he got it!

Drew played organized basketball for the first time this season.  He was very excited to start and especially excited to play with his friends.  The season started out with the third and fourth graders combined to form teams, which was great for the fourth graders...but not so much for the third graders.  They were on the court and had a lot of minutes running up and down floor, but they didn't get to handle the ball very much.  There were a few games where the sideline yelling encouragement of his mom and dad was not appreciated by Drew.  He just wasn't "getting it" when it came to positions, defense, rebounding, etc.  No matter how we tried to explain to him proper positioning, we just didn't "know".  After Christmas, the third graders joined the WyoNeb traveling team.  He was very excited to just play with the kids from his grade and he already and knew and really liked his coaches.

Every other weekend we were traveling roughly 60-75 miles from Sidney for his games.  The first Saturday he had two games.  They won their first game and were creamed their second game.  I was afraid that the big loss would spoil his love for the game.  Instead, he surprised me by laughing and just saying, "they kicked our butts".  I was proud of him for not getting upset and just moving on.  The team wasn't playing very well together and for many it was really the first time getting a real chance to play.

Some Saturdays we had to leave home by 5:30 am to arrive in time for an 8:00 game.  Drew wouldn't sleep at all on the drive because he was so excited!  Each game he improved and improved.  Matt started to tape record his games, so he could then show Drew the "film" and they would go over it together!  The second to last game day, they sat in the van during our break and watch the "film" on the laptop and analyzed everything.  I LOVED listening to them talk about the games and the strategy for the next one.  Matt was able to commicate the critism and encouragement to Drew in a way that got him excited to try again instead of giving up.  I think seeing himself on camera really helped him understand what we had been trying to explain, without success.  The next game, Drew was on fire!  He was a rebounding like crazy, took great shots and knew where to be on defense.  He was so pumped and they won both games that day and he even scored a few hoops.

Last Saturday were our last games of the season, and he had three of them.  His coaches gave him a lot of playing time because he had improved so much.  They created a few plays for him, which really boosted his confidence.  It was so great to see him look for us in the stands after some good defense or another good move and give us a thumbs up!  We no longer had to call out instructions for him to play, it was all yelling and screaming for our little ball player!  The second game was intense...and we're just talking third grade ball here.  Right before the end of the first half, Drew stole the ball from the other team and dribbled down the court for a lay up....and made it!  I was standing and jumping around in the bleachers and crying.  Yes, crying.  I was so proud of him and the sheer joy on his face overcame me.  I nearly lost my voice that day cheering for my Drew!  They won two of their three games and all of the little players were so exhausted and played so hard!  It was a great season and it was so fun to see the progress Drew made this season!  He has such a big heart and wants to do his best, and he did!  I'm not sure how I'm going to survive basketball games in the future when a 16-15 final score nearly has me breathing into a paper bag!