Ballistics

Danielle's cousin asked her to join a basketball league, Jr Jazz, with her this winter.  The last time Danielle did basketball was when she was 3 years old and so short that they had to lift her up to make a basket!

She was one of the shortest on this team too.  The first few practices and games her team mates wouldn't really throw her the ball, but as she practiced at home and at school recess; confidence in her skills grew  and she was able to prove to them that she was going to do her best to deliver whenever they gave her the ball.

#40

She did not let her height or her shy beginning stop her from getting in the middle of things and making things happen like assists, getting her team points and defense.  I was often impressed with her get-it-done attitude.

They didn't end up being the best team in the league.  They were probably the nicest.  Which apparently isn't a good thing in young girl instructional leagues.... However, I was more proud of them for playing a clean game and doing their best than winning.  I mean, sure I got a bit agitated at times on the sidelines at an 8:00 AM game when the entire team was half asleep on the court getting their cans kicked by an overly, OVERLY aggressive team, but I kept it mostly under wraps.   And sure, I am still getting over the fact that a very excellent player from another team ran by Danielle and aggressively pushed her for NO REASON!!  (It didn't even get called.)  #amateurrefs #literally

dribbling down the court

taking it under for the shot.

ready to help her teammate

It's hard for me to believe that crap is already going on at these girl's age and that they think it is okay.  These leagues are for learning.   They don't even keep the scores up if the scores are too far apart.   (That's another thing that pisses me off.  Like these girls are too fragile to be able to handle that they are behind.... that's just the beginning of my rant.  I'll spare you the rest.)   Why would they need to be overly aggressive in a non-contact sport when they are in 6th grade?!  You will never see my kids get away with pulling those types of stunts and I hate to say it, but I do look differently at child and parents who think it's okay for their kids to do that.

Danielle's Nana and Pa were able to come and video tape parts of  2 of the games, so that was really nice.  Most of the games were at 8 am on Saturday morning, so Josh and I took turns going to these.  The other later scheduled times we took the kids to show support to their sister.  They had a hard time sitting through the game, so we distracted them with cell phone games and taking pictures.

Me and Sammy boy. 
He always wants to see his pictures, but has a hard time waiting for the picture to actually be taken.

Tyler sat still enough to be able to earn some game time on my phone.

Oh come on now, Sammy, it's not that boring.

After playing this season, I hope Danielle will at least take away that you can play a good game, have fun and win without being mean or unnecessarily rough.
I actually think she did take away these things because she is wanting to play in the spring league too and I'd like to thank several people for that.

Thank you pushy little girl for giving her that "away from ball" foul experience to learn (from me later) that it is NOT okay to play that way-ever.

 Thank you teen girl ref. who got distracted talking to people on the sidelines during a timed game leading to a very upset coach who in return had to apologize to his team and the parents for his conduct. This taught the team about standing up for obvious wrongs and apologizing when you know you overreacted to a situation. Thank you coach.  He really was great and very positive to these girls and I was impressed with the skills Danielle learned from him.

Danielle and her cousin

Thank you to all you aggressive girls who didn't let our team take any pauses during the plays without getting into a jump ball situation.   This made these girls realize they had to go for it and go hard! And that when they did, they could leave at the end of the game feeling good, that they did their best and snarf their CapriSuns and Little Debbie Snacks being perfectly content with themselves.