Monday night I headed the couple blocks over to Arvada West to shoot the girls varsity hoops team as they hosted Arapahoe. I am beginning to really like the A-West gym. It is big, has high bleachers and a good location for my strobes. The baselines are big, and people seem very nice.
This was going to be the beginning of a long week for me, with 3 basketball games, a hockey game and a wrestling meet. I set up my equipment and got my cameras ready to go. I was anxious to see how basketball turned out in this gym, and was really interested in how the A-West girls would do. I had already seen a couple of the A-West boys games during the Ralston Round Up a week before, so I was hoping the girls would be good.
I found out that the girls coach for Arvada West was in her 1st season as Head Coach. And I found out that the Arapahoe assistant/JV coach was the former A-West coach. So, A-West really wanted to do good against Arapahoe.
Arapahoe jumped out to a lead early in the first quarter of the game, but Arvada West was staying within striking distance in the first half. For a first year coach, Arvada West looked good. They were not perfect, but they have a good base to work with and could have a promising season.
In the second half, Arapahoe pulled away and never looked back. A-West needs to refine a few aspects of their game, but overall, they looked ok.
Overall, my lighting worked out pretty well, and I shot mainly with the 7D and 70-200 combo. As the season goes on, I might be able to lighten my bag in this gym, which would be nice. Less to carry and quicker in and out.
I also hope that after the first of the year I will get a chance to do a story about a special group at A-West. During halftime a group of students, which included special needs kids, in and out of wheel chairs, performed a routine. I found out the group is called Sparkle, and I pitched the idea of doing a story on them to Maxpreps. Hopefully I will be able to do a full story with photos on the group and post it here soon.
More photos from this game can be seen in the game gallery on MaxPreps.
