The Abbotsford News's high school sports blog, Students of the Game, features local athletes sharing their experiences and unique perspectives. Today, MEI senior Tessa Ratzlaff reflects on the end of her high school basketball career.
It is so surreal to think that I no longer will play high school basketball again.
When I look back at basketball as an Eagle, so many positive memories arise. March 5-8 the MEI senior girls played in the AAA provincials at the Langley Events Centre. We were ranked eighth going into the tournament and finished in fifth place.
This year in provincials I thought that our team battled hard every game. I saw our team play more together as a team than ever before. Going in, we weren’t exactly excited about our ranking, however we accepted the fact that we couldn’t do anything except play as hard as we could.
We won our first game, which led us to the quarter-finals where we lost to Brookswood, who went on to win the title. We won our last two games, and finished in fifth place by defeating Handsworth 74-66. I was so proud of how we played and how we ended up finishing as a team.
It was very hard playing my last game with this team. I loved spending every moment with them, and I love everyone on it. I played with some of these girls since Grade 6. The amazing thing about this team was that we actually all wanted to be together, and loved being around each other. I will miss all the girls and coaches from MEI.
Even though I will be missing my MEI team, I get to look forward becoming a Spartan at Trinity Western University. I am so excited to get to know my new teammates and coaches. I have started to train with my team at Trinity, and I already know that this is a great group of girls and coaches that I can look forward to spending my next five years with!
It will definitely be a change going from being a Grade 12 captain of my MEI team, to being a first year university player.
I had some of my best memories with MEI basketball, and I am so thankful that I was able to play with amazing teammates and coaches. However, I look forward to what the next five years has in store for me, and can't wait to start my journey as a Spartan at TWU.