Vs. Toledo

We played Toledo again, this time in our old gym.  There was a wrestling meet going on in the new one.  During the JV game, I went to Willmarth’s class room to check my email.  I received a message from my secret Santa and one from Amber and Rebecca.  The one from Amber and Rebecca was a lesbian card, a practical joke because we think the Winlock lady coach is a lesbian.  My secret Santa told me to have a great game and to play well.  Willmarth told us that Toledo’s coach, Mike Croy graduated from Rainier back in the 80’s.  We got his senior yearbook photo and put it in the program and all over the gym walls. 

During this game we worked on breaker 3.  Three guards and a post bring up the ball against Toledo’s press.  Work the ball and use all of our time.  We tried fronting the posts to practice it since it was a non-league game.  We needed a lot of help inside.  Me, Amber and Kellie guarded Beth; Kellie was not prepared to guard her.  Beth racked up her points against us.  This time she only had 25, still under her average.  If we weren’t pressed, we were to use up all of our 30 seconds.  No help to whoever was on Beth, deny her the ball if possible, block out, don’t panic and be patient on offense.  

Rebecca got to play for a few minutes.  I got elbowed in the eye going for a ball out of bounds.  I also sat on Lisa Quick’s head going for a loose ball.  At half time we were so close to Toledo’s locker room and we could hear Croy yelling at them for not listening to him.  It was really loud.  Second half they killed us.  The score was 80-46.  I was in the Nisqually Valley Newspaper for the week of December 7, 2001.

Vs. Winlock

Winlock was our first home game of the year.  I didn’t start once again but I got to play a lot.  This game we had to block out, it was a must because we were shorter than they were.  Every single player was taller than we were.  We had to let the guards shoot because they were not very accurate.  When the posts had the ball, we had to help in the key as much as we could. 

Before half time, Alicia hurt her knee and I got to play in her spot.  Once she did that, she didn’t play as much the rest of the season.  We didn’t do much in the second half.  They racked up 18 points to our 3 in the third quarter.  We missed too many lay-ins, 17 of them to be exact.  32 points worth, missed.  Coming back was too far of a reach away.  We let their not-so-good player score 14 points.  Their coach was the idiot who said basketball is not a contact sport.  The final score was 50-41.

@ Kalama

Our next game, was at Kalama.  On the way to the game, we chose our secret Santa’s.  I picked Kyle.  We had so much fun with our secret Santa’s.  I did not start this game because the coaches thought I was better off the bench.  I proved them wrong.  My aunt Tracy came to watch us play.  I shared my epic poem about St. John with my teammates, they really liked it.  Our main goal this game was to stop their main scorer, Marielle Hickman.  If we could take her out of her game, Kalama would bust.  They would cherry pick us if we were not paying attention; they attempted to but could not pull it off against us.  Kalama was taller than us so we needed to block out everyone and get the rebound.  We had to defend the pick and roll, Hickman loved that move.  When we were on offense, we needed to be patient and attack the basket early causing them to get into foul trouble early.  Most of the game, I guarded Wall and Wright.  The second half we kept them to only eight points. 

Amber accidentally scratched Hickman on the wrist; she had to tape it up.  Hickman was mentally out of the game after that.  One exciting play that I remember from that game was I stole the ball from the point and it started rolling loose towards our basket.  Me and the point guard ran after it.  We both drove on the floor after it; she grabbed the ball first because she had the better angle at it than I did.  I jumped towards her for the ball and it became a jump ball.  You should have seen her face, she was terrified of me.  That was the turning point of the game, we started our scoring rally.  Megan had 18 points that game, we won 49-38.

@ Toledo

Our first game of the season was at Toledo.  It was my very first High School varsity game I ever started in.  I was so nervous because of who we were playing…freaking Beth Layton!  We were all excited to play.  Our main goal was to contain Beth Layton, who scored thirty or more points a game.  We held her (as a team) to 13 points.  We were never credited for it.  We were the only team to hold her to that much.  Since we were so focused on Beth, we forgot their post players; they scored about 15 points each.  Most of the game I guarded Beth and her sister Amy.  Our biggest problems were the turnovers.  Turnovers had cost us the game.  Half time was bad.  Willmarth yelled at us.  Asked us why we were playing so horrible and throwing the ball away on our possession.  He questioned our hearts about the game, which he apologized for later on that week with this letter:

Megan, Liz, Katie, Rebecca, Kyle, Val, Jody, Amber, Meeghan, Alicia and Kelliegh

We have been through a lot together.  We have traveled to St. John, played laser tag

in Spokane, traveled to Zillah in the middle of summer, made a thousand trips to

 Tumwater, won money scratching lottery tickets, weaved through the wheat fields of the Palouse at 6 in the morning, shopped at the ghetto mall, and looked for the kangaroo that stole our ball

