The girls both made the middle school A team at their school, Great Hearts.
Hannah started the season off breaking her finger in her very first official practice. Due to that mishap, she missed the first half of the games. She dressed out and supported her team for those games, and she practiced with some small modifications in order to keep up her skills and learn the plays. Once she was able to play, the coach ended up moving her to point guard a lot of the time to challenge her and her ball handling skills. She worked hard and was usually the first one down the court. This season definitely gave her the time on the court, despite the broken finger that she needed to improve.
Genevieve was one of only three seventh graders who made the A team. She worked super hard and really hustled and always put forth her best work. I was very proud at how far she progressed over the course of the season.
I was the Team Mom, and my two little buddies definitely put in their time in the van to support their sisters. Isaac and Drew came along to many games as well, but these two win the prize for 100 percent attendance at the games. The only game we missed was when Isaac had his surgery. They even had to come to some planning meetings for the team party. At the end of the season party, the coaches for both A and B teams gave out "nicknames" and 3 awards. Hannah's nickname was Quiet Confidence, and Genna's was Willing Warrior. Hannah was given the "Coach's Award."
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| Awards portion for the A team |
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| Giving the coaches the autographed balls |
The girls' team won almost every game, losing twice to the same team and once in the playoffs. The team they lost twice to was super rough and the other team's coach was nearly thrown out of the game. These games gave the girls a taste of the world and a chance to have great hearts in a world where so few do. I was so very proud of them for staying true to the virtues that Great Hearts promotes.
Drew also played basketball this season after a little prodding from me. Isaac really didn't want to play basketball and chose to play flag football at the YMCA. Drew has some natural ability in basketball, but his first game was painful. He had never played in a real game before and had no idea when he was supposed to be on offense and when he was supposed to be on defense. He was a lost puppy out there. I was disappointed that the refs and coaches were not pointing him in the right direction because he couldn't hear me at all on the court. When I coached in this Christian league I'd walk the kids through it when they were young and didn't know what they were doing during a game. So I had to take matters into my own hands and work with him at home on more than just basic skills. He improved a ton over the course of the season, and he now knows what he is supposed to be doing although we are going to have to work on defensive positioning and dribbling with his head up. At first I wasn't sure if this league was going to help him at all, but just getting the experience on the court has been beneficial. I guess watching his sisters play wasn't enough to understand the game.
It turned out that it was really too much for all four of the older ones to be playing sports at the same time. So for the spring, the only one doing sports this time is going to be Isaac. He's playing golf with the First Tee program and baseball with the Little League team. Drew and Judah want to play t-ball and baseball, but I am going to put them in the fall season and have Isaac sit that one out. It looks like Isaac is going to be starting at Great Hearts next year for 6th grade and he'll need to focus on his new schedule. That's why we chose to put him in two sports this spring and none in the fall. It is hard to balance it all with so many kids going in different directions.
