Three Boys

Thank you, Dan Hess, for the picture

Team photo

Karen W. Higgins photo

A Message from Coach Mike Sanders

All,

Thank you so much for the kind words and generous gifts on Friday. I must say that coaching these boys has been an honor. I'd like to thank you all again for your support of the program. Your efforts, all season long, helped this team immeasurably.

I like to think that coaching is also a form of teaching players how to be better people. From my experience, all of these boys hear such lessons at home as well. We had a very well behaved group that never talked back and always gave us their all.

The framed team photo has taken up residence on my mantle where I can always be reminded that I am part of a terrific community of both players and parents.

Thanks again.
-Mike Sanders

Duke Pride

The Good Hands Team

Fanfare (for the Junior Blue Dukes)

Power Running

Sneak preview

Checking out the competition

My friend and colleague Cindy Eggert Johnson posted some video clips from the Menomonee Falls Junior Indians fifth-graders final game of the season. (Cindy's son plays on the Falls squad.) The Falls (5) lost to Catholic Memorial, 21-19. Check out Cindy's clips here.

Junior Blue Dukes slide show

This is a bit of an experiment -- I am trying out Picasa 3's slideshow movie maker function:

Saturday's game video: 2nd half is now online

Highlights from Saturday's Game

Long Run #23



Long Pass



Tackle for Loss



Crunch!



Great Fans



Will Fights for Yards



Good Punt Return

Saturday's game video partly online

I've posted Part 1 of Saturday's game to Youtube. It's about 9.5 minutes long:

Junior Blues Dukes 6, Nicolet 6

Led by a ferocious sideline-to-sideline defense, the Junior Blue Dukes overcame an early score and battled the Nicolet Squires to a 6-6 tie at Good Hope School on Saturday afternoon.

It's been a wonderful season. Watch your email and this blog for details in the near future about our post-season party.

Some of the things that made this team great:

We had the defense!


We had the cheer squad!


We had the coaching!


We had the toughness!


We had the spirit!


We had the fans!


We had each other!


Photos by Karen and Jim Higgins

WHITE Game Jerseys for Saturday's playoff game

Excerpted from a Coach Sanders email:

Congratulations to our team on another outstanding win! It was great to see the boys bounce back. I watched the film clips [thanks Jim!] and I have to say that this was one of our best games this season. Wauwatosa East was bigger than we were, but the boys were able to execute and succeed due to their commitment and determination. Special thanks are due to the coaching staff: Kurt Alt, Jon Bassindale, Joe Fisher, Dan Hess, Steve Hummer, Doug James, and Mark Kortebein for their unsung contributions to this team. Their efforts this week were especially critical to our defensive dominance and the introduction of new offensive formations.

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered and contributed to the Junior Blue Dukes program – we couldn’t do this without you!

Our playoff game is against Nicolet at Good Hope Field, at Good Hope School on the southwest corner of 57 and Good Hope Rd. The game is NOT at Nicolet High School field. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30pm, please have your son there at 12:45pm dressed and ready to go in their white jersey, blue game pants, full pads and helmet.

When I coached teams in the past, parents sometimes gave the coaches gift certificates or other presents. This was a very nice gesture, but for me coaching is its own reward and I don’t expect such generosity. I would prefer that IF parents decide they WANT to give something, they instead put their contributions toward an end of season pizza party for EVERYONE.

P.S. Jane Friesch is organizing the post-season fest for us. Stay tuned for further details.