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Kris Fadness
MBCA President
Austin High School
kfadness@austin.k12.mn.us
March is a great time to be a Basketball fan with high school
tourney play in full force. The games are full of emotion as young men deal
with the pressure of one and done post-season play. We watch some rise to new
levels as they thrive in the moment, while we feel for others as they come to
grips with the end of a career, as coaches we know while this is an exciting
time it can also be one of tension and stress. Regardless of where your team
ends up you have had a great impact on your student-athletes serving as a role
model, mentor, teacher, and friend. I hope that you have all been able to
experience successes this year and that you can look to the future with optimism
and hope.
Our hearts go out to the New Prague and Browerville Basketball
communities. Jeff Gravon, the head Boys’ Basketball coach in New Prague, passed
away after his courageous battle with cancer and Mark Perkins, the head Girls
Basketball coach in Browerville, was taken from us rather quickly with this
dreaded disease. Cancer has or will affect all our lives at some point and I am
extremely proud to be part of this organization. This year as an organization
we made a commitment to doing our part in helping fight cancer. Section 8
raised a total of $15,381.75, in St. James, Waseca and St. James were able to
raise $4200, Sauk Rapids at Brainerd brought in $3200, St. Francis raised $1200,
and personally it was nice for our team In Austin to be a part of Owatonna’s
coaches vs. cancer night (thanks coach Williams). I know a lot of you raised
funds as part of our efforts to fight cancer this year. If you could take the
time we would love to hear how you came out, please feel free to e-mail myself
or Tom Critchley .
There has been much discussion on the summer blackout period,
as of this writing the MSHSL Board of Directors has forwarded a proposal to the
Representative Assembly that would change the summer waiver time from June 1st
to July 31st, with a blackout period from July 1st through
July 7th. The Rep. Assembly meets in May. There has also been
discussion on lowering the number of contests in the majority of our high school
sports. This is an issue brought on by the recent economic crunch that I’m sure
we are all feeling in some way. By the time this article is being read,
hopefully we will have a clearer picture of what is exactly happening. I
encourage all of you to keep informed with what is going on with our sport by
checking our website at
www.mshsca.org/boysbasketball.
The state tourney is upon us and once again seeding at the 3A
and 4A levels will take place. The procedure calls for seeding 1-4 with a
random draw among seeds 5-8. The seeding takes place after all section play is
complete. The games will be played at the Target Center and Williams Arena,
Concordia University will be used for Saturdays third place games. The Cambria
room will serve as our hospitality room at the Target Center. Your MSHSCA card
must be presented to gain access. We thank the Timberwolves for their support
of our association and of high school Basketball in Minnesota. Congratulations
to all the coaches and teams that made it to State.
This season’s All-Star series is set for the weekend of April
3rd and 4th. The games will be played at St. Cloud State
University on April 3rd with game times set for 7:00 p.m. and 8:45
p.m., and at Macalester College on April 4th with game times slated
for 2:15 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Congratulations to the coaches who were selected to
coach in the 2009 All-Star series. Tim Anderson, Maple River; Ed Cassidy, St.
Bernard’s; Dave Cresap, Perham; and Kris Fadness, Austin. I would like to
encourage all of you to take the time and see one or both of these games. It is
a great experience for the players and coaches who are selected to be in this
event. We have a lot of great talent in our state, come check it out.
Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns of any
kind that need to be brought to our attention.
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