Holy Family Catholic JJV team wins championships

The Holy Family Catholic School sixth-grade boys basketball team — referred to as the school’s JJV team — compiled an 11-2 record this season and won both the Catholic Youth Sports Championship and the Diocese of Orlando Championship.

The Lions defeated St. Mary Magdalen in the CYS Championship, 27-16, before defeating St. Brendan in the diocesan championship in Daytona Beach, 42-23.

Head coach Joe Thompson said his players have relied on their core values to attain success.

“I promote three words that are three values that I push on the boys: faith, family and team,” Thompson said. “In basketball, it takes a team to win.”

Thompson, a 11-year veteran coaching volunteer at HFCS, said his team improved as the season went on — another key to its success.

“Our scoring went up about 1.5 times, and our defense got stiffer,” Thompson said. “We allowed less points at the end of the season than we did in the beginning.”

As the school has done in the past, Thompson likely will continue coaching this group of boys as seventh-graders and then eighth-graders as they prepare to hopefully become high school basketball players in the future.

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].