Championship!

It was early Summer of 2022 when I received a text from our Skyline Basketball League Commissioner asking me if I wanted to be a Captain of a team. I was pretty new to the league, still getting my feet under me, I hesitated, asked my former teammates if I should do it. They were all emphatic and said “YES!”. So, I signed up to be a captain, I thought of it as a learning opportunity, an opportunity to showcase some leadership skills, and management skills. A career goal of mine is to become a leader within my organization, managing a team or even a product. I saw this as a blessing I didn’t want to block.

I have always loved the game of basketball, I grew up with the Lakers winning multiple championships, the LA Sparks being a force in the WNBA, and the heard all about the legend John Wooden with UCLA. I even tried out to play basketball at school in LA, but my grades were too low and wasn’t able to even finish try outs. That was on me, since then, I just played in our backyard or at the local basketball courts. I even made dumb And1 kind of videos with the old homies of me playing basketball, even made a YouTube skit about basketball back in the college days. I will share that below. I loved basketball but I never played it competitively.

Then came a former colleague at Yahoo, at the time he was asking to see if there was anyone in the office that wanted to play basketball. I was shy and rejected the offer, I didn’t play any sports, did any exercise, the thought of running got me sick! I was almost 15 years removed from playing any sports. But something clicked the second time around and I did it. I signed up, this was 2019. I was hyped, I went to the mall with my guy, Marcell, I bought a jersey, shorts, compression pants, and new shoes. I was ready for Winter 2019 season. The season started, it was a rough one for me, I couldn’t even run 5 minutes straight. I was tired, out of shape, and regretting every moment of it. But the team was super understanding, we were undefeated going into March 2020… Then we all know what happened there.

The league was shut down. I was devastated.

A few months went by, our commissioners wanted sent surveys on how to continue the league, then roughly at the end of 2020 early 2021, the season started again. New teams, new faces, same passion for the game. I was on a new team and to me this team felt different, they weren’t as inclusive as the first one I was a part of. I’m not saying I’m the best player, I’m not. We all have our skills, I know mine, defend, set screens, bring the chaos. I was so left out on this team, that even when we were down 15 points, I didn’t get to play. I sat on the bench for a whole quarter. I spoke to the captain to try to make some sense out of it, but I knew then, I wasn’t a part of the team. I learned from that.

The season came to an end, the commissioners started a group text with me and told me that I should “try out Skyline Basketball league, it’s more of your speed.” I was angry, I was frustrated, I was ashamed. “More your speed”. That line hurt.

I reached out to the commissioner of Skyline Basketball and it was all love as soon as I joined. I was drafted into a team and it felt great, I was getting good minutes, running up and down the court. I enjoyed it. We didn’t make it far in the playoffs, but that was fine, I felt included. That’s all I ever wanted. But I knew I still wanted more. I wanted to win, to show those who doubted me.

Winter session 2022 began, I was drafted to a new team, Team Macias, a father and son team mixed in with a couple of high school friends of the son. It was fantastic. I was exactly what I thought a pick-up league was going to be, involving you as best as they can, making in game adjustments, and directing you to better yourself. We were a stacked team, we had height, shooters, and good defenders. We won the Winter Session 2022 Championship! I was ecstatic!

That brings me back to being asked if I wanted to be a Captain for the Summer 2022 session. After I accepted this new challenge, I began doing my research, I read the draft paperwork sent before our draft, read up on the new players, focused on what I needed as a team, and what would make us a contender. At this time, I still wasn’t as in shape as I wanted, but I have been getting there. So as a new captain, I drafted first, I went with the shooter with the most points, a big body, a former teammate that is a beast in the paint, a player I had faced before who has the smoothest 3-point shot, and a few new players for the league. I thought I was set.

I was wrong!

We went 1-11 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. What went wrong? What could I have done better? Why did this happen this way? The answer to these questions was, we didn’t play as a team. We didn’t mesh, we were angry at each other, we wanted to win, but didn’t care about including each other to get to that goal. I blew up the team. I knew I had good pieces for a championship run, but just not the right mentality. I learned from that.

