Basketball Jitters

Noah had his first game for Upward Basketball today. We had to be at the church by 7:30 for an 8:00 game, which was fine. It beats being in the huge line we saw waiting to get into the gym after us. Noah had a lot of fun in the room before the game chasing his friends around. They also gave them colored sweat bands. The idea is that you guard the guy on the other team who has the same color. It's a great idea, in theory.

They start off the game with player introductions. Noah's team was at home, so the visiting team got announced first. They ran out through an inflated tunnel. The other team loved it and everyone ran out. Obviously, they were giving the kids some sense of being a part of something like this:

I was hoping to hear, "At guard, from Northwoods, three-eight...number four...Noah....CHAMBERLAIN!" They didn't ham it up quite that much, but they did make sure that every kid got announced.

Noah didn't exactly revel in the moment. I took video, but I don't want to post it here. He slowly came out of the tunnel rubbing his eye. He didn't like the tunnel. He didn't like that he couldn't see me. He kind of hung out at the end of the tunnel while the next teammate was announced. Eventually he made it to his court and got in line. I had to go out and comfort him.

They split the game up into 6 6-minute periods. Of course, the clock is continuous. They do a brief devotional at halftime that everyone hears. Every child plays for half the game. Noah wasn't really into it. This is similar to what happened with soccer. He practices well, but when the game starts he has to take it all in. The only time he touched the ball was when he was supposed to receive an inbounds pass and the kid threw it off Noah's face. But then again, he wasn't in the mix much either.

It's just the first week and I'm sure he will improve over time. He's got the skills, he just needs to get comfortable in the game. I'm afraid he gets this from me.