Upward Basketball

Are you ready for some basketball?!?

Sarah played basketball in the Upward Sports League near our house this season.  It started in December, before Christmas, and her last game was this past Saturday. 

 Upward Sports is the world's largest Christian sports league for kids and has become the place to play fun sports for over half a million families in the United States and Canada.  By providing a fun sports experience based on healthy competition, Upward Sports Leagues help kids develop skills for the sports arena and values for life.  Upward Sports uses the universal language of sports to connect with kids at a critical age and help them discover and build athletic skills, values, self-confidence and a life-long love of the game.

These fans are ready cheer on their favorite 5 year old basketball player...

Warming up with Daddy before the game... Eric and Sarah had a great time this season.  Basketball has been something else that they can add to their list of things that they enjoy doing together.  

Sarah's basketball skills improved so much over the past two months!  Dribbling, passing, shooting, and playing defense...

Here are a few pictures from her games.  She was number 12.

Bringing the ball down the court...

Posing after a game with some of her fans...

At the beginning of each game the team members names were announced over the loud speaker as they ran out onto the court with their teammates.  When Sarah's name was announced she would always smile and get an embarrassed look on her face.  Sarah's team's name was the Tigers.  There were four kids on her team, two boys, Ayden and Jacob, and two girls, herself and Makala.  Their coach's name was Danny.

Sometimes before the games Phoebe would help with the warm-up too.  

One Saturday Coach Danny couldn't be there, so Eric got to be the coach.

At Sarah's last Monday night practice during the warm up running exercises, Sarah fell and landed on her left hand/fingers.  I was not at the practice, Eric was there.  He said she complained mostly of hitting her head, but when they got home and we looked more closely at her finger and hand it had swollen up and was already turning black and blue.  I took her in to immediate care, where they did three different xrays, put a splint on her finger and hand, and told us a radiologist would call us in the morning after reviewing the xrays.  The next morning I got the call that her middle finger was broken below the second knuckle.  BUMMER!  So we went into our doctor's office for a better splint, and set up a time for more xrays to check the bones healing progress.  (We are hoping for a quick healing and that the bones heal right for finger and hand growth.)  Sarah was sad and disappointed that she would not get to play in her last game of the season, and would not be able to practice in the driveway with Daddy for a month or so.  She was also somewhat embarrassed to wear the splint and needs some help with daily tasks, like zipping, tying, and various things that she is used to doing with two hands.

On Sunday, we attended the Upward Basketball awards ceremony.  Each team was called up on the stage and given a new Upward basketball and a dvd.

Me: Did you like playing basketball this season?

Sarah: "Yes!"

Me: What was your favorite thing about basketball?

Sarah: "I liked practicing with Daddy.  I liked shooting.  And, I liked dribbling.  But I hurt my hand and then I cried (cause I really did)."

Me: So, do you want to play again next year?

Sarah: "Yeah, and Daddy is going to be my coach."

Me: So, what's your favorite basketball team?

Sarah: "The Tigers, cause that's my team."

Me: Any others?

Sarah: "Umm the K-State team  and the Chiefs."

Me: Chiefs are a football team you silly!