Well, it is finally here, the moment in the winter that the last couple of years I have been so ready for, the end of basketball season for my girls. Don’t get me wrong, I love basketball – it was my first passion in life before I had my baby girls.
It’s just that I love the real game of basketball – the game I played competitively all growing up and through college. And let’s be honest, coaching some young children who often forget to dribble, do cartwheels down the floor and seldom pass, while cute and usually hilarious, it’s just not basketball.
But this year, this year was different. To start, Maylie was old enough to play for her school team this year instead of Upwards, so she got to experience someone other than her mom coaching her, which I think was good for both of us. She is approaching that age of thinking that mom may not know everything (and of course she is wrong, ha!). Although her season has been over for a few weeks now, she grew so much this season, and I was so proud of her giving it her all out there.
Unfortunately, I missed some of her games because they overlapped with Reagan’s games, and I, of course, decided to take on herding the younger cats for another season. But, like I said, this year was different with the littles.
Apparently, if you coach for 5 years in a row, they start to feel sorry for you or something and decide to stack your team. Ha! No, I know that they do their best to make sure they even out the talent, but I will say, I landed with some great little 5- and 6-year-old athletes.
If you have ever been to a young kids basketball game, then I am sure you have watched as kids stare off in space and don’t know the difference between defense and offense. Usually, you let each kid take a turn to try to dribble the ball down the floor, and you know that each kid will be their own black hole – they see nothing but the hoop. It no longer becomes a team sport but more like a one-on-one game. That is, if they can make it from one end to another.
But this season, we could actually show them different tactics of basketball – one big one, passing. We explained the importance of assists and celebrated them! We talked about pivoting and challenged them to work on not dribbling again after they picked up their dribble. Don’t get me wrong, we still had to remind them often to dribble in the first place, but they improved drastically through the last two months.
One practice, we worked especially hard on boxing out and rebounding. The next game, the coach on the other team commented on how we were rebounding machines! Do you know how rewarding it was to say, “Yes, we worked on that!”
Don’t get me wrong, there were still a few practices where the lady coaching with me and I wondered if the kids all ate a bag of sugar before practice. But, I mean, these kiddos are young, so that is to be expected. And, when it came to game time, focus was not an issue.
And my Reagan, she completely blew my mind this year. Watching her chase down loose balls, snatch a defensive rebound and dribble it from end to end and, most impressively in my opinion, being a scrappy little defender honestly made me so proud. Look, just a few years ago, this child was drug up and down the court hanging on to my leg while I tried to coach her teammates. Not this year, it was like the game was clicking in her head.
I am sure it helped having teammates that were well aware of the game – and clearly with parents who have worked with them. When one kid pulled a pump fake out, we couldn’t even take credit for it. However, we have had a couple kids follow suit after seeing him do it because that is how attentive this group of kiddos has been.
I don’t know, maybe it was that I am not coaching toddlers anymore. Or maybe it was because I had an awesome co-coach to help. Or maybe I just hit the jackpot on some great kids this year.
Regardless, usually by this time in the season I am so ready for a break from the madness. Yet, this year, I am sad to see the season end. It has been fun, adventurous, competitive and fulfilling. And I have truly enjoyed coaching these amazing kids and look forward to watching them improve over the years.
Until then, come on spring and all the pick-up games in the driveway. I already cannot wait for next basketball season.
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