Scrapbooking: Basketball

Our daughter loves to jump around, flip upside down, shout, and dance, and she's very light on her feet, so I thought she would make a great cheerleader.  I don't think I could ever let her cheer at a secular high school where the outfits have gotten too skimpy and the dance moves have become too provocative, so I thought she could get her cheering fix through the Upward sports program.  Two years ago, she cheered for the Upward basketball players.  She was cute and enthusiastic, but her heart was set on playing basketball, not just cheering from the sidelines.

Our daughter has the build of a gymnast or cheerleader, not a basketball player.  She really wanted to play, however, so we signed her up for basketball last year.  She was the youngest, shortest player on a team of 1st through 4th graders.  Our goal for her was to simply make one basket the entire season.  The basketball goals were set at nine feet, which for her would be like a a 6' person shooting at a 15'7" goal.  Her determination and perseverance both amazed and humbled me.  Every practice and every single game stretched and challenged her.  It was a long, hard struggle, but she eventually did score a few points for her team.  I wrote about some of the faith lessons she taught me during that basketball season in an earlier blog post found here.  

She was eager to play basketball again this year.  She only grew enough over the past year to stay on her low growth curve, but based upon her performance this year, you would think she grew a foot.  She's a totally different player with a competitive edge I had not seen before.  The pastor's wife for the host church is her team's coach, and she has been phenomenal.  The team's skills have dramatically improved over the past seven weeks, and the sportsmanship they have displayed, even when other teams have bent the rules or played too rough, has been very impressive.  Our daughter is still the smallest player on the team, but when she gets in her groove, she is a scoring machine, using her small stature to her advantage as she weaves under around the taller players.

Our son was barely old enough to play basketball this year.  His daddy is the team's assistant coach, although he has served as head coach during the past two games while the head coach was out of town.  Watching this little team, Lil' Flash, play is a very different experience from the nail-biter, action packed games the Lady Cardinals play.  It seems that Lil' Flash is comprised of the youngest, smallest players in the league.  They lost their first five games, but they did win game #6 by about 14 points.  It has been frustrating for their coaches to watch these little players gaze off into the distance and repeatedly fall down over their own two feet without a care in the world.  For our son, it does not matter if they win or lose as long as the post game snacks include Doritos or Oreos.

Our son has scored a few points, however, with his signature over-the-right-shoulder throwing technique.  He has great aim when he actually focuses.  Kids at this age are really cute in their big boy uniforms, and I have enjoyed smiling and waving at our boy when we looks my way during the game.  I think the two girls on his team are a bit of a distraction as well.  The assistant coach thinks one of the girl players is sweet on #11.

Top left:  Just before his first game; Top middle:  "Friday Night Lights"; Top right: Cheering for his sister's team through closed eyelids; Bottom: His unique over the shoulder throw in action