2011 in REVIEW

well ... from when i stopped blogging.

27th aug ... sbl grand final (wolves v hawks)

as guests from bwa we were lucky to attend the sbl grand final between the wolves (our team and lewis as a player) and the hawks (our old team and joe-alan as a player). it was a great game and against all odds the wolves won!

11th sept ... the final wicked in australia

due to aeronny not being able to go darrio and i were able to attend the final performance of wicked in australia! thanks aeronny!!

25th sept ... wabl u18/2 grand final (wolves v hawks)

we had been undefeated ALL season ... and losing was NOT an option. we were versing perry lakes hawks which 1) were undefeated except for the two losses we handed them 2) they were theron and dad's old team from last season and they hadnt changed at all.

not only that theron was still in a moon boot and it was NOT an option for him not to play ... boot or no boot. thankfully the doctor gave him the clean bill of health except NO training or playing for 6 more weeks ... yeah that lasted 2 days. well even less than that, theron was told wednesday afternoon he didnt need the boot and exactly 12 hours later he was at training and that sunday he was suited up for the grand final.

after a VERY stressful game ... WE WON!!! the boys won by 1 and it was dad who worked his magic from above. as soon as the final siren went the boys scream and ran into the huddle, tears flowing freely. mum was in tears and i was losing myself, screaming, hollering, cheering, crying and then mum and i both looked up. walking across the court with his hair sticking up straight, the biggest smile on his face and tears in his eyes was lewis. he came straight to me and gave me the biggest hug and then cried into mum's shoulder. he had done it. he had coached an undefeated season and brought home the championship for daddy.

l to r: lewis, theron, luke

october ... the one direction obsession begins

l to r: zayn, harry, louis, niall, liam

one direction is a band from the uk which was formed on the x factor by simon cowell ... which is laman's term means ... they will be a worldwide sensation. little did we know that in october when darrio first discovered them on youtube and there started. now ill admit it ... im partial to the old boybands - westlife, nsync, backstreet boys, human nature, boyzone, take that ... and these boys are pretty good. simon cowell is a genius.

december ... the 1st christmas without daddy

we spent christmas eve with the dowes and celebrating terry's birthday and it was an awesome night with theron and darrio both enjoying themselves with noah and oscar and even taui popping in and having dinner with us.

for christmas day we spent the day with our family ... the dales and tonys extended family. tony did not want us to be alone on christmas and because we are apart of his family ... we were welcomed with open arms. the day was amazing ... taui came and actually spent the day with us, darrio had fun in the pool, theron and joe acted more like brothers with every passing second and the day ended with taui and darrio providing the music to a christmas and one direction sing along :)

our christmas tree ... with the black bird (for dad) and the white bird (for mum)

our gifts from the dales ... the only one that was fooled was theron ... somehow that didnt surprise us!

"WELL that was stupid ... haha NOMINATION!!"

at the start of the WABL season, lewis had a brainwave of an idea ... each week the team would nominate someone to be "Suit B***h" of the week

nominations have varied from whoever made the stupidest comment, constant uniform violations, wearing football socks instead of basketball socks, or the most harsh type of nomination ... the 'injured' nomination.

the hideous jacket was found for 50c at the local op shop and it reminds me of a male version of the 'Travelling Pants' ... the jacket really did fit everyone in the team from the three 'shorties' of the team - theron, brody and luke to the 'biggies' - cameron, jordan and jay.

well when i say fits, that doesnt mean that it didnt look huge on the 'shorties' or that it means that the sleeves didnt come up to the elbows of the 'biggies' ... but that was the best part of it!

MY constant REMINDER

this is my iphone background.

to most people it looks like nothing special, just some random wall.

to basketball people they will recognize it's wanneroo wolves.

to my family they will know that it's our 1st of 2 basketball homes ... where we feel closest to dad and where we feel welcomed.

to me ... its a reminder. a reminder of my dad, a reminder of the love and honour the wolfpack has for my dad, a reminder of the tribute weekend when the wolfpack men and women played in honour of dad, a reminder of the one minute silence they had for my dad ... a reminder that the men won by 34 points over the magic for my dad.

everytime i look at my iphone (which let's face it is quite often) i remember all these things and most important i remember my dad and love him even more than i did a minute ago.

FIRST pinker in a cast EVER

yeah ... i think we have all established that 2011 is not a good year for the pinker family. with only 8 weeks until WABL grand finals and 2 months until state tryouts theron has fractured his ankle and damaged his tendons ... not good.

it happened during his normal monday night game at joondalup ... he went up for a layup, landed on the opposition's foot, heard a snap, tried to walk it off and crumpled to the ground. we didnt think it was too bad but we did go to hospital and lucky we did because out theron comes in a cast and with an appointment with the facture specialist for the next day :(

the good thing to come out of the whole night ... theron is cared about. we had not only his teammates run over to him but his WABL teammates who were playing on the next court came running over during their game to see if he was okay.

our goal now ... lets just pray for a miracle ready for WABL grand finals!!

