Jade Desroches: Can't-miss kid about to add to family's legacy

The first time I met Jade Desrochers was five years ago. I was helping coach the Enosburg girls basketball team at the time and was running a summer open gym.

I remember four or five kids showed up, most of whom I knew. There was one kid whom I did not know.

She was 4-foot-nothing. The ball seemed bigger than her.

I turned to one of the girls and asked: "Who invited the fourth grader?"

The girl stared at me with a look of disbelief.

"You don't know who that is? That's Jade Desroches," came the hushed reply, revealing in its tone a level of reverance that surprised me.

Five minutes later, I was in awe, too.

I've told this story so many times I'm sure I've added to the legend, but what I remember is this little wisp of a child walking over to the ball rack, bouncing the ball a couple of times, toeing the 3-point line, a little hop, followed by a big push from a slender right arm and ending with a delicate flick of the wrist. Swish.

Seconds later, from a little further back on the opposite side of the floor. Swish. And it continued. Little further back. Swish. 

I lost count after five straight as I was too busy picking my jaw up from off the floor.

I later learned that she was the cousin of Lindsey Larivee - who was heading into her sophomore season with the Hornets after a brilliant freshman campaign that ended with a state title. Larivee had a great shooting stroke, too.

But Desroches, even though she was heading into her eighth grade, was better (at least on that day) and I told her so. And I told her to tell Lindsey. The aghast look on her face told me she wasn't about to do that.

In hindsight, I learned a lot about Jade that day - that she's a quiet kid, but prideful. That she's a tremendously talented athlete, but humble. That she comes from a great basketball family, but she is now, as she was then, eager to make her own mark.

And tonight, with any luck, she will do just that when she becomes the fourth Enosburg girls basketball player - and fifth member of the Larose family - to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

To read more about Jade and her quest to reach 1,000, here's a link to a story I wrote on Examiner.com.

SHAWN CORROW, when he's not being very happy for a really nice kid from a fine family, is owner of Cold Hollow Photography and a freelance photo journalist. He maintains this blog, his photo website www.coldhollowphoto.com and you can follow him on Facebook (Shawn Corrow) and Twitter @scorrow or you can email him at shawn@coldhollowphoto.com

Winter sports photo list

The following are the games that have been posted on my website www.coldhollowphoto.com. Games with an asterisk qualify for the 99 cent instant download (remember these are unedited images) or the $1.99 4x6s (which are edited before printing). Click here for more details.