…..I watched you throw French fries at seagulls, saw you shoot free throws in Key Arena, heard you sing songs about going to eat pizza, and laughed when you drove to the Supermall….in Aberdeen!....We have been together during the good times, and we have struggled together through the bad times….I have watched you forget to block out, and I have watched you outworked teams twice your size…..I have been there when everyone was having fun and laughing, and I have been there when you were in tears….I have been with some of you at the State Tournament, and I will be the first one to hug you after you play your last game for me as a Mountaineer…..I am not the best coach in the league, not even the best coach at our school….but there is one thing that I am absolutely sure about ….I wouldn’t trade you ladies for any other team in the world….I will always believe in you, and I will continue to be your biggest fan, forever….sometime I may criticize your efforts or question your decisions, but I will never question your hearts….When you are through with basketball and you have forgotten all about me, I will still have the memories of you and the times we had…..and I will look back and smile, because you ladies are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I am proud to be your coach…..You will improve as a player, and I will improve as a coach, and together we will make the district tournament, and compete for a chance to go to State….and throughout the entire season, I will be having the time of my life, because I am surrounded by my most favorite thing in the whole world……..

You ladies.

Please don’t ever forget how important you are to me, and

 never doubt that I will always believe in you.

Now let’s go play some basketball!

Coach Willmarth

We talked about the game when the coaches left the locker room.  We decided to play as a team and not to throw the ball away and to play smart!  We played a little better in the second half but still lost.  We stayed fairly close to them for a while and then they pulled away from us in the third quarter.  The final score was 68-42.  

September 11, 2001

It happened on a Tuesday morning and I was two weeks into my senior year in high school.

I woke up especially early that day to Erika and dad arguing about the television.  It was around 6:30.  I rolled out of bed to find out what all the commotion was in the living room.  Dad was telling her to turn the TV off because it's a distraction while we were getting ready for school.  Erika was telling him that it was the news and this situation was actually happening.  I walked in as the third plane smashed into the Pentagon.  We just sat there in awe.  It was unreal watching this happen.  Erika had told us that two planes hit the World Trade Center buildings in lower Manhattan.  We saw the footage from New York, Washington and a fourth plane that crashed in a town I've never heard of until that day, Shanksville, Pennsylvania.   I wanted to know more.

Doug got up early just to see what was going on.  He woke up from all the talking as well.  We all ate cereal and sat around watching what was unfolding on the TV.  Just before 7 a.m. the south tower collapsed and we all just sat there with our mouths open, it had burned for 56 minutes.  What did we just see?  Was it even possible for those buildings to fall like that?  All of those people trapped...all of those helpless people and pilots on board those planes, just horrible.  About another half hour later the north tower collapsed, the same manner as the other tower, that one burned for 102 minutes.  I wonder why that one burned longer?  I just couldn't fathom being one of those people trapped in the buildings above the impact zone or the passengers on those airplanes and what they did with the last minutes of their lives before they perished.  I never want to feel like I have no control over a hijacking or being stuck in an office building with no way down.

We all finally got ready for school after being glued to the TV since 6:30.  We watched the news up until we actually had to get in the truck to head to school.  School started at 8:30 in Rainier. 

We didn't do a darn thing in school except watch the chaos unfold on the TV's.  I even remember sitting in a classroom at lunch time watching a television.  We were watching history happen with our very own eyes.  Every generation has their "September 11th".  In the 20th century, we had the sinking of the Titanic, WWI, WWII, the Great Depression slavery, Kennedy being shot, Vietnam War, devastating earthquakes, tsunami's, bombings and other memorable life shattering moments in time.  Depending on who you ask, they will tell you exactly what they were doing when that moment occurred.

I can tell you exactly what I was doing on September 11, 2001 it was just an ordinary day until I woke up that morning.

The St. John Epic Poem, Summer 2001

I’ve waited eleven months up to this day,

when we left for St. John 320 miles away.

Packing my essentials the night before,

soon became an annoying chore.

But then I remembered a paper handed to me,

it made my job easier to a certain degree.

Getting up stuffing my bags in the van,

when everyone gets there we should have a plan.

Everyone got there packed the vehicles tight,

we received our walkie talkies, I said alright!

Leaving the parking lot, can’t wait to get there,

eating Jody’s licorice, she decided to share.

In Willmarth’s Rodeo is the place to be,

listening to 80’s music he downloaded for free.

On the way there, many stops were made,

the bathroom, food and gas; some delayed.

Around 3:30 is when we arrived,

to our disappointment we were deprived.

The teacher that owned the futon, packed up and moved,

the futon we loved, it was removed.

We had to share beds, so we improvised a bit,

it was a little strange, we have to admit.

In Cheney, our first game started at five,

after that game we came out barely alive.

We ate at a restaurant, went back to St. John,

into the school, a war was going on.

Napavine and Mossyrock disputed over rooms,

to our view Mossy won, our team assumes.

The new morning bright and early we rise,

we played Winlock, “oh, what a surprise!”

That game was interesting, some rules were broken,

that Winlock coach was sure outspoken.

Determining out placement for the game the next day,

we lost too many games, we were gonna pay.

Getting up early once again,

we were surely tired, like we have been.

We played one game, then went to the mall,

it’s the cool hang out place after all.

We ate lunch and went through the stores,

Amber isn’t that sunglass case yours?

