Hello Team Elevate! These are unique times in our nation and in AAU and we had a unique situation present itself to us this week. A player from a different team heard that Nikita broke his leg and wouldn't be playing with us in the tournament this weekend and wondered if we could use another player. At first I said no because I wanted to make sure all of our guys would be able to get the playing time they have earned in practice. Then I experimented with our substitution patterns and found that this can be a win-win situation! The new player will be our 9 player and will therefore get less minutes than Nikita did. That means that all of our other players will be able to get more minutes than they usually did when Nikita was playing. So, we will be able to be closer to full strength and also get our guys more minutes than they normally get! The player is Jack D from the Bullets, someone who our guys are very familiar with because he played with our team during many of our open gyms this summer, so he will fit in well!

Another reason why we want 9 players for this tournament is the bracket is set up so that there is a possibility of playing 5 total games if we win our pool, with 3 games in a span of 5 hours on Monday. Our guys had a tough time with 3 games in a day last year and that was with 10 players, so an extra player will definitely help us have more energy for our final game Monday night!

With 9 players, the cost for the tournament will now be $40 per player instead of $45. The spectator cost will still be $10. Please pay Coach Tim outside the gym doors before the first game Sunday (also if you forgot to pay Coach Andy $10 for the games in Troy, Idaho or $2 for practice at Valley Forth Memorial Church this week, you can pay him also before the game).

We wish that all of our parents could attend this tournament (the tournament director said hopefully for the next one!), but for those that can't, the games will be live streamed on facebook. Go to facebook and then search Battle Basketball Team Elevate. Some of our games from our last tournament are still there and the feed from our games should come through live this weekend!

Thanks so much for your love and support! We love your sons and can't wait to see them play this weekend! (Let's shoot for being in the Lewiston High School parking lot at 2:00 pm - we are the first game so we should be able to get our full warm up time!) Drive safe! :-)

God bless and Go Elevate!

-Coach Andy, Brandon, and Tim

P.S. Coach Brandon's Dad passed away this week. Please keep his family in your prayers! We love you Coach and are so thankful for you and your family! We look forward to competing with you this weekend!