Hoopin' it up

This year our boys decided they wanted to try their hand at basketball.  Other than shooting hoops in the front yard this sport is pretty new to them.  As we started the season I was embarrased at how little I have taught them about this game.  I grew up playing basketball and played some in high school.  Josh played for years (even though he looks  more like a linebacker, he really rocks the hardwoods and also the soccer pitch). 

Anyway, so we signed our two oldest boys up for Jr. Jazz teams and started running simple drills in our front yard when we had spare time.  We dribbled and passed and practiced layups and learned to shuffle rather than run when trying to play defense and all that other good stuff.  I pretty much blew the boys minds when I showed off some of my mad skills (since they have mostly played soccer in the past and I have near zero experience there, they were pretty amazed that Mom -- who is a girl, mind you -- can hold her own, and even look AWESOME some of the time).

Parker has really taken to this sport and he has no trouble adapting his athletic abilities to this new undertaking.

The look...

The shot...

SCORE!!!
(insert wild -- verging on embarrasing -- cheering here)

Bryce has had a little bit tougher time.  He is in sixth grade this year so he is a bit more behind than the boys that have been playing basketball for years already.  Thankfully, my oldest child is not a quitter and has a bit of my "I'll show you" attitude so he has practiced in the yard, studdied college games (any excuse to watch sports is a good one at our house) and focused on learning and developing.  We enrolled him in a three day basketball camp over Christmas break and he learned a lot there as well.  I am amazed at the improvement I have seen in this boy in just a matter of weeks.  He has grown into basketball beautifully and I think he is really learning to love it.  He has really become an asset to his team. 

It will be fun to watch the boys finish off the season and see if they choose to continue their relationship with basketball or if they decide to try something else (Parker already says he wants to try baseball next year instead...we'll see when we get there).  Either way, it will be fun to watch, and I'll be on the sidelines cheering my brains out not matter what!