The End of a Season: Basketball

Hailey's first, and probably last, basketball season has officially ended. Area kids can begin playing basketball in fourth grade, Hailey's grade, and most of them know nothing. Zero. Nada. Hailey knew even less. But she wanted to try it and I thought participating in a team sport and learning the fundamentals would be a good experience.

Good experience? I'd give the overall experience a C-minus. I would give Hailey's effort a solid A and my own effort and interest a D, maybe less. I missed two of her games, but watched every single other game from the butt-breaking bleachers. I attended part of only one practice the entire season, not that I was supposed to attend any practices. What would I do during her practice? Stand on the court and bat the balls with my cane? Oh yeah, wrong sport. I could have shouted supportive statements from the sidelines, or at least learned the plays myself in order to reinforce them at home. But I didn't. I figured the coach and assistant coach knew what they were doing and didn't need some mom "helping."

By the end of the season, Hailey still didn't know the fundamentals. She played an average of five (give or take, I didn't actually keep track) minutes per game and otherwise spent the remainder of the clock time like this (Hailey is second from the left, smiling at me)...

...or this (Hailey is seated at the far left end of the bench). Notice that the coach and the action are to the right. What's Hailey looking at?

When Hailey played her five minutes, she seemed to intentionally avoid the action, as you can see in the picture below. No, this isn't a game of football, though quite a few fourth graders are on the floor in this shot. Notice Hailey (#1 with her back turned to me) is observing the skirmish from a safe distance.

If a teammate passed the ball to Hailey, Hailey either immediately passed it to another teammate...or travelled. Again, fundamentals, fundamentals.

I played basketball as a kid. My dad played basketball when he was a kid. Looking back, I remember the day dad planted a tall steel post in the ground and attached a basketball hoop to the top. We played many games of HORSE together, and even a little one-on-one. Before this season if you would have asked me if my dad had spent much time with me as a kid, I would have said no, not a lot. Hailey's basketball season helped me remember that Dad spent more time with me than I originally thought. So, on a personal, completely self-absorbed level, I gained something from her basketball season.

Hailey gained the awareness that basketball isn't her forte. Music remains her forte. She can play songs by ear on the piano and she learns her piano lessons quickly and well. She has a beautiful singing voice for a ten-year-old (of course, I'm not biased). In fact, her first words were a song--I'm not making that up.

An added bonus: piano doesn't involve politics. At least not at the fourth grade level.