Upward Basketball 2018 - Week #3

**GUEST BLOGGER**

 ~ Eric Hendrickson ~ 

The kids had a large fan base this week with Ernie and Judy coming up from Arkansas and Popee and Nanee being here to cheer them all on.

Silas - Game #3 - 8:30

The (2) pre-k teams are starting to understand the game.  I was only able to watch the first half but both teams are playing better basketball.

I like seeing all the kids focused and tracking the ball.  Silas ended up with 12 baskets! He did a good job of dribbling, passing, and being active.

Phoebe - Game #4 - 9:30

Phoebe woke up not felling great and that worsened through the day with much puking in the evening.

Although she wasn't feeling great, she toughed it out and played a good game.

The game was close throughout, with us leading 15-12 at halftime.  Phoebe had some tough defenders against her.  It is rewarding to see these girls improve and to see them grasp how to play.

Our team won a close one 28-22.  Phoebe had 8 points.  We won our first game and are now 1-2-1 on the season.  I look forward to the challenge next week.

Sarah - Game #4 - 2:30

Sarah's team played a good game.  We only had 5 of the 7 girls there (2 were sick), so the 5 girls had to play the entire game.  Everyone had opportunities to score and overall we played well.

Sarah had a good game, especially on defense and rebounding.

At halftime we were ahead 19-7.

I keep working with Sarah on her shot to get her hands above her head instead of out in front of her.  Other than this, her shot is looking pretty good.

We won the game 27 to 16 and Sarah had 16 points.  Our record is now 3-1.  We are looking forward to next week's challenge against the other 3-1 team.

Upward Basketball 2018 - Week #2

**GUEST BLOGGER**

 ~ Eric Hendrickson ~ 

Popee and Nanee made it to this week's games.

Silas - Game #2 - 8:30

I was able to watch all of Silas's game this week because Phoebe didn't play until 10:30.

Silas played well.  Comparable to the other kids, he is the best dribbler, defender, and hustler.

The game moved better this week as the kids are starting to understand how to play.

Silas made 5 baskets.  He could make more but he is good at passing to others to give them opportunities.

Phoebe - Game #3 - 10:30

Phoebe continued her impressive play.

We played the team that we had lost by 18 points the week prior.  We were up on this team at half.  Thus, over the last two halves we have outscored this team.

Here I am addressing our girls.  These girls are getting better at staying focused.

There was one flaw in Phoebe's game.  She shot (3) free throws and did not make any of them.  We will need to work on this.

To get the girls playing more aggressive, I started asking them, "Whose ball is it?".  The answer is to be a decisive, "Mine!".  I want them to gain an aggressive attitude.  Phoebe certainly has it.

Phoebe plays hard and aggressive and it brings me much joy to watch her play.

I may have made the biggest error of the game.  I got our line-up mixed up for the last period where Phoebe was not in the game.  We ended up losing 44-38.  It was a very good game and our girls played well.  They are figuring out how to play the game.

Phoebe's teacher came to watch the game.  He was also quite surprised at Phoebe's play.  He asked where that girl on the court came from.  Very impressive Phoebe!

Sarah - Game #2 - 1:30

Sarah's team got to play (2) games this weekend.  Going into the game, I knew we had the ability to beat both teams, but I didn't know if we had the stamina.

The first game we started off well and were leading 19-4 at half.  The other team was missing one of their best players and they had trouble scoring.

The next half we played flat.

Nice looking form by Kinsley on her shot.  She jumped and the ball came of her hand correctly.

We ended up winning 23-8.  Sarah had 10 points.

Sarah - Game #3 - 2:30

Our girls were all red faced after the first game and after a few minute break we were starting game #2.  One of our girls rolled her ankle early in the 1st game, so we were short handed.  Not good when you are concerned about stamina.

We started off strong and Sarah was playing great.  Sarah got some air on her jump shot.  We need to get her hands more up than out in front of her.

Sarah can move right or left with ease.

We had Upward cheerleaders for this game.  We worked on blocking out this week and it appears that we need to work on it again this week.

We need to have another girl step up for ball handling because Sarah is our only real ball handler right now.

Sarah is looking great on her layups.  We were up the entire game but I could see we were starting to run on empty with about 9 minutes left in the game.  At that point our lead started to slip.

This was a close game and a tension filled game.  Coach Ro and I along with the fans were quite vocal at the officiating.  Wish it had not gotten to that but it happens with fiery coaches like us.

Sarah's teacher came to watch her play today.  She saw a hard fought game that we lost in the last seconds.  The other team made the go ahead score with 15 seconds remaining.  We turned the ball over on our last trip down to tie it up which led to a last second basket by the other team.  They won 26-22.    I look forward to playing this team again in two weeks.

Gifts With Popee And Nanee

We got together with my parents last Friday night (January 19th) and exchanged Christmas gifts.  Below, the kids got this great Disney Who's Who book.  I think it has almost every Disney Character listed in it, and a short paragraph about the character.

There were some cute clothes opened by all three kids....

Silas got a giant box of cars!

Dad and Mom got me the newest Pioneer Woman cookbook.

The girls each got a new Breyer Horse.

We gave Nanee some cookie dough and brownie mixes, a book, Pioneer Woman spatula, and a calendar.

Eric got some drill bits, a book, some spicy food and Salsa.  We gave Dad this cool shirt that we had specially made for him... It says, "We're hooked on Popee"  Then each grandkid's name is printed on the hook hanging below.

Phoebe was super excited to get the American Girl Bitty Baby that she had been dreaming of getting!  Dad was probably just as excited to get seasons 1 - 4 of MASH, one of his all time favorite shows.

The kids also received the game UNO Attack.  It's the one that shots lots of extra cards out at you, making it harder to get rid of all your cards first.

Thanks for the great gifts, Mom and Dad!

Phoebe named her new Bitty Baby FeFe and happily fell asleep that night hugging it.