On Monday, March 14th, the Upward basketball celebration took place at the Central Nazarene Church. Both Tyler and Samantha joined the rest of their teams one last time to remember the season that was. The evening began with an introduction of all of the teams, their coaches and players emerging from the tunnel one at a time. Following the introductions was the entertainment for the evening, which was provided by David Cain, the Juggler for Jesus. He told a variety of parables, incorporation his props to help tell his stories, mixing in timely jokes here and there to keep things a little bit lighter. The evening wrapped up with a drawing for a basketball scholarship for next season as well as several basketballs, which neither Tyler or Sam were lucky enough to win. Before the teams broke up for the final time, the coaches handed out an Upward backpack to each of the kids as a souvenir for all of their hard work.

    Although Tyler will be to old to play Upward next season, both Samantha and Drew would like to play next year. In all honesty Drew probably could have played this year when you compared his height to many of the kids who were playing, but we never really even thought about it!

Upward Celebration 2011
	Coach Erica coming out of the tunnel during the introduction of her team, the Storm.
	Samantha emerging from the tunnel during introductions.
	Marissa coming out of the tunnel during introductions.
	A view of the church where the Upward celebration took place.
	Another look at the inside of the church.
	Coach Dwayne coming out of the tunnel during the introduction of his team, the Heat.
	Tyler emerging from the tunnel during introductions.
	Dwayne coming out of the tunnel during introductions.
	David Cain, the "Juggler for Jesus," was the entertainment for the evening. Here he is juggling some rubber balls...
	...and some juggling clubs.
	Samantha sitting in a pew watching the juggling.
	Erica and Marissa sitting in the pew.
	Tyler and Dwayne watching the juggling from their spot in the church.
	Back to David Cain, spinning two balls on his fingers at once...
	...and twirling a lasso.