Jessica Nipp, Feb. 4

Hi readers!

Happy Chinese New Year!  Welcome to the Year of the Rabbit.  Gung hay fat choy (Best wishes and have a prosperous and good year)!  My grandparents have trained me well.  I am looking forward to celebrating the new year with my family this weekend.  Nothing beats family time!

This week, we started off with a loss to the seventh-rank in our CIF division.  The game was winnable, I think!  We play them again next week and everyone is definitely looking forward to it!   We also had back-to-back games this week.   On Tuesday, we were able to pull off a great team win!  I could see we found a better rhythm in that game, with some of my teammate stepping up.  I am definitely proud of all the girls’ 100 perrcent effort and commitment to the team thus far.

This year, we have not had many games on the same day and place as boys JV and varsity because we are in different leagues.   In fact, I think last Tuesday may have been only the second time this year we all played on the same day at home.  What’s more, all three teams secured a win!  The boys varsity team clinched their 12th straight win on Tuesday night, still protecting their spot at the top of their league.  The JV team ended their season with a solid win too.  Congrats to both!  It was a great day for CVCS.   

On Wednesday, instead of our usual practice, we used our practice time to serve dinner to the homeless with Welcome Inn.  The boys team actually participates in this ministry every week, amazingly.  It’s so awesome!  The Welcome Inn is a ministry in Capo Beach that provides a meal (more like a feast!) to the homeless every day.  Undoubtedly, it was a great opportunity to minister as a team to those folks.  

Dear readers, this is probably one of my last diaries since basketball season is coming to a close this month.  Our last league game is next week!  However, the first-round of playoffs begins on the 17th.  We are hoping for an at-large bid. 

“Hard work and togetherness.  They go hand in hand.  You need the hard work because it's such a tough atmosphere... to win week in and week out.  You need togetherness because you don't always win, and you gotta hang tough together.” – Tony Dungy

Thanks for reading!

~ Jessica Nipp

(Editor's note: If you are a student-athlete at San Juan Hills, JSerra, St. Margaret's or Saddleback Valley Christian high and would like to write your own weekly diary for San Juan Capistrano Patch, send an e-mail to sports editor Bob Rohwer at bob.rohwer@patch.com.)