Keira decided she wanted to participate in girl's basketball this year. I think she is trying to get a feel for what she would like to do when she starts Junior High next year. (You might remember she ran in a cross country race earlier this year.)
Her first practice was December 3, the same night Doug and I had our date night. So since I couldn't take her, my mother-in-law did. Thanks, Maw!
This past Friday I took her and stayed to watch. I figured it might be one of the few chances I would get to watch without having the boys with me. It was fun ... and frustrating. I'll explain, but first, a few pictures. :)
Warming up with a few hoops while waiting for the other girls to arrive.
I realize I could/should crop this picture, but I like the hoop in the background.
(I know they aren't great pics. I need to learn how to get good pictures inside a big gymnasium.)
Practicing dribbling down the court.
Only 5 (of the 7) girls showed up for practice so the coach asked his older daughter to play a game. That way the teams would be even. The girls seemed to have fun.
Keira is the tallest on her team, which gives her some advantage. Although she has a tendency to tell the other girls what to do. I know that is just her personality, but I try to get her to keep her comments to herself. People tend to not like other people to tell them what to do, and I don't want the other girls to dislike her.
The frustrating part of watching them ... I realize this is only their second practice and they have a lot to learn. And I don't pretend to know everything (or anything!) about playing basketball. But the girls had a hard time passing the ball to each other. Usually whoever got the ball after a rebound or whatever ended up with it the whole time.
And they would dribble ... and dribble ... and dribble ... and dribble some more ... until they were almost directly under the hoop. And then they would dribble some more. Ugh! It was so hard not to shout out "SHOOT THE BALL!!!". I told the coach that during one of their breaks. He laughed and said he wanted to shout it a couple times too. That made me feel better. :)
They have one more practice, then a long break for Christmas and New Year's. Then their first game will be in January. That should be interesting. :)
1 comment:
My cousins played basketball when they were in 6th grade last year... it was painful to watch. The dribbling thing you just described brought back really annoying memories. :-P I'd love to say it gets better with practice...but I can't.
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