We went back to Eastern and play our last game,

the one from this morning, the results stand the same.

We needed some snacks, stopped at Safeway,

Katie and Liz saw the hair dye on display.

Willmarth hands out the tickets, I scratch, oh shucks,

Jody scratched hers and won fifty bucks.

On to St. John’s, the caravan of girls,

Did we just hit a patch of squirrels?

Going through Pine City, we saw familiar faces,

sitting on poles? Man, those are strange places.

Vanessa having problems, got stuck on the pole,

getting down on the ground, was her major goal.

 Got to our room, laid down and rested,

does anyone want to play Mafia? Barlow suggested.

So we played Mafia, the game was intense,

until someone caught Mafia, it grew in suspense.

Everyone grew tired, needed something to do,

started three point bump, the numbers grew.

Every night past nine, we gathered to play,

the coaches told us to go, we wanted to stay.

I stayed up with my friends in the middle of the hall,

later on that night, the group grew small.

We were tired, goodnight we all said,

I went to my room, Katie was in my bed.

I helped her out, put her in her own,

I wonder why she was in my bed, that fact unknown.

Being there your first time you feel kind of scared,

not Kellie Mastey, she was prepared.

Morning came, the doughnuts were out,

I’m sure Megan Sullivan couldn’t do without.

We all got dressed, we all looked great,

“Hey, that kangaroo stole my ball!” G’day mate.

Seeing Alicia O’Toole in her Hawaiian shorts,

that makes you wonder if she has them in all sorts.

Played our first game, the score drew near,

they barely squeaked by, emotions severe.

We stopped at a house before our next game,

we took a special picture, and put it in a frame.

Memories of your past, you don’t let go,

we made coach Hergert smile, we’re happy to know.

The rest of the games, we were feared,

leaving them behind, on the wall smeared.

We ate dinner, visited the rest of the night,

hung out in our room, everyone in sight.

There’s two people missing, who could they be?

Meeghan playing cards with cheatin’ Lindsay B.

We all went to bed after watching TV,

I turned it off and went to go pee.

I walked out, went through the hall alone,

there was Katie standing there yakin’ on the phone.

The next morning we had an extra match,

the jv went second, had a score to catch.

On our way to Steptoe, our second game that day,

we kicked Kettle Falls’ butts and sent them on their way.

Eating our lunches on the playground in the sun,

playing on the tire swing, that was really fun.

We finished up at Steptoe, we didn’t do too well,

Jody rolled her ankle, her foot began to swell.

We went back to St. John, had a game to win,

we wiped them off the map, dinner was surely in.

We scrambled to the kitchen, got into the line,

I’ll tell you one thing, the food was mighty fine.

We went back to our room and checked our e-mail,

I checked mine second, it was in detail.

Around rolled 10 p.m. and we were getting tired,

some of us still up, they were really wired.

The next morning, we had an early game,

the high school gym packed, a lot of people came.

That first game of the day was an exciting one,

the first half buzzer went off, the other team was done.

The rest of the games that day we ran them off the court,

I pointed to them and said, “go play another sport!”

We all got cleaned up, found some dark clothes to wear,

some of them forgot, they were unaware.

Our traditional laser tag game, I couldn’t wait to go,

we soon got to laser tag, we all put on a show.

Jezebel almost got me, I avoided her gun,

after three years of playing, I have finally won.

We went to Dick’s restaurant , ate cheap food there,

a hundred seagulls surrounding us, feeding, we did not dare.

We went back to St. John, inside it was a zoo,

Ony was playing treasure hunt, a basketball game going too.

Shane asked me to play with them against St. John’s jv,

I went and got my jersey and I did agree.

The game was really different, playing on a mixed team,

there were no rules or regulations, it didn’t really seem.

After the game the annual talent show was prepared,

we finally got Barlow to play the violin without being scared.

The talent show was finished, to the room the girls went,

trying to find Val, so they could torment.

The list Rebecca made seemed to be funny and wise,

telling us we didn’t need so much make-up for our eyes.

It wasn’t a beauty pageant but despite this advice,

they played “Moulin Rouge” instead of “Vanilla Ice”.

Everyone heard about the Rainier girls make-up,

they peaked around our door, hey what’s up.

From my point of view, it seemed like a hundred,

how did they all fit in there? I wondered.

They chased me and Barlow around for a little while,

I guess they gave up, it wasn’t worthwhile.

They cleaned it all up and put stuff away,

I’m glad they didn’t put make-up on me, or I’d look the same way.

That night I stayed up with a bunch of people out in the hall,

remembering the memories, I will never forget them all.

The next morning, the seniors played their last outing,

I got ball, I got ball, we were all shouting.

Like the first day, the score within range,

it’s like we played this exact game before, wow, that is so strange.

We cleaned out of room, and finished out the day,

packed up our stuff and we were on our way.

I had an awesome week, the best I ever had,

next year I don’t get to go, I know I’ll be sad.

Making it back to Rainier, I missed my home and bed,

this season I’m excited for, just lies ahead.

Being a senior, this summer went so well,

to all my younger teammates, I bid you farewell.

