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From the Sidelines: Long break could be to Warriors advantage

Sports reporter

The winter sports season is like no other.

Teams practice for a few weeks, play a few games, and as soon as they get into a groove, it's practice, practice, practice again.

But it also can work the other way. Sometimes teams start the season in a funk, and the best thing for them to do is take a deep breath, relax, and use the break to focus on what they are doing wrong.

In the case of my sixth grade REC basketball team, our version of winter break couldn't have come at a worse time. We were sitting at 0-2 with a game this past Saturday we thought was winnable. The boys had been practicing well, and were ready to pick up their first victory of the season.

Then it snows and wipes out the entire day.

I loved the stuff as a kid, but now it has become nothing but a pain for me.

The snow-out means we don't play a game until Jan. 7, after not playing a game since Dec. 10. The boys are becoming restless in practice because of having so long between games, but there is nothing we can do about it. We now have to focus on what's in front of us, and worry about the Jan. 7 game.

For the Marion High School boys' basketball team the break comes at a perfect time.

Since easily beating Chase County in the season-opener, the Warriors have dropped five in a row. It was a good thing for them none of the games have counted in the league standings. Now, they have 20 days between games to right their wrongs and get back on track. From here on out every game is a league game except the Hillsboro-Marion tournament.

The reason the Warriors can use this break to their advantage is because they aren't really a 1-5 team. They have talent, but are learning a new style of play with a few new players.

So what the boys need to do is forget about the past, and move on. Sounds pretty cliché, but it's the truth.

With 11 league games remaining, the Warriors can still do damage, especially considering everyone in the Mid-Central Activities Association has a 0-0 league record.

During the break the players need to focus only on what needs to be done to improve.

If they do that, the second half of the season won't look anything like the first.

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