That MVP or Very Important Guy or Gal on your basketball roster

 Do you have that MVP guy or gal on your team roster?

No, I am not talking about a player and I am not talking about a coach or assistant coach on your team.

I am talking about the team manager.  The boy or girl that gets towels or water cups to the players during time-outs, retrieves basketballs during shootarounds, fetches whatever the coaches need at that minute.  Most team managers don't get a second of consideration.  They are there but almost invisible, but they are just as important as the 15 kids on the team.

The team only functions with that guy or gal.  They might have been the smallest guy or gal at tryouts.  They want to stay on the team, so they volunteer to manage.  They might not have any athletic aspirations or abilities, but they like doing something to help the school.   

Do you have that MVP/VIP guy or gal on your team?  I bet you do.

Eureka has ACV, as most call him.  Aiden C. Valentine to be exact.  I don't know what the middle initial stands for, but that's okay.  Whenever I see him, he calls me Mr. Parker, because my grandsons, my daughter's sons, are Parkers.  I don't mind.  He wouldn't probably remember Edmonson, although he might remember Gramps.  He can call me anything he likes.

Most would call ACV an inspiration.  I just think he is more than an inspiration.  He's an MVP.

He not only does the manager's duties but he is a cheerleader for the fans.  When things get tough on the court, he does not get discouraged, he encourages the players, he turns around and faces the crowd, and urges us to encourage his team.  

If you think in baseball statistical terms, his WAR, ie. Wins Above Replacement value is through the roof.  ACV might give the team a couple of extra wins each season.  He motivates fans and he motivates players. Everyone in the student body loves ACV.

Not only does he manage the basketball team, but he attends many other team sports and acts as a "cheerleader" on the field or in the stands.  You can see him running on the field with the football team, pacing the stands during a lacrosse game urging on the team and the fans.

I ran into ACV last spring, right before he graduated.  I asked him what he planned to do now that he was graduating high school.  He wasn't sure about his plans but he told me, "Mr. Parker, I really want to come back and be the team manager for basketball again."  I wasn't so sure how that might work but I encouraged him to campaign for that with Coach Kirby.  After four years of being "Missouri team Manager of the Year", would Coach let him come back after graduation?

Well, ACV got a job as an orderly or intern at Mercy Hospital, so he only has a little time available, but Coach Kirby has welcomed him back and I think everyone is pleased to see him, fetching water and towels, urging on the Cat Pound and fans behind the team bench.  He is a Most Valuable Guy and he might be worth a couple of extra wins above expectations this coming season.

I hope you have someone as important as ACV as your team manager.  And next time you go to a game, go up and thank that kid for what they do.  They might be the most valuable person on the team. 

I have finished redesigning the girl's ratings spreadsheet and made over 154 changes due to reclassification or reassignment of teams to different districts. Almost half of those changes were with class one and class two schools.  I didn't dig very deep to see what they were other than I have heard from some people that their team was assigned to a district where all the other teams are over 150 miles from their school.  I don't understand the logic behind some of these changes but hopefully, the districts will be fairer and more schools have an opportunity to advance to the state playoffs.

The one disappointing aspect of the reclassifications is that I found about a dozen schools that are not fielding a girl's team this winter, including Breckenridge, Cristo Rey, Eminence, Golden City, Keytesville, Lutheran KC, Northwest Academy of Transportation, Oran, Purdy, Southland, and Summersville.  Some of these schools did not have a team last year but several of these schools had a very good team but evidently do not have enough girls to field a team.  Hope they return next year.  

With both spreadsheets redesigned, I am ready to start crunching numbers.  Hopefully, I will have my first ratings posted by mid-December.  Of course, that assumes that my second cataract surgery goes as well as the first.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.  

And remember to thank that MVP on the team, the next time you see the team manager.