ONE of the hardest days YET

today was the day that we all were looking forward to ... with a heavy heart and bucketloads of nerves.

it was the last NITP camp of the year ... and the first that we have gone to without dad. the first camp without dad was just a few weeks after the funeral and we just couldnt do it. this camp theron was running with the squad and i was going to coach ... something i havent done in years and not at this level ... this was state level ... come on now people ... state level ... i can barely follow the plays that the wolves play ... as you can probably tell i was stressing.

in the end ... the day was fantastic. theron had a little hiccup about lunch time and i had a little attack just before the drills started but we were there in honour of dad and everything he had laid the foundation for this ... for theron and i to continue his work ...

A good night OUT

my wallet and bag are FULL of these little ticket stubs. i honestly think all the sports stadiums in perth have a supply agreement with the company.

everytime i see one of these little ticket stubs i have so many good memories to look back on. all the hawks, wolves, senators, marlins, royals, tigers, tuart hill, heat games from the past several years ... all of them involving the people that mean the most to me ... my family and our teams.

these tickets are from the last WABL game at stirling this season ... good times :)

MR popular, that's HIM

every school holidays means one thing ... wildcats camp. theron started wildcats camp as a camper when he was only 7 years old, so four times a year he would sign up and learn from some of the best players in the state. when he turned 13, theron became too old for the camp but he had been there longer than any of the wildcat players themselves ... he had outlasted all of them.

theron then became a camp helper at the tender age of 13 ... he would go down a few days before camp started and he would pack up the bags, pump all the balls and help with the registrations of the campers. at the age of 15, theron upgraded to being a camp coach where he was now coaching the campers with the wildcat players.

the funniest part of the camp is when its autograph time and all the coaches line up and theron is amongst the wildcat players having kids lining up and asking him for his autograph and even asking him for a photo or two. its even funnier when we go to the wildcat games and you see kids from the camp wearing their signed shirts and you can see theron's signature on their shirts!

KNIGHTS grand final = CHAMPIONS

l to r jamie, tom, nelson, benjamin, theron

all season long the knight's have won every game ... and by a decent margin. an entire undefeated season rests on one game ... as it did last season. however this season would be different. the boys were not going to lose in the grand final even though they were going to be without mike their coach and the other player on the team, jeremy.

despite not having a coach, the boys still had the mothers all encouraging (if not yelling a little loudly) them on and after a well meaning rocket up their bum speech at half time, the boys went on to play seriously and in the end, win the game.

hilarious side note to the game: the opposition was theron's best friends team ... so not only were we cheering for the knights but we were also cheering for the opposition (just as loudly) and getting shouted down by our own mothers haha

the game was filled with theron and josh going up against each other, a lot of butt taps between each team and a sign for the opposition's point guard on the knights bench (that was me)

JIMMERMANIA has hit SACRAMENTO

jimmer has a home and he is playing in my beloved #7 ... im purple during football season and now im purple in basketball season ... well im always a boston baby but im a boston kings baby now :)

WOLVES @ the PALACE

the match of the two undefeated teams ...

the match of the best offence against the best defence ...

the match was intense from the tip off and was really close, which is something that both teams havent experienced this season. the hawks have been together as a core for nearly 3 years straight and the wolves were (literally loving) handpicked by you and lewis just a few months ago.

in the end your boys pulled away in the 3rd quarter and handed the hawks their first defeat of the season. during the final quarter the game had lost control and there were tech fouls being called here there and everywhere. the hawks coach lost his rag (as usual), the wolves coach acting cool, calm and collected (as usual) and the boys will just chilling on the court while the game was still going!!

the final score wolves 76 - hawks 64

WOLVES tribute match NIGHT

you and theron (and the family) had only moved to the wolfpack during the off season but because of your commitment to basketball across the state and theron being a hononary wolfpack since he started at woodvale we always felt at home at the den.

that weekend after you had gone the wolfpack held their home games against mandurah magic in honour of you. both the womens and mens wore black armbands and they even had a minute silence just before the mens game.

the wolves definitely know how to honour someone special in the pack :) 

the womens won 80-60 and the mens won 115-81. 

THEY did it for YOU

just days after you passed daddy your boys played their hearts out, with honour in their game and their heads held high.

all the tears, the sweat, the fouls, the layups, the missed layups, the timeouts, the blocks, the 3 pointers, the black armbands, the minute silences, the grand final ... everything was for you.

your boys did you proud daddy.

MARLINS v ROYALS

it was only 4 days since you had passed and it was theron's friday night grand final.

you would have loved this game ... the game of the season ... the grand final ... marlins v royals. this meant of course that out of the 13 boys playing 10 had either been coached directly by you at some point or they were close to you through theron.

the game got physical and tempers flared but they flared because it was for you ... these boys were playing with the raw emotion that they just couldn't deal with in any other way but fight for the ball and fight for the win.

but you would have been proud, the marlins won and they played and won for you.

WE are BYU

we shared the trimuphs. we shared the defeats. their victories are our victories. their pain is our pain. countless unseen, united by a common hertiage and by passion. we stand, we cheer, we believe. across the nation, around the world. in the stands and in our homes. we rise and we shout. one path. one hope. one team.

we are BYU.