Basketball Tournament

Basketball happily consumes most of our time in the winter.  This past weekend Leah had a tournament.  Here the High School team is required to ref the Junior High games.  It is one of their fundraisers.  Instead of paying for refs, the High School teams go to a 2 day ref clinic and then the money they would earn goes towards their teams.  I think it is brilliant.  Leah had two games on Friday.  Both were lost terribly.  Our team practically moved out of the way and handed the other team the ball.  Leah had a lot of great, she loves to run up beside someone and knock the ball out from underneath them when dribbling.  She can keep control of it and get it back to her side.  And most of the time she is a great re bounder. And fast which also surprised us. Wish somehow basketball speed could spill over to her everyday life.  That is a great fuzzy picture isn't it?!:)

Saturday morning was Cora's first turn to ref.  She was so nervous I thought she was going to make herself sick.  It was a terrible first opportunity.  They did miss a lot of fouls on both sides, but it would not have effected the outcome of the game.  One team could not hit anything.  The principle kicked two parents out and then during the game the coach from one team wanted a time out.  He called time out, Cora said OK.  He yelled at her and said I want a time out now.  She said she would next chance, he walked onto the court stopped the play and called his girls over.  He was like that the entire game.  One of Cora's teammates at one point told him he could ref if he wanted to, and he should be nicer.  After the other coach and a few parents told them they did a good first job and not to be too down about it.

Her next time reffing was a game of Leah's.  It went way smoother.  She even enjoyed it and became confident again.  At home that morning we had told Leah all the good things she had done the night before then gave her a few pointers.  Surprisingly she listened and took to heart every thing we said. (Seriously wish she lived life like she plays ball)  She was on fire.  Cora even said how well she did.  They still totally got their butts kicked, but Leah gave it her all.  At a few points during the game guarding 2-3 players at a time.

After the game we ate our lunches and then Leah did some score keeping.  After the tournament we dropped Leah at a party and went home to get stuff prepped for Dave's birthday.  When we arrived, however, he had decided to go to a University Basketball game.  We grabbed a few snack to take and jumped in the car.  It was fun to watch them.  Some good ball.  We made it back in perfect time to pick Leah up.  She had had a blast.

My basketball player and my ref.