Winter 2023 was here! Since I don’t score many points, I drafted first. Again, I did my research, I did my homework, I came to the “free run” for the new players. I had it all planned out, I had scenarios if people I wanted were picked, I had 5 different draft boards. I was ready. Boom, first player I picked was Trey. I knew he could shoot, drive, and pass. In the previous session he scored 40 points on my team. I had my total offense. Then I picked, Laron, I knew from playing against him a couple of times, that he can shoot lights out and can guard anyone on the court! I had my second option. I know I needed height, that’s where Ethan came in, 6’7 with a massive wingspan, I played against him once and saw exactly what I needed; paint presence. I was amazed when we played our first couple of games, he was a three-point machine. Then there is Nate, the legend in the paint. He can get any rebound that comes near him, he can defend anyone put in front of him, and he can cut through the paint like its butter. I thought to myself, I need one more shooter, Lee. Small, quick, and agile. I was ready.

That was my team. I wanted to think of my team as a set of misfits. They didn’t know each other, but immediately, they knew how to play together. If Trey would drive down the paint, Laron or Ethan would be open in the corner. If I set a screen for Lee or Trey, Nate would be waiting in the paint for a lay-up. If there was a fast break, Trey was the first one down the court. We all held each other accountable for mistakes and successes. We started the season 7-0. We were the talk of the league. I thought to myself, “its championship or bust.” During our session we had a couple of players go on vacation, welcome their first baby, and attend to other family matters, we finished the session 9-3. We should have gone 12 – 0 honestly. We lost three games by a total of 10 points. Fine, we were 3rd seed in the playoffs. Our team was focused and there wasn’t anyone in our bracket that scared us. During the week we talked strategy, kept each other focused on the game ahead, and we appreciated each other’s contributions. I’d like to say that I averaged 3 points a game during the playoffs. I am no chump.

First game of the playoffs was a blow out, we worked out our kinks. The second game tested us a bit, we won by two after a last second shot that didn’t count. The third game was a blow out, but was more physical than I had anticipated. The opposing team tried to get into our heads, we allowed them to distract us, but we still ended up winning by 23. That game, everything was clicking, passing, defense, and shooting. We had made it to the championship. We were excited. We couldn’t have gotten this far without how connected this team was and how well Tony, our sub, played with us. Tony is a special player. He brings energy, he brings a different set of eyes, and in a sense knows what the opposing team is going to do before they do it.

We made the finals! As a captain, having to navigate the game, player’s egos, playing time, and expectations. I was over the moon. I was proud of myself and this team for making it this far. I was able to create a culture where we held each other accountable for our mistakes, we learned from them, we wanted to get better. The culture where we could tell Trey to drive more because his shot was off, a culture where Ethan was missing layups, but we kept pushing him to continue. A culture where, Laron can take it easy during the session only to turn it on in the playoffs. Laron is a beast! I was able to create a championship culture.

We won the game by 2 points in the last seconds. We were down by 7 points the entire game. We could not catch a break, but then it just clicked. We made huge stops, made some miraculous shots, and got the deficit down to 1. At the final seconds of the game, we were inbounding the ball, Laron inbounded it to me, I passed right back and went ran to the baseline to give the ball handler space, Laron shook off the screens, did a couple of ballhandlers moves and boom, hit the three to put us up by 1 with a few seconds left. We turned on our deny defense and the team missed their last second shot. We WON! We ended up winning 79-78 in a game of the ages. I was so proud of the team. I couldn’t control it. This game was so extremely stressful. But we knew what we had to do and we accomplished the goal.

Team Aguirre Champions of Skyline Basketball League Winter 2023. No one can take this from us. Who doesn’t love some bragging rights?

Thank you so damn much, Trey, Laron, Ethan, Nate, Lee, and Tony. This means so much to me. More than you will ever know!