Written by Val Larson

September 2001

Summer Basketball: St. John

We were let out of school for summer vacation and then...

...came the best part of the whole entire summer…St. Johns!!!  We absolutely loved going there.  We have so much fun when we are over there, lots of memories.  A couple days before we left for St. John, Rebecca made a list, “Suggested Items to bring to Eastern Washington.”

“Suggested Items to bring to Eastern Washington.”

*Please notice the word “suggested”-you do not have to bring all of any of these items, except for your playing gear and a water bottle.  However, most of it is pretty convenient to have.  If you think of anything you need that is not on this list, then by all means bring it, and please let me (Rebecca) know, that way I can bring it, too!

Clothing

Shirts’ include any team shirts you have-bring them!  They will serve as our jerseys much of the time.  Bring your jersey as well.

Shorts

Socks, sports bras, etc.-bring enough to last the week, plus one or two extras.

Sweatshirt, pants-bring these if you tend to get cold before or after games.

One outfit to wear “out of town”-nothing too fancy, you’ll probably want a nice shirt and a pair of shorts or pants (your pick, but you may want to check the weather report for the week ahead before you decide).  * Keep it casual enough to wear with sandals of your basketball shoes, unless you want to mess with lugging a third pair of shoes out there along with all of the other stuff that you really need.

Pajamas-shorts and a t-shirt or tank top; comfortable sweats-it can get cold at night (it can also get pretty hot, so be prepared)

Swimsuit-optional; we may or may not go swimming.  If this is something you want to do, bring it.  If not, then don’t.

Towel-for showers, swimming

Sleeping Stuff-basically bring what you would to go camping:

Sleeping bag or blanket

Pillow

Inflatable mattress, body pillow, whatever you want between you and a hard floor-you’re responsible for setting it up, so if it requires inflation, bring a pump or hairdryer, and know how to do it yourself.  Also check for leaks before packing it up and bringing it with you.

Shower Stuff-if you forget anything, chances are it can be bought or borrowed once we’re there.  But if you bring it to begin with, then you won’t have to mess around later. 

Shampoo/conditioner-bring your own if you’re picky, if not, you can use someone else’s (I’m bringing more than enough, and I’m sure several others are as well.)
Soap, body wash, razor, wash cloth, face wash, toothbrush, toothpaste-same deal as with shampoo, anything else that you require-dental floss, contact solution, case, whatever.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Makeup-we are playing basketball, not going to any parties or beauty pageants, so just bring what you feel you absolutely can’t live without; we do go out and play laser tag, so feel free to bring anything that will make you really stand out or glow in the dark-the rest of us will appreciate it.

Chapstick-if you lips tend to get dry, you’ll want some.

Lotion-same as with chapstick, only think more of your arms and legs than your lips.

Nail clippers-some people are very prone to nail breakage during basketball.

Deodorant, hair brush, hair ties, clips-you need these, bring extras.

Water bottle-bring it!  You need to be drinking.  A lot.

Sunglasses

Mini fan-we’ve got a big one, but if you want your own, go ahead and bring it.

CD player, headphones, CD’s, extra batteries

Camera, film-with our group, you never know what’s going to happen.  Blackmail pictures are always fun!

Movies-we’ve got a TV and VCR in our room, so talk with your teammates about what movies are being brought.

Money-we go places, we buy stuff, you’ll want money.  How much is up to you or your parents.  Keep in mind that we are going to be gone for a week, so bring enough, but not a fortune.

Phone card or change-parents usually want a phone call, and so do boyfriends.  We are in the library and do have internet access, but sometimes it’s nicer to hear a voice on the other end of the line.

Alarm clock-I’m usually up way early and have no problem with waking others up, but I am not perfect, and you’ll want to make certain that you’re up on time.  However, talk with your teammates about this; we don’t need everyone to bring their alarm.

Shoes

Basketball shoes-don’t forget what you’re there for!

One other item of footwear:  sandals, running shoes, whatever you want on your feet when you’re not playing or when we go somewhere.  *Make it versatile and useful; shoes are the last thing you want to be worried about.

Food and Drinks

You are provided with breakfast, lunch and dinner during the St. John Camp, but you’ll probably want to bring some food to supplement these meals, especially if you are a picky eater.  We will also be there for three days before the camp starts (playing up at Eastern) during which time you fend for yourself when it comes to meals.  We will stop at stores, and maybe go out for pizza or something, so if you bring money, you can buy food out there.

Also, if you plan on bringing or buying anything that requires refrigeration, you need to have a way to keep it cool.  We usually have a couple of coolers out there, and we next to the Home Ec. Room, but it may be wise to bring a mini-cooler of your own.  Once again, though, check with your teammates, because we don’t need twelve or fourteen coolers out there; there isn’t transport room for them anyway.

This is not something to get worried about.  If you don’t have money or food, you will be taken care of; your teammates and coaches will not let you starve.  However, it goes bother ways; anything you bring, especially if it’s good, you should expect to share!

