And Just Like That...

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We took a lot of photos at last night’s tournament game, just to have them in the Heritage archive. But none of them told the story that matters. Except for one.

This one, which we took by accident.

To us, it says: Whether you win a championship or lose in an earlier round (or don’t even make the tournament), every year, the season comes to an end too quickly, too suddenly. Win or lose, you crave for one more shot, one more drive to the hole, one more chance to be better than you were last time…one more time to shout and experience as community nothing-like-basketball’s extreme highs and lows, unfair near-misses, and exhilarating buzzer-beaters—all within 32 fleeting minutes. Until you remember that while every season is too short, the beauty of the game is that we can’t-hardly-wait ’til next season.


And it says: When the shots go in, and even when they don’t, the ball is heading in the same direction—to the floor where there is always the promise of bounce-back...


Basketball can hurt like heck and feel so good, but basketball is always forgiving, always encouraging, always bouncing back into our hands and into the stands with an endless invitation of “more, please.”


And it says: In every season, there are always tons of “swishes” to celebrate—the brotherhoods and sisterhoods, family unlike any other, adopted family for those cheering from the stands, of working through differences in skills, long hours at practice, and constantly making corrections and adjustments to achieve success together—even if that success is just one fast break with no turnovers.


Like many, many teams in our Conval Hoop Heritage, we absolutely loved watching this year’s boys’ and girls’ squads following that bouncing ball. Thank you for another way-too-short season of joy to get us through another New Hampshire winter, for your contagious spirit, amazing performances (hello, Claws for a Cause night), and your never-quit-until-the-very-end attitude. And a special shout out to the second-to-none student section—wow!


Yet again, you’ve all given Conval Nation one more reason to love this game. As if we needed one.

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