Post Basketball Season

So we made it through our first season of basketball season through Cade's school.  The sixth grade division is touted as more of an 'instructional' division in the Topeka Parochial League. While this may be true in theory, it hardly seemed the case on the actual court. Our sixth grade has only 9 boys in it.  Total.  Of those 9, only 6 went out for the team.  Doesn't make for a very deep bench.  Of those 6, only 2 boys who had any previous basketball experience.  So.  Two boys on his team knew how to play basketball.  Ordinarily, since it's an 'instructional' division, that shouldn't matter.  You might expect that a few other teams would have a few less experienced players as well.  Well, you'd be wrong.  The teams we played were actually pretty good.  I mean, really, really good.  That's great for Hayden in a few years.  It means that the basketball program will have quite a few outstanding players gunning for them and it will be amazing to watch once all those boys are playing for the same team.  But for us, it was a difficult pill to swallow.  Although frustrated by our lack of numbers, we did our best to support our boys and sit through each and every game where they were out-played, out-scored and just plain out-numbered.  When the other teams are running set plays and defenses and running up the score and 3 of our 5 guys are still working on dribbling without traveling or catching a pass without turning it over, it makes for a really long game. To be fair, Cade seemed to really enjoy being a part of his school team and getting to hang out with his friends more.  He didn't really enjoy getting beat mercilessly every game, though.  And that's tough for a parent.  When you try to get them involved in sports at a young age to instill a certain respect and interest for physical activity and a sport that you enjoy, only to have them have a season like this one really stinks.  Makes you feel if you had known how things would turn out, you would have definitely done things differently.  Oh well.  We survived and we really aren't too worse for the wear.  Pretty tired, but we'll make it.  Cade also got to play a few games with the 7th grade when a few of their players were unable to play.  Completely different experience all together.  Despite the few minutes he got to play those few times, you could just tell he appreciated having a winning chance.  It was also good for us as well.  Just a few shots from some of the games:

 Yep.  That's the actual score.  :(

But the good news is BASEBALL SEASON IS COMING!!!!

VERY much looking forward to this.  Rusty and another dad are stepping up to take over the coaching of the Shockwave and I can't wait to see how well these boys do.  It's going to be a great season.  I can FEEL it.