Awards Night, My Thoughts

Thank you once again to everybody who came out to Awards Night, and especially those who were there the entire time. The show ended a little before 10:30 p.m. if you had to cut out, and it's too bad cause you missed a great slideshow as well as the 7th/8th grade volleyball champions.

I know it's very long, but that's the nature of the beast with so many teams. I don't have a solution on how to cut down on the night, but if you do, I am all ears.

Hope you enjoyed yourself and found the night a memorable one.

So some thoughts from Awards Night in no particular order:

-Who wins the awards and who votes on these awards?

All boys coaches are eligible to vote for awards for boys and all girls coaches are eligible to vote for awards for girls.

First, the coaches nominate as many names as possible and the top three, sometimes four, are placed onto the official ballot.

That is where the coaches rank the choices from 1-3, and whoever has the most points gets the award.

The only award that is chosen by me is the Lady Byng award. Otherwise, my vote counts just as much or as little as everybody else's.

-Winners

Let's break it down by category:

Boys Rookie of the Year - For me, it was a toss up between Matthew and Edzon. Edzon probably got more votes than Matthew based on the fact he scored more, which is usually a good gauge for basketball.

Boys Hustle Player of the Year - Garrick was the best known out of all the players, which helped, and on top of that you can always tell when Garrick is on the court. Even if he is not scoring, he seems to be around the ball, whether it's basketball or soccer. 

Boys Most Improved Player of the Year - My vote went to Jason Ng, but that's not to say Jason Lei, the winner, was not deserving. Like Leslie mentioned, Jason L. started playing just last year, which is impressive considering what a force he has become. Couldn't go wrong with either one.

Boys Player of the Year - Poor Raymond, who always seems to be a runner up in this category, maybe his 8th grade year will be the charm. It's always tough going against Jonathan who is a fan favorite it seems. However, Jason L. looked like he was a front runner at the beginning of the year, but Jonathan's presence on the court is unquestionably so valuable. With two more years to go, he has a chance to break Derek's record of MVPs. Granted, Jonathan was eligible to win more years than Derek.

Girls Hustle Player of the Year - Two years in a row for Kelly. I think Christine could've pulled an upset, as she plays like a mini-Kelly, if that's even possible. But Kelly, always not afraid to mix it up, and you can tell other teams do not like playing against her, which is a huge compliment.

Girls Most Improved Player of the Year - This was a tough one as Veronica pretty much single handedly put the 4th grade girls into the playoffs with her performance in the final regular season game. On top of that, she's just so much better than a year ago, and even then she was pretty good. From 0 to 5 wins, very impressive.

Christine's play really gave her team confidence when Kaela was out, and her huge game towards the end of the year was a much needed win that the 6th graders needed to have a more favorable playoff matchup. 

But it was hard to not vote for Fiona based on the fact she probably has the best all around game of the three nominees. She sees the court so much better, and finds her teammates well. She can shoot the 3 ball now as well as drive to the basket.

Girls Player of the Year - Cynthia prevailed possibly because it was her last year and the other two nominees, Jamie and Fiona both have one year left. If this voting took pace midway through the season, Cynthia probably doesn't win. But down the stretch Cynthia put up multiple double figure games, and was really the glue and leader of the often absent 8th grade team.

Volleyball Player of the Year - Also a toughie. Kaela undoubtedly the leader of the 6th graders, firing up the team with motivational chants as well as her play.

Edwena, with all her experience now playing outside of just St. Mary's, is probably the most polished out of the three and was deserving.

But in the end, Cynthia prevailed due to her leadership qualities and how the players on her team looked at her as an example. The way she encouraged her teammates and directed traffic during games and practices could not be overlooked. And she is a pretty skilled volleyball player herself.

Lady Byng - Justin gets this award just simply on his effort and willingness to try and do it all. He's played all three sports in his time at St. Mary's, and even when so many 8th graders didn't play baseball this year, he still played, knowing that it would probably be a year where the team wouldn't win many, or any games.

All the coaches who have ever coached him always mention Justin as a great player to coach, but unfortunately sometimes his teammates weren't as cooperative.

You could tell Justin always put it all out on the line. So good game, good effort.

AND...before we go, this was cut from Awards Night because I forgot about it, but this was pretty funny, albiet brief. Take a look. See ya pals.