Make sure the coach is in shape.
True, I'm going to help out George with his preparation for the Transplant Games, but I was referring to my preparation for the Tran Splant games. Tran (whose family immigrated from Vietnam) was the captain of my high school's 58-man Squamish team, and as this is the 58th year since our high school graduation, a number of us decided to organize a tournament in his honor. So, I get to prepare for two (similarly spelled) things at once.
What’s a Squamish team? Why 58? And you were a ‘63 grad? Pretty young. I was a ‘64, and may have been the youngest in my class.
You can probably look up 43-man squamish on line. 58-man is the high school version (easier with more players).
Yes, graduated high school in '63. Was not the youngest in my class. In NYC at that time, a fair number of kids were placed in a "special progress" class in junior high school (7th through 9th grades) where the whole class did the three years in two years. Furthermore, I knew at least two kids (in my high school graduation class of 700+) who had skipped 3rd grade and then were in the same SP class as me in junior high; there were probably others in my high school class from other junior highs who had similar skips as the two kids from my own junior high.
Also: if I had been born a day later (or, say, 11 days later, like you), I would have started first grade a year later. So, since you graduated HS in '64, you must've either skipped a grade somewhere or had a later deadline for starting first grade?
I was on a semester promotion scheme through the first half of 4th grade, when we moved and I went into 5th grade. There was some talk about moving me up to 6th grade, but then they took a look at me and saw how small I was. Definitely a late bloomer physically. I remember when I was graduated from 8th grade I was 5 ft tall and weighed 78 pounds, so presumably a fair amount smaller in 5th.
I hit 5' in 9th grade, which was the same year you were in 8th grade. You wound up a lot taller, though. Maybe it was all those cigarettes I didn't smoke that stunted my growth.
Just did an online search for 43-man squamish myself. Pretty interesting. Check out the article from Skidmore.