We left Rainier June 22, 2001 around ten in the morning from the high school parking lot.  Vanessa’s mom, Deborah, who also went with us, gave each of the three cars a walkie talkie.  They are so cool.  I was in charge of the one in Willmarth’s car.  We had so much fun talking to each other in different cars on our trip over.  We even got into an argument on whether a polar bear was white or black, it was crazy.  Sorry to say Alicia, majority rules. 

 

In Willmarth’s car, Rebecca, Amber, Jody and I listened to various 80’s music that he downloaded and made into CD’s.  Our favorite song was Low Rider.  We ate Jody’s licorice while we sung to all the songs.  Our first stop was in North Bend; we got gas, went pee and at an early lunch at McDonalds.  When we reached Vantage, by the Columbia River, we were ready to pee again.  We stopped at the Rye Grass rest stop just before going over the bridge.  Our next stop was in Moses Lake.  We got gas and ate at McDonald’s again.  It was so hot outside.  While we were in Moses Lake, we saw Shane and the Napavine girls drive by as we were leaving town.  From there on we took a straight shot to St. John.  Willmarth’s car arrived in St. John first because the other two cars stopped as a gas station to pee off of I-90 near Sprague.  When we got into town and to the school, we went directly to our room, the library.  The Rainier girls’ have had the library every year since we’ve gone to St. John, before that believe we had the stage area in the gym.  We had cable TV, VCR, internet connection, we were parallel to the kitchen and we were next to the Home Ec. room which had the refrigerator, stoves and the washer and dryer.  The Home Ec. room was Mossyrock’s room.  We had a sharing policy which turned out to be a really nice thing when we needed to wash our basketball gear.

We arrived at St. John’s high school about 3:30 that afternoon.  Willmarth gave me and Jody the responsibility of taking care of his car unlocker thingy.  We ended up losing it somewhere.  We unloaded our stuff into our room and we went to the kindergarten room to see if the futon was there.  It wasn’t.  The custodian in the hallway told us that the teacher that owned the futon packed up and moved.  We tried to get a hold of Megan on the walkie talkie to tell her about the futon.  They couldn’t hear us yet.  They got closer and they were able to hear us.  We told her that the futon wasn’t there anymore and she was very upset and disappointed that it wasn’t there anymore.  We had to change our sleeping arrangements because Rebecca and Megan were supposed to share the futon.  We all got situated, unpacked some of our stuff and got ready for our game in Cheney at five.  Yeah…the game…uhhh…we got slaughtered.  After the game we decided to eat at Zip’s.  The food there was pretty good.  When we got back into St. John, Mossyrock and Napavine were feuding over which room they got to stay in.  Napavine wanted Mossyrock’s room.  Mossyrock won by throwing Napavine’s stuff out their room and into the hall.  It was pretty humorous.  Napavine stayed across the hall two doors down from us.  They should know better than we get the rooms that we have been staying in for years.  They picked a fight they could not win.

We woke up early because we had a game at the butt crack of dawn.  We played Winlock.  Their coach and his player were a huge pain in the butt.  When we rattled them and made their players start making dumb fouls, their coach, Mr. Bristow, had a huge cow.  “Basketball is not a contact sport!”  He screamed at the top of his lungs to the refs.  What an idiot!  What world are you living in?  Basketball not a contact sport?  There was something wrong with that guy.

 Katie, Liz and Lindsay waiting for the next game at Eastern.  It was early.

We stayed there the whole day playing games.  We lost too many of them and we paid the next day.  We had to get up early again the next day.  We played one game and lost.  Then we went to the Northtown Mall in Spokane.  I bought a pooka shell necklace and some lotion.  After, we ate at the food court.  While we were eating, some guy walked up to me, Jody, Rebecca and Megan at the table and asked how old Megan was.  What a dork!  We then walked a little more throughout the mall.  We saw some of the Mossyrock girls and Mandie.  She was on the lower level trying to climb a mountain.  When she reached the top she looked up to see that she had an audience watching her from the top level of the mall.

We went back to Eastern and played our final game in which we lost.  We went to Safeway to get some food.  Liz and Katie bought some hair dye, turned out to be pretty funny.  Willmarth bought some lottery tickets and me, Jody, Amber and Rebecca got to scratch them.  We scratched the last one which Jody had and she wasn’t sure if we did it right.  Willmarth checked the ticket and we did in fact did it right.  We just won fifty bucks!!  This was so cool!  We headed back to St. John.  Before we made it to Pine City, there was this rock on the side of the road.  One side said “Andy” and the other side said “Bob”, we never figured out why it was there or why it said those names.  When we went through Pine City and around the corner, some of our teammates were sitting on poles near the grain silos.  Vanessa, Alicia, Katie and Meeghan.  We got out and asked what they were doing.  They just said for a picture and to wait for us since we were behind because the train kept us from the others in Cheney.  When we got to St. John, we saw that more teams started to arrive.  Barlow wanted people to play cards with her; none of us were in the mood to play cards plus she cheats too.  I wandered into the gym and played HORSE with Willmarth a couple times and I actually won a game.  If you ask him, he’ll say I didn’t.  Mandie and Sheena came in there and we shot around for a little while.  Some more people came in a little bit later and we started a game of bump.  We were in the gym until midnight playing.  I returned to my room and Katie was in my bed.  “Katie…get up, you’re in my bed.”  I whispered gently, trying not to wake the others.  She got up and flopped into her own bed.

