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| August 5, 2003
By Claudia Young
Jr. Growl... The Team That Believed They Could
Jr. Growl players, some only together for 2 months, never stopped believing they could go all they way
| Two months before NARCh Finals..and no team to play on! A committed core of players had the desire and dream to go to NARCh and make it to the finals..this is their story.
Two months before Finals, a core of players found themselves on a team that didn't share their dream, to go to the NARCh Finals and medal. Without the backing of their coaches and the rest of their team, they saw their dream dissolving until Coach Anthony Flynn, captain of the Tour Growl professional team, stepped in and offered to coach them and find other players to complete their roster.
With only 2 months to prepare, the Jr. Growl team only had 4 practices before Finals, and played inconsisitently in the tournaments they entered. They qualified for the PeeWee Silver Division and flew down with their dream intact and ended up 2-2 after the round robin play.
Coach Anthony Flynn called a team meeting the night before the playoffs in which he refocused the players, letting them know that he believed in them. The players responded by coming out on the last day of the tournament to play with passion, winning the quarterfinals in double overtime, winning the semi-finals against the first place team, and almost pulled off a major upset in the gold medal game. They came up short and in the end were awarded the Silver medal.
It was amazing experience. One can only wonder what they might have accomplished with more time to prepare. These boys never lost sight of their dream and believed in themselves, as did their coach. That's what youth hockey is all about.
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