Basketball Season Has Begun

Winter is here. For The Home Team, that means that it is basketball season! The girls have been practicing for a few weeks already, and games began today. Attending basketball games is a fun activity for the whole family. I sat on the bleachers with the younger kids....cheering, chasing Jersey #5 off the court, and taking Jersey #4 to the potty, repeatedly! During Jersey #1's game this morning, The Referee was the referee. That was his first referee experience for a basketball game. He says it is quite a bit different than being the referee for soccer.

This year, the girls are not on the same team. Their ages place them in different brackets, and on different teams. Jersey #2 has the additional adjustment to playing on a co-ed team, as there were not enough girls signed up to form their own league. Thankfully, her coach is the father of a daughter on the team, so he seems pretty good about treating the girls as fairly as the boys. I admit we were a bit concerned about that at first.

Another difference about the coed team is that there are more players than usual (because there are plenty of boys signed up to play). Each player plays half a game (versus the 3/4 of a game the girls are used to playing due to smaller teams). This is a great blessing in disguise, because it means that Jersey #2 is ONLY playing half a game. I have been struggling with the choice to let her play, knowing her heart is weak. We had her signed up before we knew she would need surgery now. We don't want to remove her from her activities and treat her like she is being punished for having a heart condition. So, her only playing half a game at a time is a really good compromise. I am going to stretch that even further and ask her coach to sit her out every other period, so that she plays one, rests one. She played 2 periods in a row today and was way too pale for our liking during that second one. She lost her smile for a while too, and that is a bad sign. After a few minutes of sitting on the bench, her color and smile returned and she left the game loving basketball!

Jersey #1 has the same coach that both girls had last year. We are excited about that. He is a great coach, and has an absolute love for the game of basketball. His enthusiasm is contagious! Jersey #1 really enjoys playing basketball. With her height and chicken legs, it seem like a good fit for her! She was very excited to have her Daddy ref her game. Normally they don't have parents ref their own child's game, but they were low on volunteers and he was trained and willing. He did a great job, and got the best seat in the house to watch Jersey #1 play!