Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Hoops at Last!

Big is finally big enough. After waiting his whole life, the kid finally got a chance to play basketball on a real team! With his dad as coach, no less. We came to realize very quickly that if the coaches didn't do a good job making their team follow the rules of play, and if the ref didn't do a good job of keeping the game under control, it was complete mayhem on the court. Rophone did a great job of helping our kids learn to play proper defense (no steals, arms straight up, only half-court one-on-one defense on the kid with your same color wristband, etc), but I can't say the same for some of the other teams. It made me really glad that Rophone decided to coach Big's team.

Even though the season was, at times, very frustrating, it was also extremely enjoyable. Big had games where he couldn't do much of anything because of the chaos, but also games where he shone and really realized what the game of basketball can be like. He had a few games where he scored in the double digits and had lots of rebounds, which was awesome, but I'm even more proud of the incredible defense he played in every game. He kept his feet moving, had good arm position and hustled back on defense every time. Way to go, Big!

I love the way he looks up the court as he takes the ball down, rather than having to watch his dribble.


Every time our team missed a basket, he hustled back on defense like this:


When our team made the shot, he ran back like this:


Every time. So cute.


I love how at this age they often ended up "guarding" their own teammates by blocking off avenues to the basket. 


Rophone did such a great job of coaching the kids-- they showed a huge amount of improvement by the end of the season. Big was definitely in heaven. He would get home from each game and run right outside to play even more.  

I just love watching Big play. I can't wait for next season!

5 comments:

CarrieMarie said...

aww! it's so much fun to watch the littles improve over the course of the season, too! baseball is still leyton's first love, but he has fun at basketball, too. ; )

patti's place said...

I love his tongue action in the one pix...sort of reminds me of his sister. Glad he had a good season and hooray for Mike being involved with his children.

Sue said...

Awesome! I'm so glad he's finally playing for reals. And not very surprised he's doing well, look who he has for parents! :) I'll have to shoot around with him next time we come down.

The Laundry Queen said...

If you shot around with him he would be in absolute heaven, Sue. Maybe he would even give you a few pointers like he does for me. :)

Jennifer said...

Oh, that is so fun!!!!!