Wow! I can’t believe it has been almost five months since I wrote a post. Facebook status updates take less time and thought! Anyway, here are some sports thoughts and updates:
Upward Basketball 2010 was a huge success. The league officials and organizers do a great job at evaluating players and creating equally matched teams. Except maybe this year. Somehow I ended up with a somewhat “stacked” team. We did not lose a game on the scoreboard, although we technically forfeited one because we only had four players and had to borrow a player from the other team during the game. At times it was a little embarrassing how well the boys played. They were awesome!
More important was how awesome they displayed class and sportsmanship. I only had to teach them once about excessive celebration and making the other team feel bad. Throughout the season I saw them apologize for rough contact, ask players if they were ok and help up players who fell down. They displayed great character and compassion. Every player improved over the course of the season, and we accomplished our goal of everyone making a basket in a game. One player had never played basketball before. He made his first basket in the last game of the season! It was the highlight of the year for me and for the team. I am so proud of all of them!
Fast forward to baseball season. Michael had a good year and his team won the league championship. After three years of experiencing the losing side of sports, it was cool to see how he handled himself on the winning side. He also made his first all-star tournament team. I think he might be the first player ever from our family to have his name on the back of his jersey! He hit his first triple in the first tournament, a shot down the third base line that rolled all the way to the fence.
I love sports and I am competitive. I just hope I do a good job of teaching him and other kids where sports comes in compared to the important things in life. Forgive me if this sounded like boasting. I will boast in the Lord. We are truly blessed and I am forever grateful! Thanks for reading. Hopefully my next post will be in less than five months and have more substance!