Monday morning finally came and we were ready for those doughnuts, especially Megan.  It was our first game of the day and we barely lost to Colfax, the defending State Champions, by one point.  We were pretty upset by the loss, since it was so close and we played hard.

Warming up in the St. John main gym.

Now it was off to the Steptoe gym, but first we had to make one little stop on the way there.  We stopped by Mr. Hergert’s old house (he used to live in St. John) and took a picture in his front porch in our kangaroo shirts.  When we got the film developed we framed it and sent it to him.  He appreciated it very much.  The rest of the day we were victorious.  We beat St. John and came back to St. John to beat Garfield-Palouse.  After the game we relaxed a bit.  Mr. Willmarth came back from refereeing a game in Steptoe and told us that we forgot our basketballs in the gym and coach Carlin brought them back for us.  We were required to make him some cookies.  A couple of us went to the local grocery store and bought some supplies.  They came back and we made him some Jody Bars in the Home Ec. room.  While that was going on, I washed some laundry so we would have all of our jerseys the next day.  We all played bump once again in the gym with people from different schools.  We even had a half court shot competition and I even made a couple of them.  I returned to my room several hours later after sitting in the hall with some Mossyrock and Napavine girls.  I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and to pee.  I saw Katie on the phone with her boyfriend; I had a feeling that she was on there for almost the whole night.

 Hanging out with the Mossyrock and Napavine girls in the hallway.

We got up the next morning and found out that we had a pick up game with Toutle Lake.  First the starters would have a crack at them the first half and then the players who did not play all that much got a chance at them the second half since Toutle Lake brought at JV team.  We won that game.  Afterwards, we went to Steptoe once again to play Erika’s team, Kettle Falls.  They had this girl named Chelsea on the team and we called her “Neo-Nazi combat boots”.  We named her this because she had long blonde hair that was in a million braids, which made it look like a whip and she wore these black basketball shoes that really looked like combat boots.  She was a big girl, not fat, but she had some substance to her and she looked like she was unhappy all of the time.  We told this to Erika and she laughed.  She said that Chelsea is the nicest person you will ever meet.  Our mouths dropped.  Well, she looks scary to us.  During the game, Jody rolled her ankle and it swelled very badly.  She insisted that I touch it to feel how squishy it was and so I did to fulfill her wishes.  After beating Kettle Falls, we ate our lunch outside near the playground.  We played on the tire swing and took pictures on the jungle gym.  We waited until our next game against Ritzville.  We didn’t beat Ritzville but we should of.  We went back to our room for a little while then went to the elementary gym and beat Selkirk.  We ate dinner and horsed around in our rooms for a little while and then crashed for the evening.  

       

The next morning we got up to play Gar-Pal again and we beat them once more.  Sunnyside Christian was our next victims; we had no problem kicking their butts.  Later on that day, we played Tekoa-Oaksdale and beat them.  That was the only day we won all of our games.

We all got showers, cleaned up and dressed and were on our way up to Spokane to play laser tag.  We got there and had to wait our turn because some other group was in there at the time.  It turns out that the group was a bunch of Black Hill’s football players here for the football camp in Cheney.  We all paid at the desk and got our names.  I picked ENFORCER.  We all finally got to go up to the room where we got all equipped with our laser tag gear.  I was so excited.  I was bound to get first place this time.  We went into the play field and I was shooting everything in sight.  Before I made my way to the top…I saw Vanessa and turned around the corner as fast as I could before she shot me.  I figured I lost her as I mazed through the playing field.  As I turned the next corner, I saw someone in one of the mirrors and I was in such a hurry I ran right smack into the wall.  I found out that the person in the mirror was me.  Vanessa was there to witness the whole thing, she didn’t feel sorry for me one bit as she laughed hysterically and shot me anyways.  After my little run in with the wall, I finally found myself up on the top platform of the playing field looking down on everyone else and shooting the crap out of them.  Willmarth finally made his way up there, found me and shot me a couple times and then moved on.  I tried to shoot as many people as possible before our time ran out.  I saw Alicia and Megan huddled behind a wall, as I was about to shoot them, time ran out.  At that time, I wasn’t sure who would get first.  We went into the little room to take off our laser tag gear and put them on the hooks.  We walked into the lobby and waited for the results.  It took a couple minutes to show on the reader board who won.  I saw my name: ENFORCER as the first place finisher.  “Yeah…I won!!  In your face Willmarth!”  The only other one I could remember was Jezebel, who was Rebecca, finished in second place.

After laser tag we went to Dick’s, a lovely hamburger place right off of the freeway on Division.  I remember waiting in line and trying to drop kick some seagulls that got a little too close to me.  I almost got one.  There are always a ton of seagulls trying to con people out of food, but they aren’t the only creatures trying to con food.  There are always bums hanging out on the street near Dick’s.  When we go to Dick’s Megan must buy the apple pies.  This time around she bought six of them.  They are pretty good little pies.

