Sarah's Saturday Game

Sarah had a ballgame yesterday. She's on the left here, making a drive down the court. This time she's in the middle, at the back. She was trying to stay on her man, the girl in the black shirt in front of her. The red shorts, that girl was fast!!! She would snatch the ball away and then take off. She did this over and over and over and even though she was on the other team, it was so exciting to watch a young girl that in control of the ball.

Here the girls are coming out after a break. Sarah is in the blue shorts on the left. Next to here is Haley from our school. I sat next to Haley's mom and I heard all kinds of comments about her from the parents sitting behind us. They seemed to resent that she is tall and a good player - their child was on the other team. I try not to be judgemental, but I think that people should shut the hell up sometimes. She is an 11 year old girl and you never know who you are sitting by. The other coach kept yelling, "Get the big one! Stop the big one!" At the end of the game, she fell and skinned her knee. The Big One is still a little girl.

This little girl stayed up on these mats all game. She must be someone's little sister. Looks like a pretty good spot. :D

Look at the girl in the red below - she's so fast that she's she's see-through. Watching these games is so exciting. The ball changes hands constantly and the girls play a very dedicated and focused game. It's hard to think that these are just like the 5th graders at school. I know that when Sarah plays at school, she doesn't use this same focus. I know because her teacher came to seek me out and complain about something she did during PE the other day. (Sarah said, the boys kept saying, girls are too slow, girls are no good, so she just quit playing). I wonder if it has something to do with competition in a safe environment - no boys on the team, no worrying about how they look to others - that allows them to just go all-out and passionate. Whatever the reason, it's glorious to watch.

I hope that Sarah continues with her love of basketball. This is the most fun I've ever had watching a sport and I want to celebrate with her, celebrate her effort and the skills that she is learning. I want her to know that I see real improvement each time she plays or practices and to see that much improvement in only one month of learning something is huge.

I think she's going to love these photos. I hope she loves these photos.