Game Day

Yesterday morning was a big morning for my family. It was the kick-off to Upward basketball and cheerleading day. Caroline is doing cheerleading this year, and Jack is doing basketball again. This year though, my husband is able to coach Jack's basektball team. So for 3 out of the 4 family members at this house, yesterday morning was big.

Caroline did a great job. Leading up to the game she was worried that she was going to be too shy and scared to cheer in front of all those people. Turns out, that was not a problem. I've got to tell you, she did really well. She knew how to hold her hands when she wasn't cheering, how to hold the pom-poms when she was cheering and when she wasn't, she has the walk TOTALLY down, and you could hear her and her teammates on the other side of the court. She really had a great time, and is looking forward to more practices and teams. The only down side to it all is that I have to help her practice her cheers. I hate that part, but it comes with the territory.

After Caroline's game, it was Jack and Jason's turn. Since I helped out with practice on Thursday, I got to sit on the sidelines with the team and observe the match-ups. That was my job during the game, look and see which match-ups were well fitted. For example, we have several boys on the team who are in first grade, so they're smaller than Jack and a couple of other boys who are in 2nd grade. Some have never played basketball in their lives, while others you can tell have played before. One match-up that was made pitted one of our boys who has not played basketball and doesn't have a lot of coordination when it comes to catching the ball and dribbling on the fly. He was matched with a kid on the other team who was considerable smaller and faster than our guy and could catch the ball and dribble on the run. So needless to say, our guy got smoked whenever his match-up got the ball. I suggested that Jason switch the armbands that indicate which player is matched-up with whom so that the one boy who was not used to running up and down the court often would guard a different boy and we could one of our smaller boys on the other kid. Even though none of our smaller kids have much experience, they could keep up with "Speedy" and get their hands up to guard. This worked considerable well, considering that if "Speedy" had some one with their hands up in front of him it kinda cramped his play.

It was interesting to watch Jack. It turns out he knew what you were supposed to do with the ball. He often used his size to his advantage and could actually run a bit faster than some of the other boys (it could be his legs are longer). He's also not a bad shot. He did miss quite a few, but he also made quite a few. Right now there are no plays being called. Jason is just trying to get them so that they can dribble while the run. I often found myself reminding several of the first years that they needed to run down the court when the other team had the ball, or post up when they were down on the other end.

It was also interesting watching Jason coach. He is so intense with the team, but not in a Bobby Knight kinda way. He really wants them to do well, but he also understands their limitations. When the inexperienced kids would do something kooky or frustrating, you can tell Jason was frustrated not because they should have known better, but because he knows it must frustrate them and he wants them to do well. When that would happen, like one boy constantly dribbling the ball off of his foot, Jason would just turn and walk down the sideline clapping REALLY fast, and yell, "That's alright, so and so. You'll get him next time. Just stay with it!" The boys really did well, and seemed to have a good time. Most will get better by the end of the season, they can't get any worse. And those boys who are doing great now, will only get better as well.

We'll be out of town next weekend, so who knows how that will go. But at least the first day was a success.