Mike and I decided we wouldn't both coach simultaneously again until our younger kids are significantly older. It was just crazy. But we did want the kids in basketball and we wanted to support the program (like soccer) so I volunteered as a coach. I asked for an older team, but for lack of enough 5-grade participants, I was put with the 4-5 year olds. Again.
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| Finn passes the ball. |
It's not that I don't like this age--they're hilarious--it's that I really didn't know if I would be able to explain a game with as many moving parts as basketball effectively. And when I first got there, I was the only coach, with about 15 kids. Thankfully, two men decided to join the coaching team after the first week.
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| Finn's age group played on 6-ft rims, full-court on half a gym. Finn and a couple of the other kindergarteners actually really started getting the pace of the game by the last few meets and their dribbling and shooting noticeably improved. |
Madie really didn't want to do basketball. The first day of practices sounded kind of like this (minus the screaming and crying and flopping of bodies onto the floor),
M: I don't WANT to play basketball!
Me: Okay, you don't have to. You do have to try it today though. And if you don't try, you'll end up just sitting around looking ridiculous and then I'll make you try it next week.
M: But basketball is so boring!
Me thinking, "oh, maybe she has tried it at school?": Where did you play basketball?
M: I haven't.
Me: Oh, well, then you don't know what it's like at all, do you?
M: Yes I do. You've told me what it's like and it sounds boring.
After her first practice she said something like, "Actually, Mom, I do like basketball. A little bit." Her team really struggled, but they struggled hard and ended up winning their very last game!
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| Madie is naturally very competitive and losing as many games as they did was hard for her, but really, really good. |
