Basketball Season

We just finished up basketball season.  At first, we had all three older kids signed up but only Ryley and Cash ended up playing since not enough 7th grade girls signed up to make a league.  Maddie was super bummed about that and so were we.  

Neither boy had ever played basketball before and didn’t really even know the rules.  They had both been to almost all of Maddie’s games from her previous seasons but they only sat in the bleachers and played their video games so they didn’t pick anything up about it at all.  I figured Ryley would pick it up pretty quickly, which he did, but I was a little worried about Cash.  He did well too, though!

Cash’s team was called the Airbenders.  He was super happy to have a friend from church be on the same team.  His coaches were so great and Cash had so much fun.  He learned so much and played really hard.  I was a little worried about how he would feel running around with so many people watching him but it didn’t seem to bother him much.  I could tell he was nervous for the first couple of games but I think that had more to do with the newness of it all rather than his shyness.  

It’s hard to see in this picture but Cash is shooting at the basket behind the ref.  The refs always get in the way.  Don’t they know I’m trying to take pictures of my babies?! ;)

Cash’s team was really good at getting the ball and holding onto it so no one could steal it.  It was pretty funny to see every single one of them do this after they’d get the ball.  

And they would keep holding onto the ball until the other team was down at the other end.  The coach or the ref usually had to yell at them to start dribbling.  So funny!

It was great to see the progression each boy made throughout the season:  how they learned that things work better when they work as a team, how their ball control improved, and seeing their confidence in learning something new grew.  

Both of the boys were one of the tallest (if not the tallest) on their teams.  

Cash had a great season even though they lost every game.  :(  He had lots of fun, learned a new sport, got some good exercise and made some new friends.  Good, indeed!

Ryley had a great season as well.  He was #1 on his team, The Allen Bullets.  

It took Ryley a couple of games to build up his confidence and really learn what he was supposed to be doing but he definitely got it.  He was REALLY good at getting after that ball and stealing it.  

He is fast too!

Ryley also had a great Coach, who we found out later is LDS and had just moved to the area.  :)

Ryley made a 3-point shot in one of the first games we had but the refs didn’t see that it was a 3-pointer so we didn’t get the extra point. Josh just happened to have his camera out right then and got it on video.  The refs wouldn’t take it as proof though.  Ryley was really proud of that though!  He took quite a few other shots as well.  

Ryley’s team ended up in the playoffs after only losing two of their games.  Every game of the playoffs was SO close and SO nerve-wracking!  They ended up taking third overall, but ASA didn’t complete the bracket in their double elimination style tournament and if they had, I think Ryley’s team could have taken the whole tournament.  They games they lost were at the beginning of the season and they really learned how to work together well by the end of the season.  The team that ended up taking first in their bracket had lost only one game all season - to Ryley’s team!  Oh well.  There’s always next season.  Both boys want to play again.