November 19, 2013
Well football season has ended so the holidays and basketball season are upon us. And even though it feels like my writing time just flew out the window, I wouldn't change it for the world. Each weekend we are scrambling before 7am to drive to a basketball court somewhere around the exotic Des Moines metro area. I know, insert jealousy here. LOL.
It's back to an indoor sport now and I still have my flavored coffee fix, but this year, the basketball scramble seems even more different for me and my kids. Don't get me wrong, in years' past, we were doing the same morning scramble and we truly felt full-filled by the end of the day, thankful for memories made and laughs bellowed. There just doesn't seem to be anything that can compete with being involved on a youth sports team, no matter if it is baseball, basketball, softball, volleyball, whatever. I just love it! The kids are all so enthusiastic about the day, about playing the sport, about having fun and just hanging all day long. None of this has changed. Last year we were on teams with just as much camaraderie and laughter and fun but it is different this year. We have new teams, new players, new coaches. It’s different in a new, good way.
Lily, who is one year away from school ball, is playing on a team that is part of a school feeder system. She’s coached by her high school girls’ varsity basketball assistant coach. It’s kind of “the big time” in her eyes. I keep trying to remind her that “he’s just your friend, Taylor’s, dad” and “remember you are a kid first, basketball player second.” But she’s not really buying it. She is having a HUGE amount of fun and the friendships she's forming I know will be lifelong. These gals are more like the sisters that Lily never got. She constantly talks about how much she is learning and she seems a lot more business-like about it. She’s choosing to work hard maybe because she knows that her coach will remember that when it will count the most. She wants to get to practices extra early (which sometimes I comply and sometimes it doesn’t work). She goes to her brother’s practices so she can shoot hoops on her own or practice with a 7th grade boys’ team to get extra time on the court. She pushes herself in practice and games, she sweats, she strains muscles, she takes ibuprofen and ices her aches, all with little to no complaints. She’s putting forth WAY more effort than I have ever seen her do before and not at anyone's request. I have heard her say things like “I owe it to my team to be the very best” and “I earned my spot with the club at try outs, but now I have to earn my spot on the team every single practice”. She is competitive, yes always has been, but she seems to be taking this youth basketball gig seriously, as if it's her chosen career. She is growing up. And, truthfully, it's a little tough for this mama to take but I am bursting with pride – she has her own goals and she’s working toward them all by herself, well with the help of 16 of her closest friends (and with me as her personal chauffeur, I suppose).
Ethan is playing on a new 4th grade team and his coach also coaches a 7th grade team. Iowa Legends is their name and they are already living up to the name. The two teams practice together two days a week and I can already see a difference in my son’s viewpoint about life. The 7th grade team includes some boys from the north Des Moines metro area, Harding Middle School, to be exact. These boys have not only had less opportunity than most but
they have had a very hard and difficult life – one family, in particular, fled from the Sudan. For me, it’s unimaginable what this young man may have seen or been through in his short amount of years on Earth. I thought it would be a lot more difficult to explain to my son, but it hasn’t, he’s explaining it to me.
He understands that we, as a family, have an amazing opportunity to give, not just with money but with time, friendship and compassion. He knows that because of the graciousness of team sponsors, these young men have an opportunity to be a part of a team, learn the sport of basketball, spend time focusing on something other than current hardships of life, and, maybe most importantly, laugh and have fun forming (hopefully) lifelong friendships. He sees all the team moms embracing these boys after their wins and losses because their own parents aren’t able to attend the games to watch them – they are working 7 days week trying to make ends meet or taking care of other children. He joins his 4th grade teammates to hoot and holler for the 7th grade boys during their games and I think those little voices just might be the loudest.
They already have a # 1 fan – Ethan looks up to these boys. They have raw basketball talent that they have honed on their own playing street ball. Their athleticism is remarkable, but that’s not all they have. The boys are rich in appreciation and gratefulness – for practice time, for school lunches, for team uniforms, for extra socks, for shoes without holes, for cheers – things Ethan would consider the basics of life and he’s soaking it all in. I love hearing my son spontaneously ask if the boys have younger brothers that may need some of his outgrown clothes or ask me if I saw how big Peter’s smile was today and how “seeing him smile, made me so happy.” It makes me so happy, too.
In this time of thanksgiving, I am so thankful that we became a part of these basketball teams. The players and coaches are having a huge impact on our lives. I think these teams will continue to help show us that even though not everyone grows up under the same conditions and with the same opportunities, everyone can be grateful for the opportunities they have today and everyone can be bound with a friendship that stems from a love of others, not to mention a common love of a game.
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