A team sport

We wanted Madeleine to participate in a team sport, so she played soccer for a couple of years until she asked to not play anymore (too much running, she said). Last spring she tried softball (too hot, she said). This winter she played basketball for the first time. She knew a few of her teammates and made new friends with the others. It was really neat to see the team begin to trust one another as they began to pass more and depend on each other to be where they were supposed to be. I learned that it is pretty difficult for 2nd graders to make a basket (even with it lowered) and that the games were all very low scoring. We saw the end of one game that had to go into overtime because the score was 2 to 2!

Madeleine did learn the rules and more importantly always had a great time playing. Her team, the Red Hots, was 3 and 6 (3 wins and 6 losses) and 11th out of 13 teams at the end of the season. This past weekend they had a tournament and if you lost your game you were out of the tournament. They played at 11 am on Saturday and won! They played at 2 pm on Saturday and won! That is 2 games in 1 day! They played at 2 pm on Sunday and won! They were now in the championship game against the only undefeated team (they had won all 9 of their games in the regular season). They played at 5 pm on Sunday. This was our team's 4th game in 2 days! And... they won! It was 13 to 10 and I was so proud of how the girls worked together. They really played as a team! My favorite moments were in the 2nd game on Saturday when one of the girls who had not scored at all in the regular season made her first basket. I was so proud of her! My other favorite moment was when the end of game buzzer sounded and Madeleine realized that her team had won the tournament. She jumped up and down and was so excited!

The Red Hots, the champions! Madeleine is number 21, her cousin Sydney is number 2.

Madeleine with her basketball trophy.

The next team sport is t-ball for Everett! He is beyond excited.