The Winter sports season has been underway for a little while here in the Cincinnati area.  One of the first basketball games I photographed this season was Colerain at Mason High School.  The Freshmen, JV and Varsity teams played on a Saturday the first weekend in December.  Below are a few of my favorites from all the games.  You can view all the images from the games by clicking the Game Images link above.

Corralling a rebound.

Some tough defense on a post up.

Loose ball that ended up being a jump ball.

Diving after another loose ball.

Just getting her fingers on the ball to block the shot.

The coach tries to light a fire in the player.

She responds with a block shot.

Tough post play.

Trying to keep her balance to stay in-bounds.

The tournament soccer game between Lakota East and Mt. Healthy occurred back in October.  I previously posted a few images from the very wet night.  The game was delayed one day because of lightning on the originally scheduled date.  While the storms stayed away the next evening, the rains continued.  The forecast was for them to let up or completely stop by 8pm.  I can confirm that the weather reports were wrong.  Rain continued throughout the entire game and I am not sure it really let up at all.  I have great rain gear for both myself and my cameras but my hand on the mono-pod definitely got cold.  I have yet to find a good way to keep it warm in the rain.  I was not the only one trying to stay warm.  The amazing fans that showed up for the game were all snuggled up under umbrellas.  The Lakota East players not in the game took refuge in the press box.  Here are a few images from the game:

Pregame warm-ups.

The first half the rain was blowing at my back so it does not look as bad as it was in the images.

Making a move.

A header.

The second half I shot a lot into the rain.  The keeper waits for his players to make a move.

The coaches by themselves on the bench.

Challenging play throughout the game.

Saturday night high school football.  Not the normal for my schedule as the games I photograph are normally Friday night.  I was excited though to be photographing a playoff football game between Mason and St. Xavier high schools.  It was an intense game with great crowd support for both teams.  Below are a few of my favorites, all are available through the Game Images link above.

Waiting to go out for the coin toss.

Looking for an opening.

Coming up just short of making the catch.

Attempting to get to the quarterback.

Making the tackle and trying to get the ball out.

Trying to escape the defense.

Making the interception.

Over the years photographing sports I have kind of done my own scouting.  I like to watch teams and players to get a feel for how they will play.  Try to figure out tendencies because I think it helps me get better action images.  Volleyball is a sport that I sometimes struggle with and have been working on improving my abilities with regards to photographing the sport.  I have watched games on tv, looked at other photographer images and critiqued my own work.  Last Saturday while I was photographing a match I saw some scouts in the stand.  Not sure if their notes help me or not but here are a couple quick images I took between points.

Looks like official scouting papers.

Making his own scouting forms.

As I prepare for the upcoming Winter Sports Season I am also closing out the 2010-11 Winter Sports Season.  That means all events from the 2010-11 winter sports season will be archived off the website.  They will no longer be available for purchase after November 1, 2011.  Ordering is easy.  Just click the Game Images link above to be taken directly to the Sports galleries.  I will reloaded game upon request but there will be a $10.00 charge.  The $10.00 must be paid before a game is reloaded.  You will receive a $10.00 credit towards your purchase from the game reloaded.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding ordering.