Number 3 and Number 4

We just had our first Elementary Basketball League game for Sydney and Paige.  Sydney wears #4 and Paige wears #3.

It is that very awesome and funny age group where some kids play well, some play defense well, some play offense well, and some just play.  It is the age were some of the kids just run up and down the court waiving to family in the stands, running jumping and spinning around.  For portions of the game, Paige was that kid.  This is the age group where there is at least one child who knows what he is doing on each team and they look like MJ compared to everyone else.  This is the age where the ball is dribbled less and passed more.  Where everyone stands and says pass it to me, even though they are only about two inches away from each other and 15 feet away from the goal.  But it can be so fun to watch when you try to just focus on them learning.

Today, Paige was sometimes in her own little world.  It was funny.  She dances and jumps and spins as she comes down the court.  She always moves like she has music down in her soul that she is dancing too.  Paige even had a moment where she just dribbled and dribbled and dribbled.... and dribbled and dribbled some more.  She kept dribbling as the coach and crowd said, "Okay Paige pass the ball."  Lucky for all of the parents, who were now shouting pass the ball, she picked up her dribble and passed it to Trey.  Later she said she couldn't make up her mind who she needed to pass it too, so she just kept dribbling.  I suspected as much.  She is a very thoughtful girl and doesn't like to offend her sister so she was conflict whether to force it to Sydney or pass to someone else.

Sydney on the other hand is more focused on playing the game of basketball.  She dribbles and passes to the open (and sometimes her favorite person), and she loves to shoot the ball.  She plays pretty good defense when she is in the post area and she is pretty good at rebounding.  Of course it could use a little work but she has already shown great potential and talent.  One thing that is funny about Sydney, she moves at her own pace.  A couple of times she just walked up the court as the offensive team raced past her.  Once she ran to her spot (area) on the court and stood there as if she was stuck on fly paper while the other team dribbled past her for an open shot.  She even took her time and gracefully (and slowly) dribbled up the court, even waiving off the other kids so she could do it.  It kind of reminds me of Ferdinand the Bull.

This was a fun game.  The girls each got a couple of turns shooting the ball, dribbling the ball and passing to one another.  Sydney scored six points and Paige had two or three steals.

I am looking forward to their continued growth and good play.  This is the age group that is just a joy to watch - but I can't imagine what it would be like to coach it.

Look out for #3 and #4 I know that they are going to be an awesome duo, whether basketball or beyond.