizardry, was Oz, The Great and Powerful. The team gave the movie a big thumbs up and the theater itself a big ‘Wow’!! If you haven’t had the opportunity to go to an iPic theater, your missing out on reclining plush leather seats usually seen inside a home.
Sunday, HTX Fire was finally allowed to get on the court and they came out as one would expect a team who spent the previous day thinking about everything but basketball…sluggish. The long delay and being a little intimated by playing the 7th grade Oklahoma Magic led to a 9 point deficit at half. However, the team regrouped and came out with a vigor with led to a near perfect 2nd half outpointing the Magic 15-2 for the win.
Tournament director Herb was able to get HTX Fire two more games, if only short running clock games, against 6th grade teams MP Elite an Bryan’s Lady Hoopstarz. The Fire made short work of both those teams and left the tournament 3-0 moving them to 13-1 on the year. The hefty fall schedule has paid dividends as the team continues to demonstrate vast improvements in offense and especially defense.
It is unfortunate that a competitive and 1st class event was put into a state of disarray, but be sure that long time annual event will be ready to play host to the many competitive teams next year.
