The Story of Our Championship Team

It was spring 2025, our Waves teams went to Reno and left everything on the court. Not every game ended with a win, but every player walked away stronger, smarter, and more connected. That’s what matters most to us.

Among them was our HS Travel Team 1—this year’s Reno Memorial Day Tournament champions. But the trophy is only the final chapter in a much bigger story.

This group has been together for nearly 6 years. Most of them didn’t start as “gifted” or “naturally athletic.” They began at our beginner or novice level, learning the basics, taking loss after loss, including a crushing 0:38 playoff game in 2019, and two straight years of losing to the same rival in Reno in 2023 & 2024.

Over 180 defeats throughout all these years, they never quit. The year after that 0:38 playoff defeat, they lost to the same team by just 2 points. Two years later, they met again. This time in the finals, and won by 11. It took years of work, setbacks, and relentless belief in each other to overcome that mountain. And they did it.

Through all the ups and downs, championship runs, heartbreaks, and everything between, like the incredible championship run in 2022 Reno tournament, fell hard last two years in the semi-final losing to the same rival, and finally came back and won the championship again this year including beating that same rival by 52 points. This core stayed together from elementary school into high school, defying the pull to join other teams. They’ve grown from kids learning to dribble into young men who play with heart, chemistry, and selflessness. They have been learning and playing basketball together for close to half of their lifetime already.

This is more than a team. This is family. And for the love of the game and the brotherhood, we’ll keep writing this story for as long as we can.