On the way back to St. John, we saw a thunder and lightning storm out in the distance of the Palouse and Rebecca took a picture of it.  It is a really cool picture too.  We got to St. John and went into the school.  Everyone was going crazy!!  Onalaska was playing a treasure hunt game in the school…one of the girls asked me if I had a purple shoestring.  I asked myself, why in the world would I have a purple shoestring?  I hate purple with a passion!  Napavine was playing some pick up games with a bunch of random girls.  I went in there to see what was going on.  Shane, Mandie, Sheena, Hailey and some of the St. John girls were playing a “for-fun” game.  Shane told me if I wanted to play to go get my jersey.  I ran into our room and grabbed my stuff…I was so excited that I was asked to play with them.  I had a great time playing with other people.  After the game, all of the Rainier girls went outside to take a picture out in front of the high school where the sunset was.  I asked Mandie if she wanted to be in it.  She kindly rejected but we insisted and she went along with us.

For some odd reason, all of the Rainier girls decided to put on makeup and listen to Moulin Rouge.  All of them except me and Barlow were wearing makeup.  After a while, they all tried to catch me and Barlow and put it on us as well.  Well, me and Barlow decided to make it into a game.  Kind of like a hide and go seek game but we can see them and they can not see us.  At one point just about everyone that participated in the camp were in our room.  A few of them did know who we were and as the night grew, just about every girl was trying to find me.  They caught me a couple times and I wiggled away and ran.  The girls’, who did put makeup on, went into the gym and posed with Mr. Willmarth.

We ended up circling the school at least two times.  We ended up near the elementary school where the playground was and walked towards the high school when we spotted Sheena’s car.  Barlow and I walked towards the car and noticed that Mr. Stamper and Mr. Hendricks were in the car with an exercise bike.  We started talking to them and we noticed that they were slurring their words a little.  We asked where they were and they said that they knew some people in Spokane that they went and visited.  They went and got drunk.  I thought it was pretty funny.  We left as they were parking the car in the back of the school and decided to go back into the school.  I think they got tired of it because some people were washing the stuff off of their faces and the talent show was about to start.

Just before it started, we persuaded Barlow to play the song from the Fiddler on the Roof.  We told her that one of the lunchroom ladies had a violin and she was willing to go and get it.  She agreed after awhile.  While she was tuning it, we were all in the cafeteria watching the other teams of girls make fools of themselves.  Some of us even participated in some of the activities.  It was finally Barlow’s turn and she went up on stage and wowed everyone with her song.  It sounded awesome and I am glad she did it.

Lindsay tuning the borrowed violin.

After the talent show came the funniest thing in the whole wide world.  As the legend goes…when the Rainier girls’ started coming to the St. John camp some years ago, they used to stay in the gym on the stage area.  Well, some stories generated from them and were passed down every year to the new girls who came to camp.  I heard the story my first year I came as a sophomore.  I guess one night while the girls slept, someone got up to use the bathroom and she heard someone in the gym bouncing a ball.  When she looked into the gym, a ball bounced from one end of the baseline all the way down to the end of the baseline.  The weird thing was that there was no one in there.  She was totally freaked out and told the rest of them the next day.  From there on, people were afraid to go into the gym at night because it was haunted.  Anyways, back to the story, after the talent show, me and Barlow just finished taking a shower in the gym locker room.  We were getting ready to brush our teeth, when I realized I forgot my toothbrush in our room.  I told Barlow I would be back in a minute, so she stayed in the locker room.  As I was walking out, I heard giggling and a ball bouncing.  I looked to the right and saw some girls hiding behind a garbage can.  I looked closer and found out it was Amber and Sheena waiting to scare us as we came out of the locker room.  “Ha ha guys, what are you doing?”  “We were going to scare you when you came out.”  “Oh…well, you can still scare Barlow, she’s still in there, and I’ll play along and pretend.”  I went into the room and grabbed my toothbrush.  I came back into the gym and smiled at them as I went into the locker room.  I brushed my teeth and told Barlow to wait for me.  I grabbed my shower stuff and we left the locker room.  “AHHHHHHH!!!”  They yelled at us as they came out from behind the garbage can, bouncing the ball.  “Barlow run, they’re going to get us!!”  “Oh holy hell!”  Barlow screamed as she darted out of the gym like her pants were on fire.  Me, Amber and Sheena all fell down on the hard gym floor laughing hysterically.  It was so funny we all started crying.  She peeked her head around the gym door to see who it was that scared her.  She was so mad that we freaked her out so badly, however she had a good sense of humor about it.  That night we traded contact info with some of the Mossyrock girls as we sat in the hallway until about two in the morning. 

