Hello all Upward Friends!   

       
WEATHER OR NOT…
With the snow sprinkling outside this morning, it reminded me to let you all know the procedure in case of bad weather:
·         For practice cancellation, coaches are responsible calling all their players and notifying them.
·         In the event of bad weather on game day, I will consult with the other church facility organizers and make the decision. You can check our website www.jesusroadtrip.com for notification of game day cancellations, as well as game day schedules.

WAY TO GO STRIPES!
Did you notice the referees? They did such a great job! Did you notice your team’s coach(es) refereeing? We have had to ask all coaches to do “double-duty” because our pool of referees is very small. With 50 games requiring 2 refs per game, it takes 100 people to ref each weekend! It would be great if we could get just one parent from each team to ref.  With more people willing to ref, the more we could rotate schedules and the less everyone would have to ref.
 So you say you don’t know how to ref? Fear not!!! It is easy to learn and this Thursday, January 21, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm, we will be hosting the Upward Referee Clinic . It will be held at the First United Methodist Church in the East Campus Living Room (on the corner of Butler and Mojave). The Living Room is located in the south end of the building (Celebration Center). It is where our youth ministry is held.

WOO HOO!
The first weekend of Upward is officially “in the books” and from what I have heard (or not heard!) it went well for the most part. Yeah! Thanks to all the churches (4) who hosted all the games (50), their volunteers (40) and prayer partners (60), the coaches, commissioners, and refs (170), players (540) and all the parents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, friends, grandmas and grandpas who came to watch the games (1,620). All (2,430) people helped to make this weekend happen.  How awesome is that?!
As always, if you have any questions, you can call me or my assistant, Chris, at (505)947-9200, or check out the website for up-to-date information on League happenings.

Thanks again for your participation in Upward!

Only by His Grace,
Marci Nix
Childrens’ Minister,  First United Methodist Church
Upward Basketball League Commissioner