Sports sports sports

Malcolm's basketball season just wrapped up this weekend with two games on Saturday and an end of season party on Sunday. We are all so disappointed that it's over. He loved playing, we loved watching. For the most part, his team was the same as last year. They added two boys, one of whom is a friend of his, and the coaches were the same as well. His coach scheduled additional practices which helped immensely and the boys really came together as a team. Every kid (even Skippy, the kid who skipped up and down the court last year) improved greatly and played really well, especially by the end of the season. They ended up going 7 and 3 for the season, but it should have been 8 and 2. Apparently in the one game I missed, our team went up by such a large margin that the ref stopped counting our baskets AND started calling violations a lot harder on our boys. As a result, our team lost by one point in overtime. The coach and parents were very upset, the ref even apologized to our coach, we should have won that game.[1] But it was a good lesson for the kids...life isn't always fair. Furthermore, in each of their subsequent games, our team went up by over 15 points so they stopped counting our baskets until the opponents caught up a little.

All in all, it was a great season. Malcolm made huge progress in his game and finally got used to being the big guy (or the "Tower of Power" as coach calls him). In the last two games, he scored over 6 points and had at least 5 rebounds in each game. Now that's what I'm talking about! We had a lot of conversations about the role each person plays on the court and worked with him on understanding the value he adds when he stands in the middle, a head above everyone else. It was great fun to watch.

In other sporting news, one of the dad's we know asked Malcolm if he would be interested in playing baseball this year. The last time he played was last spring and he decided not to continue at the end of the season. I was all for that decision, since, I believe I've mentioned...I hate baseball. It's never ending and outside. Meaning it could be 90 and humid, or 40 and raining. Ugh.

So Malcolm wants to play. Since he's 9, it's time to move up to the minors...all player pitch, 4 balls, 3 strikes, stealing bases is legal and umpires are used. This is more like real baseball. I'm thrilled that he was asked to play, the coach said he needs a power hitter. And there's one thing Malcolm is good at in baseball and that's knocking the hell out of the ball. A couple of his basketball buddies are on the team, so I will have company as I brave the elements I suppose. And there will be a lot of elements....3 practices per week (2 hours each!) and at least a game per weekend, maybe more. Combine this with Lincoln starting soccer with one practice and one game per week and we are talking A LOT of fresh air this spring.

As long as the boys love it, I'm there. Just cross your fingers that it's not a rainy spring.

[1] Make no mistake, I have no problem with the slaughter rule. This is third grade basketball, the goal is to learn how to play, not to humiliate the other team. BUT don't tie the kid's hands either. Let them play as best as they can and have the people running the scoreboard worry about the score.