This is the first year that we participated in basketball. Many children are over loaded with after school activities and sports and we have generally taken the "hey, you want to try it, sure, but you have to finish your commitment" track. Mostly the children decide if they want to do some after school activity and once they do we require that they follow through with the activity until the end. I think that it is safe to say that at least for the foreseeable future, basketball will not be in our line up. While both children really seemed to enjoy themselves at the games, it was a pain to get them there with all the complaining they did, especially our blond child and it was all her idea from the start.
I have to say this was definitely an eye opening experience. It is the first time that we had participated in a team like sport where we didn't know the coach or hardly any of the other families that were on the team; and well, I have decided that I kind of like our little bubble of friends and as far as I am concerned could live in it for the rest of my life. There are some strange people out there and some strange parenting techniques going on.
JP's experience was better than Shelby's. He was so cute and looked so little out there running up and down the court. I loved how the boys played defense without tearing each other's faces off and how intently they listened to their coaches.
This is JP in his defensive stance. He mostly stayed out of the pack and stood in his spot where he was safe from harm.
After he made a shot during warm ups. He was always so proud after every game announcing how many rebounds, assists and points he thought he had. Of course he had a tendency to exaggerate, but for now as long as he was having fun who were we to correct him. We just told him he did a great job and we were proud of him.
I should have known we were in for a ride when Shelby's first practice ended with three suicides. Her coach was SERIOUS!!! He totally kept track of the score during every game (there is no official scoring this young; the idea is to get the children exposed and for them to have fun) and always left in the best players while the others rotated in and out each quarter.
Here is Shelby doing her favorite thing, sitting on the bench. I can hardly blame her for wanting to be there safe from all the girls. These girls were totally crazy and very physical! Shelby loves her personal space and was quite content to stay out of all that clawing and hitting that was going on around her. I am serious, they were out of control.
This is Shelby playing offense. She usually hung back around center court and would sort of hop over the line to the other side depending on where the ball was, but never jumping in on the action. She was a true point guard in that she brought the ball up, set up the play and then watched from the safety of the top of the court while the other girls duked it out with each other.
It was a wild ride but I am so proud of both of my children. They did great and despite wanting to quit they both stuck it out. By the end JP was really enjoying it and Shelby, well, at least we got her to finish the season.
