Basketball

We signed the boys up for basketball this year. I had really wanted Marc to coach them, but he has so many demands on his time right now (probably needs his own post) he agreed to be assistant coach, but could only come to 1 practice a week, and 4 of the 6 games.

My boys are hopelessly uncoordinated when it comes to passing, catching, dribbling, or doing things that demand hand/eye coordination. We haven't spent a ton of time doing those things with them. We're not looking for our kids to be superstars in sports, but hopefully we can expose them to something that they enjoy that will help them to get a little exercise. Plus, the benefits of team sports and the life lessons learned from them have so much value in my opinion.

There was only 2 practices before their first game. The coach had spent some time talking about defensive "stance" and sitting in a "chair." Tyler took to the floor in his first game and bless his heart, he was trying so hard to follow what the coach had told him. Man, he stayed in that defensive stance, up the floor, down the floor, on both defense and offense and even fast breaks, there was Tyler, shuffling in his stance. It was horrifically funny. Someone finally told him that he could run normally when he was trying to get down the other side of the court and that helped. But he had no idea when his team had the ball or when the other team did, and spent the entire time guarding his player.

Bryce tends to study the skills a little more. The biggest challenge for him is knowing what to do when he doesn't have the ball. It was the same thing in soccer. In football, every one has a role and it's very specific what you do each play if you don't have the ball. But trying to "get open", make screens, go to the basket, etc are too much. It will come with time. It's hard as a parent not to get upset when he just stands there doing nothing, but I have to take a breath and realize he hasn't been taught what to do and it takes time.

Our boys made progress, they seemed like they kind of knew what was going on in the game by the end of the season. We'll see if they want to play again. I hope they will. I love basketball!