Monday, March 17, 2014

Basketball Season

Basketball season began in October and finished just last weekend. I love basketball. It was my sport in high school. I love watching basketball. Makes me wish I still played. Do they have old lady leagues???? This year I got to watch 3 of my kiddos play basketball as the boys decided to join their big sister. We had MANY games between the three of them  and it was awesome!

I will start with XIn. Xin decided he wanted to play and in true Xin-fashion, he just walked right on in. He is never nervous, timid, unsure. He just jumps in feet first. He had a lot of first time players on his team and a VERY patient coach! Bless his sweet soul!!!! They did not win many games but got better each game. Xin was very excited about playing and learned alot about playing as a team and how to listen to a coach. He started out the season much more interested in the snacks at the end of the game. Oh my. We talked up actually participating in the game and by the end of the season he had really come along way!!!! One of the other parents even said to me, "Xin is not just about the snacks anymore!"  He even got on the floor and went after the ball a couple of times towards the end of the season. We were very proud of him!!!! Go #5!






Next up is Sam. Sam is my child that likes his comfort zone. Don't we all? He does not like to do new things he thinks he may not be good at. However, he loves playing basketball with his friends and Julia in the driveway so he decided to go for it this year! So glad he did!!!!! I must say, I was not expecting a whole lot. He is in 6th grade and has never played and he would be playing with boys who had played since 1st grade. We have a phrase in our family a "bless your heart". You know, the person who is out there really trying but...bless your heart? I was kinda thinking Sam might be a "bless your heart". I was WRONG!!!! Sam blew me away! He was really good! He was leading scorer on his team almost every game, he had really good ball handling skills, rebounded, drove to the basket, played a tough defense, maybe, just maybe, fouling a time or two :) and really took on a leadership role. He LOVED it!!! His team finished with about the same amount of wins as losses but their coach was one of the big high school coaches and he was missing a time or two. Not to mention the fact we lost a few players and had only 5 players most games and even 4 one game! It was a great first experience for him and he played with some pretty tough guys! We were so proud of him!!! He is looking forward to playing for his middle school team next year (Yes, Sam is going to school next year. Another post)



And last is Julia. Julia started playing basketball in the 4th grade where she was a bit of a "bless your heart". She has come a LONG way! I was so proud of her. She came as "the new kid". She had a lot to prove. Basketball overlapped soccer a bit and so she had to miss a few basketball practices to finish up soccer. Then she got the concussion in soccer and had to miss two weeks of basketball. She had a few tears at the beginning as her previous experience didn't seem to be held in too high of esteem. Apparently, homeschool basketball isn't regarded very highly-they seemed to conveniently forget that the homeschool team beat them 2 years ago :) oh well.....she went at it in true Julia style taking on the challenge and giving it 110%! She was the starting point guard for the varsity team, averaging 10 points a game, was all over the floor, got a bunch of rebounds each game, handled the ball incredibly well while having to fight hard against the other teams presses, got bumps and bruises each game but was named the Columbia County Times "Star Athlete of the Week" and ended the season selected to the All-Region team(This is a team selected by all the region coaches.).......and all while standing a mere 5 feet 2 inches tall!!!  We were so proud of her!!! Their team finished with not as many wins as they would have liked but they were a young team in a tough region.




It was a fun season and I truly enjoyed watching all 3 kids! We also got to enjoy the Prep varsity boys who were region champs and state runner up! Now we are already into soccer and I have to switch gears and readjust my brain. Not an easy thing for this tired brain to do anymore :)! Love these kiddos of mine and could not be more proud of all 3!!!!!