At least we are still Hualien County Champions!

Well James had his big National Tournament over the weekend. I went down with him to watch and to cheer him on. It was quite the event. There were a lot of schools from all around Taiwan. James and his classmates were used to playing in front of a couple parents and that was normally all the crowd they had. When they walked out on the floor there was an entire stadium full of people. I think it made them very nervous and many of them questioned what they could do. They just never seemed to play up to their potential which is too bad because they only get one chance like this. They played the first game to a tie, but it was a team that they definitely should have beaten. The second game was against a team that was normally one of the top 3 teams every year. They were really good, but James' team played them to a decent score. They lost the game though and it came down to whether or not the team would beat the other team they had tied by more. In the end they did and so they were given new live, because they advanced to the second round. Because I had only booked the first two nights and it was hard to find a hotel after that, I left early to go back to work. I don't know how good the third team was, but the result was the same. They were defeated by 8 points. In the end, James felt it was a good experience and it did help them. Upon returning they played a game here in Hualien and defeated them by 21. I think the lack of quality teams here in Hualien hurt them a little, because they weren't used to playing against good teams. The tournament was held in Kaohsiung which is a city I served in as a missionary. In between games, I spent a lot of time going to places that I used to visit as a missionary. I even found my old missionary apartment. It is still there and looks exactly the same as it did when I was there, but there are no missionaries living there now. I did get to see some of the members I knew when we attended church there and so it was a very good experience for me as well.