Yeah, I’m going to have to go here again. My son had a playoff basketball game on Tuesday night, and I need to talk about it. Before we get there though, a quick summary on the year.
My son is in 4th grade; this is a 6th grade team… made up of 6th, 5th, and 4th grade kids. There were 16 kids on the team, maybe more; I knew it would be a tough year from a playing time standpoint for my boy. I accepted that, and worked all season to encourage him, not letting him get too discouraged about not playing. After all, it’s the practices 2x per week where he can learn and improve his game. Just being on the court with the older kids, playing b-ball multiple times per week, he’ll get better. Mission accomplished there for sure. Yet… as the season went on, the coach in me (and the dad in me), wanted to see him on the court more; I wanted to see other kids on the court more too. Not easy trying to mix and match 16+ kids per game and try to win games… I get it, trust me. Still… Anyways, up until this point, out of 9 games, he played in 5 of them; he missed 1 due to swim meet. Usually, it was a minute or less… there may have been a game where it was a couple minutes. His stat line for the season was 3 steals and 2 rebounds… no buckets.
He had been wanting his first bucket for a while now… With the team heading into the playoffs, most likely, he would not get this opportunity. I know this is what he thought when the coach put him in the game in the first half; he didn’t seem ready. We’ve talked about just keeping working on your game, be ready to go when it’s your time, when opportunity knocks. It most likely will not be this year, but you’ll have 2 more years on this squad. It was an uneventful 45 seconds or so. The team was doing well. They have a good team. They had built up a double digit lead early, and maintained it as the game went on. To our surprise, the coach put him back in the game in the 4th quarter; this time, he seemed a bit more ready. I’m glad he was.
On an out of bounds play, he ran towards the basket, as his teammate picked his man; he was wide open. He got the pass. He made the shot!!! WOW!!! He, shit, WE have been waiting for this all year. My wife went crazy, standing up and cheering. I just beamed from ear to ear. I feel like this single bucket was so important. Actually, he came down the next possession and shot again; I thought it was going in… it didn’t, but that’s OK… I think my wife may have fainted. But yeah, he saved his first 2 points of the season for the playoffs; he always has performed best under pressure, already with a game winning shot under his belt on an earlier basketball team at the park. He’s played his best in the last games of the season in baseball; he kicked butt at the district championships in swimming a couple days ago. It’s a good trait to have.
Much more to come hopefully; he’s just getting started. But man… that was SO huge; it made this whole season of patience and development worth it. Season isn’t over by the way; semifinal game is next week, with another game to follow one way or another, either for the championship or 3rd place. So… 2 more potential opportunities… Hope he gets in there again, but if he doesn’t, I feel like this 1 bucket, these 2 points, will carry him until next year. So proud of him…
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