State Tournament
To the players, coaches, managers, and girls' basketball family at Jesup High School
The state tournament, The state tournament, THE STATE TOURNAMENT!!!!
This is
what you players have been searching for the last 10 years of your basketball
life, coaches your adult life and your high school life, parents you have
dreamed this for your daughters and lived the peeks and valleys with them.
This is what you have sacrificed your weekends and your summers for, this is why you have
given up those Christmas vacation trips for, fought nagging injuries for, lived
through disappointments and successes, went to basketball camps for and
traveled countless miles to play, practice, or watch basketball.
You are now
bound by one common event that will make you a special extended family, an
event that will be remembered the rest of your lives. When one of the girls get
married you will gather for her wedding and you will relive the memories of
this season, when you have a common moment together you will look at each other
and smile and realize that what you have in common is truly special. When every Jesup basketball team starts a season together they will be working for
what you now have.
Please
remember that everyone on your team deserves credit; the managers that hustle,
work, and cheer for the team, the coaches that have worked and given up hours
from their own family to help you achieve this dream, the player 1-12 that has scrimmaged, drilled, competed in practice, competed in games
for one common goal a chance to play in Wells Fargo. Last but surely not least, the parents that have sacrificed countless hours for their children.
You will have many incredible
moments the next week. Value, cherish and enjoy every single one. Enjoy the
journey as well as the final destination. As I close this letter I must tell
you what an honor and a pleasure it is to be from and know how happy you must be. It is true, good things happen to good people
In the name of the game,
Jim Gillespie
Jesup Iowa
