What Saturdays will look like for the forseeable future.

Joshua granted us another first as a family this past weekend as he made his debut performance as part of our church's Upward basketball league.  To say he was excited could be the world's biggest understatement.  To make things even better, Joshua and Cooper are part of the same team, and that team is being coached by Jason and Earl.  The guys have been having a great time, and the boys seem to be enjoying themselves.  Considering the fact that Joshua just touched a basketball for the first time two weeks ago and they have only had two one-hour practices, I'd say the game was a great success.  For the most part, the kids were running the appropriate direction with the ball, and they even made a few baskets.  No one lost any teeth or shed any tears.

We certainly have a lot to learn about how Upward works, but so far I am pretty impressed.  Each of the teams does a little introduction for the kids, and they get to run out through a tunnel of cheerleaders.  In Joshua's case, for his first time, he didn't know what to make of the cheerleaders and opted to run around them....to the wrong court....and then looked confused and came back to mid court with the rest of the kids.  Earl did a great job announcing our lineup.  Evidently I was clapping or cheering or wrangling the other kids, because I didn't manage a picture of him in the act, nor our team coming through the tunnel.  Perhaps Emily was more focused than I was and she will post one.  But here is our friend Ann Butler doing the honors for her team.

The fun part about Joshua and Cooper's age bracket is that the coaches are out on the court with the kids.  I'd hate to have seen what might have happened if the coaches weren't there to tell the kids to run back to the basket while the other team inbounded the ball, or to shoot or pass when the time came.  Jason did a great job helping the kids know where to go and what to do, which was especially helpful since their practice had to be cancelled on Friday night due to the snow that we got.  Earl was keeping the kids organized on the bench and helping to get them subbed in when the time came.  Maybe next week he'll be the one running up and down the court with the kids!

Our team excelled at defense for sure.  They were defending everything and everyone.  Even their own teammates sometimes.  Jason and Earl could be heard yelling "Spiderman" from time to time, reminding the kids to put out their arms to the sides and defend their person.  Apparently working on some offensive practicing was scheduled to be handled at the practice they had to miss on Friday night. 

I loved the crowd at the game-- lots of families we know from Meadowbrook, lots of church friends and even some clients.  We had a great time.  I especially loved that so many people from the church took the time to tell Joshua on Sunday morning that they enjoyed watching him play and that they hoped he had lots of fun. 

I won't claim that we're ready for the NBA.  Far from that.  But I was super proud of Joshua for having fun, doing his best and working to learn something new.  Can't wait to watch again next Saturday.  Maybe we'll see his first basket!