We were so burnt out by the end of the week.  It was our last and final day at St. John.  We started out the day with Colfax.  That game was close just like the first one.  We should have won but we ended up losing by two points this time.  A lot of people came and watched us play.  All of them were routing for us to beat Colfax because no one really liked them.  I noticed in the stands that Onalaska was all there with their notebooks writing down everything that we were doing.  Fuel for the season...ha ha, I did the same thing back to them when they played, but it wasn’t as obvious.  We played Ritzville one last time and we just barely lost to them again.  Our last and final game at St. John was again Gar-Pal, man; I was getting sick of playing these guys.  However, the St. John coach Carlin tried to make the schedule as diverse as they could.  For example, they tried to let the western Washington teams play the eastern Washington teams because we always see each other in league play, they tried to stay away from that if it was possible.  Anyway, we beat Gar-Pal once again and we ended our St. John experience with a win.   

It was time to go home and we weren’t ready to leave St. John, our last time here ever to play basketball.  As we picked up Jody and Liz’s bed, we found Willmarth’s key un-locker thingy underneath it.  It was missing the whole week and we finally found it.  We packed up all of our belongings and shoved them into the cars we came over with. 

I will never forget the best times at St. John.  I will truly miss everything about that place.  They were my best memories about high school basketball.

The 6.8 Nisqually Earthquake: February 28, 2001

It started off like a normal school day. Got up, hassled with my brother and sister, like always, got ready for school, and ate breakfast. Once everyone was ready, I started the van and headed for school. My first hour, United States History, was very monotonous, same scenario every day, watch channel one our daily news, read the chapter, do the worksheet, when finished chat with your neighbor. Every other week or so a chapter test.

Second hour I was a teachers assistant. I corrected the student’s papers and entered them into the computer grade book. When I was finished my spare time consisted of finishing my Algebra 2 homework from the previous school day. After second period it was our twelve minute nutrition break. I walked down the stairs to the student store down the senior hall and bought a blueberry muffin.

I went back up the stairs to the junior hall and walked to my third period class Algebra 2. We had our chapter five test scheduled. Our teacher let us use notes. He believes "if you produce it you should be able to use it." He gave us a few minutes to get organized. I checked my notebook to see if I left any of my notes behind. I got up and stapled all of them together into a packet so they would be easier to keep track of. He told us the rules of test taking, no talking, looking around, etc. He handed the pieces of paper to the person in the front row. They passed them to the next person behind. I took mine and passed them back. 

I looked at number one and filled it out as completely as I could, then went on to number two. When I got to number three something strange happened. I heard this real low rumbling sound. I sounded like a bunch of people stomping as they went up the stairs. I thought it was the drama kids practicing for their up coming play. I glanced up from my test and looked around at the kids to see if they heard it and what their reaction was. One of my friends sat next to me, I whispered to her, "Megan, did you hear that?" She answered with a strange frightened look, "Yeah, I did, what was it?" "I don’t know." I said back. A few seconds later at 10:55 AM the school shook. It started off light and got stronger. My eyes got wider and wider, I didn’t know what was going on, I’ve never been in an earthquake before. We all looked at each other, none of us knew what to do. Our teacher got up out of his desk and told us it was an earthquake and to get under our desks and cover our heads. We all bolted under our desk. The second story of the school felt like it was swaying and it was going to cave in the first story or hit our gym one of them. We all looked at our teacher. The quake was so strong it knocked his I-Mac off of his desk and fell on top of him. Luckily, it didn’t hurt him or break. It lasted for a good minute or so. After it stopped we turned on the news to see what happened. It said it was a deep quake 6.8 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was located in the Nisqually Wildlife Refugee about twenty miles away from Rainier where we were. We were all shook up. Some of the kids thought Mount Rainier erupted and others thought we were getting bombed from some foreign country. We didn’t finish our test, we all wanted to know more about the earthquake, so he postponed it for the next day.

I asked other kids from different classes on what happened to them. In chemistry class some glass beakers broke, in the health classroom some of the ceiling tiles caved in, in the Spanish room a whole bookshelf collapsed, some of the books fell onto one of my friends and she was erratic the rest of the day. Out on the track, the Physical Education class saw the waves of the earthquake and told me it was a sight to see. People in the library were worried if the second story would crash on top of them. The rest of the day I heard so many stories about what happened to each person. I was really interested on what others experienced. When I got home I asked my parents and my grandparents what they were doing at the time the earthquake hit. My dad was frightened. He works in a building in Olympia that was built with concrete, not very stable. It was closed for the rest of the week for repairs. After I heard that I hoped that we didn’t have an additional one because it wouldn’t outlast another. My mom was in a dental office working. At the time that it hit, she was working on a patient with his mouth open filling in a cavity, she said it was the strangest feeling in the world. My grandparents were at home watching daytime television when the quake hit. My grandmother tried to get up out of her chair to get under the table but the force was too strong so she stayed and muscled it out. She told me my aunt was on Interstate five when it struck. When she was driving she thought something was wrong with her car, when she found out it was an earthquake, she was surprised.

So many stories about one event shared by the Pacific Northwest. That made me more interested in earthquakes. When I was in seventh grade I learned about earthquakes and volcanoes in a science class that got me hooked. I wanted to learn all I could about them. I’m fascinated by Mount Saint Helen's and Mount Rainier every time we drive past or near them, I have to look at them.

Next Adventure:  TBA