Hope was so nervous about her first game! She told me that most of the kids on her team hadn't played before, and after watching them, I think she's right. It was pretty ugly. The girls weren't bad in warmups, but their coaches had obviously not practiced anything more than dribbling and shooting because they had no concept of defense. Poor Hope would dribble the ball around and do ok, but every time she had the ball, she got it stolen. I tried to tell her to dribble the ball closer to her so it wouldn't be so easy for the other team to take it. She shot once and almost made it; it went around the rim and fell out:( She seemed like she enjoyed the game and wasn't real heartbroken that her team didn't score.
One thing that really impressed me was one of her refs. Every time he made a call, he stopped the game and asked the girl if she knew what she did wrong. If she didn't, he explained it to her and even grabbed the ball to demonstrate. It was nice to see someone really want to help the kids learn instead of getting frustrated that the ball goes out of bounds every ten seconds and he's one of only two people on the court who have a clue what's going on out there. I should find out who he is and see if he wants to coach Hope's team next year:)
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2 comments:
Is she playing in Upwards or a similar organization? That's how Upwards does it - every time the refs blow the whistle, they stop to explain why they did it. The game goes slower, but the kids learn a whole lot more. Send a video so I can do the cheer. Oh that Hope is much-to-much...
I don't think there are any Upwards programs around here. It's just the Byron Park District teams. I assume the refs are from Byron too, but they might not be. I'll video her sometime- next week they have a double-header, so maybe I'll do it that day since we'll have plenty of time.
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