Basketball Diaries

I am a fairly competitive person.  And I love being a part of a team.  I was never really great at any sport but I enjoyed cheering on others, supporting people and working toward a common goal.  I never quite understood why some of the girls would cry after they lost a playoff game, for me, it was just that, a game.  I couldn't wait to give my son the same type of experience.

     My four year old son played in his first youth basketball game and my husband coached.  Most of the parents on the sidelines were like me, proud to be there, watching our sons run around in an extra large Lakers jersey (there were 5 kids with #24!).  We laughed when one of them forgot to dribble and imagined he was an all-star running back.  Or when one of the boys got a basket and stopped to pose for their mom's camera.  Too cute.

   Of course, there are the few parents that may ruin it for all of us...overzealous dad's trying to live vicariously through their sons or daughters, or the dad that insists on reffing the game even though there are already two adults/coaches on the court.  The father of one of the players was yelling at everyone else's kids -- that didn't go over very well with the rest of the parents.  I stood and watched as a coach and a dad yelled at each other because the man thought the coach should have let his son dribble the ball up the court.  It was a full blown argument and the saddest thing was that their children were standing RIGHT THERE listening to this nonsense.  I mean, they are FOUR for God's sake!  Really people?

     Luckily my son was oblivious to the drama and so were most of the kids.  He had FUN and he LOVED running around in a real live game with a jersey and a bunch of kids that are fairly aggressive like him.  He worked it out, he had a blast, he got in some exercise and he learned a few things about playing ball and being a part of a team.  Isn't that really what it's all about?

Those parents could learn a few things from their kids!