Basketball Report

Justin with the ball. Notice the large yellow-clad guys.

I think I've said this here before, but just to be clear, I avoid going to see tragic movies. I was probably one of the last people on the planet to give in and see Titanic. Scott enjoyed the soundtrack so much that I gave it to him as a Christmas gift that year. Unfortunately, he could never play it when I was in earshot. It completely wiped me out emotionally.

In the interest of maintaining my positive, sunny outlook, I should  really consider avoiding Saturday afternoon basketball games.

The game started as these things generally do. All the parents were there in force with noisemakers. There was a glimmer of hope as our team had lost to this team by only ten points a few months earlier.

Then it began. The other team got a basket, than another, then another. And the ball resisted all attempts by our team to go into the basket. It was maddening.

Justin's a strong defense player, and sees that as his main role on the team. He usually makes a few baskets a game, but does his best to get the ball to other guys so they can shoot.  However, he had determined to work harder on offense this time. His best friend was out with an injury (they seem to have some sort of tag-team plan for their injuries/illnesses this year), so Justin felt he needed to step up his game. He even studied some basketball videos on Youtube as preparation--especially running up with the ball, then taking a step back before shooting.

So, like the other guys on the team, he tried in vain to make baskets in the first minutes of the game. Beside having the capacity to actually get the ball into the basket, the other team had some big guys and were strong on defense. Instead of giving up, Justin kept at it and started to make some baskets. I think our enthusiastic cheering and horn blowing was key.

The end score was 42-29. Not as bad as usual. But the very fun thing was that my kid scored sixteen of those points. Once he got over the disappointment about the game (about mid-way through the after game snack), he was able to be happy about how he played.

I think I'm proud because he did this when they were losing. There was never really any hope that they would pull this off.

And the ski report--Anna had a blast skiing!