State Champs!

O and the Bear traveled up to Orlando on March 17th to compete in the Knights of Columbus state free throw championship.

At the regional level, Bear went first in her age group, missed two of the first three, then made 21 of the last 22. She won comfortably, and moved onto the state level.

O went last in her age group, and one of the girls before her hit 15 of her first 16. O was getting nervous and so I told her to look away and talk to someone. The girl only made 3 of her last nine, but still posted an 18, which is pretty solid. O didn't know the number to beat, but she knew she had to make quite a few. She started off a little shaky, missing all three of her warmups. Then she got hot - and ended up making 22.

We got to Orlando, and Bear went first again, and her group went first. She made 21 of the first 22, and basically put the rest of the kids out of the competition. She made 22 in the end, and became the state champ!

O went first in her group too, and made 18. Not her best, but a solid number. She was still in the lead until the final girl went. The girl was 13 for 15, and looked like she was going to win. She missed one, then another, and you could see the frustration building. She ended up making only 17, and O was a champ too!

The two girls had shot over 10,000 free throws in the 3 months leading up to the competition. They had worked very hard, and I was very proud of how they made the effort to put their best foot forward. And they were rewarded - way to go girls!