Let's Talk About Ba-sket-ball!

Hope started her very first season of basketball recently. She has had such a blast playing. We figured basketball, like soccer; is right up her alley. You can still run up and down the court/field even if you are not actually in possession of the ball. Which works really well for our hyped up kiddo.

She had a bit of a slow start her first game, trying to figure it out. She missed her second one due to illness. Her third game...well, folks, things clicked :) She stole that ball, guarded her girls, and dribbled like a mad woman...she even scored her first basket in a game :) So proud! She gets just excited if she scores or her teammates with a big jump and both fists up in the air. Too cute ;)
This is the first team where everyone has an height advantage over her. She and one other girl are in Kindergarten, the rest of her team is in first grade. She still will try and rebound with the tallest of them. Unfortunately, most of the time, the tallest gets the ball first.

This here is some serious guarding, on both teams...and only in Kindergarten.

Uh-hum...yep, she totally just stole that ball :)

Not afraid to rebound...even if it is directly under the basket.

And, nope, this chick did not get that ball from her. This was Hope steal right before she....

totally drove it down and SCORED!!

Another steal for Hope...the referee had to inform her not to touch the opponents hand while stealing. This gave the poor little girl on the other team a chance too.

This league is unlike a lot of them. There is no score. Hope was totally checking that scoreboard each time to look for the points to change. At this age they just play for fun and to learn. With Upwards it is Christ centered...so she also has a devotional each practice and a scripture to memorize each week. It is a pretty awesome ministry that reaches all types of people who may or may not know about Jesus.

Cool story about the director. He was in college for sports medicine. He wanted to be a coach. Then the Lord called him into the ministry. Instead of dumping his two years invested in this direction...the Lord opened up a door for him to become a recreational pastor...really, how cool is that? God is just that good folks :)