By Jim Pilgrim

Last weekend, I was standing at the top of the bleachers looking down on the trainer working on my daughter about 30 minutes before the NJCAA National Championship game. When he put on surgical gloves and pulled out a scalpel, all that did was add to the tension already growing in the arena and in the pit of my stomach. I yelled down to Steph with a questioning look on my face and she replied “It’s OK Dad, he’s just going to pop my blister” (That had developed under a huge callous on her big toe). She was so focused at that point, I think he could have cut off her whole toe and she wouldn’t have skipped a beat.

When she sank her first 3 three-point shots within the first 2 minutes of the game, I knew the magic was still there. The other team we were playing wasn’t not about to fold up like a cheap lawn chair. This team from Boston was hard-nosed and with a 29-2 record they were no push-over. Although we never gave up the lead, we didn’t hold more than a 10 point lead the entire game. With 40 seconds left in the game, 6 seconds on the shot clock, and a 2 point lead we called a timeout to set up a play. Our team responded with perfection. The double screen was executed perfectly and the pass was precise. When Steph’s 3 point shot went through the net we had finally broken the other team’s back.

Overcoming pain and 5 AM practices. Hard work and dedication; working together as a team through the inevitable distractions and personality differences toward a common goal. What a wonderful life lesson for all.

33-1…….31 consecutive wins….…National Champs…….Magic.