Past sports seasons - scroll down for the photos from the current season

Fall 2010

Summer 2010

Spring 2010

Winter 2009-10  - this is LAST YEARS'S LIST - THIS YEAR'S LIST IS BELOW

Youth hockey

Essex at MAHA Squirts, Nov. 21, 2010*

SASA at MAHA Mites (both games), Nov. 21, 2010*

MAHA 14 girls vs. Hartford, Dec. 4, 2010*

Essex vs. St. Albans Squirts, Feb. 21, 2011

Youth basketball

Barre at Enosburg Mini Metro girls, Nov. 28, 2010*

Enosburg mini-Metro boys basketball, Nov. 28, 2010*

Berkshire at Enosburg Middle School girls, Jan. 11, 2010*

High school girls basketball

Colchester at BFA-Fairfax varsity, Dec. 11, 2010*

Milton at BFA-Fairfax, Dec. 18, 2010* 

Burlington at BFA-St. Albans, Dec. 27, 2010

MVU at Enosburg, Dec. 30, 2010*

UCA at Richford, Jan. 5, 2011*

Lyndon at Enosburg, JV 'B' Jan. 14, 2011*

Enosburg at Richford JV, Jan. 14, 2011*

Enosburg at Richford, Varsity, Jan. 14, 2011*

Enosburg at BFA-Fairfax JV, Jan. 19, 2011*

Enosburg at BFA-Fairfax Varsity, Jan. 19, 2011*

Lake Region at Enosburg, Jan. 21, 2011*

Milton at Enosburg, Feb. 1, 2011*

Richford at Enosburg, Feb. 4, 2011*

Lake Region vs. Windsor, D-III semifinal, March 10, 2011

Enosburg vs. Windsor, D-III girls basketball semis, March 10, 2011*

Poultney vs. Arlington D-IV state title, March 12, 2011

Lamoille vs. Mt. Abe, D-II state title game, March, 13, 2011

Lake Region vs. Windsor, Division III state title game, March 13, 2011

High school boys basketball

BFA-St. Albans at Enosburg, Jan. 4, 2011*

Danville at Enosburg, Jan. 8, 2011*

North Country at MVU, Jan. 10, 2011

Milton at BFA-Fairfax, Jan. 13, 2011*

BFA-Fairfax at Richford, Jan. 15, 2011*

Enosburg at Richford, Jan. 18, 2011*

Enosburg at Missisquoi, Jan. 22, 2011*

Lake Region at Enosburg, Feb. 5, 2011*

Vergennes at MVU boys basketball, March 4, 2011

Vergennes at MVU JV boys, March 5, 2011

MMU at BFA-St. Albans boys quarterfinals, March 11, 2011

Twinfield vs. Danville, D-IV title game, March 19, 2011

Missisquoi vs. Fair Haven, D-II state title game, March 20, 2011

Thetford vs. Winooski boys basketball D-3 title game, March 19, 2011

High school girls hockey

MVU at BFA-St. Albans, Dec. 18, 2010*

Hanover at BFA-St. Albans, Dec. Dec. 29, 2010

Burr and Burton at MVU, Jan. 8, 2011*

South Burlington at BFA-St. Albans, Jan. 22, 2011

CVU at BFA-St. Albans, Feb. 9, 2011

U-32 vs. Harwood D-2 state title game, March 14, 2011

BFA-St. Albans vs. Spaulding, D-I girls title game, March 14, 2011

High school boys hockey

South Burlington at MVU, Dec. 15. 2010*

North Country at MVU, Dec. 22, 2010*

Burlington at MVU, Jan. 7, 2011*

Rutland at MVU, Jan. 22, 2011*

North Country at BFA-St. Albans, Jan. 22, 2011

MVU at North Country boys hockey, Jan. 26. 2011*

Essex at MVU boys hockey, Feb. 26, 2011*

BFA-St. Albans vs. CVU, March 9, 2011

Wrestling

Middlebury, Mt. Abraham at Enosburg, Jan. 25, 2011*

Cheerleading

NVACs - Posed and Action

Academy Cheer Challenge

All galleries, except individual posed shots (you must email me for access to those.)

Action photos by team:

AD Lawton, Alumni, St. Albans City 5/6, Essex Middle, Georiga team photo, Stunts, Top Guns and Tumblers, BFA-St. Albans Varsity, BFA-St. Albans JV, Blue Mtn. Middle, Blue Mtn. Minis, BFA-Faifax JVs, Georgia Middle, Richford Varsity, St. Albans City 7/8, St. Albans Youth All-Stars, Vergennes Flyers, Vergennes Minis.

Skiing

Slalom race at Hard'Ack in St. Albans on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011

Events

St. Albans Winter Carnival

Shake-shake-shake ... shake-shake-shake ... shake your ziti!

The Enosburg boys basketball team hosted Lake Region on Thursday night and although the game didn't go well for the Hornets, there was one local group that was a winner - the foodshelf in Enosburg.

The game was billed as Shake Your Ziti Night and people who brought a box of pasta to the game were allowed use it as a noise-maker at the game (usually noise makers are prohibited due to VPA rules) and then they were given the option of getting back a portion of their admission price.

Enosburg athletic director - and all-around good guy - Chris Brigham said 75 boxes or pasta were donated, along with $50 in cash. The idea was the brainchild of Enosburg boys basketball coach Steve Jette, who said the event was held at his college.

The best laid plans ...

For those looking for a fresh post tonight, I'm going to have to defer.

I occassionally work shifts designing sports pages at the Free Press and forgot that tonight was one of those shifts.

I might post after I get home around 1:30 a.m., but I may wait until later in the day.

For those who care about such things, I did upload the BFA girls hockey and MVU-Enosburg boys basketball photos, including a few JV shots.

My next assignment is Wednesday night when I cover MVU-Milton boys hockey for the Messenger.

Thanks for checking in!

Hornets and T-Birds and Comets, oh my!

The day didn't quite play out as expected, but then again they seldom do.

I was able to catch the first quarter of the MVU-Enosburg boys basketball game, but only after watching the overtime of a very exciting JV game. MVU, under substitute coach John Lumsden, saw his team fall behind by 15 early before rallying to win in OT.

The lengthy game meant that instead of getting to the start of the BFA-St. Albans-Hanover, N.H. girls hockey game at 3, I was still at the gym until 3:30.

However, I was able to get over to the rink in time to see the second period.

But I wasn't able to see much of the third because I was called away to attend to a flat tire on my wife's van. OK, I didn't actually attend to matter aside from venturing out in between periods to pick up my child while my wife was being rescued by some guardian angels who actually know how to change a tire.

Thanks guys, whomever you are!

I'll be taking a little break from the blog updates the next couple of days.

I'm shooting family and senior portraits at my studio tomorrow before working a desk shift at the Freeps. I'll be back at the Freeps again on Monday. In between, I'll try to get the photos from Friday and Saturday on the web and should be back blogging on Tuesday.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to vote in the polls and visit the blog.

There have been over 100 unique visits to this blog this week - not earthshattering, but given the infrequency of my posts of late, a very nice response.

If you want to know when the blog is updated, friend me (Shawn Corrow) on Facebook or follow me on Twitter (scorrow).

Later