Upward Basketball

One of my 2012 goals:

Help coach an Upward basketball team at church. Thanks to a dear friend who volunteered to head coach (or perhaps, was dragged kicking and screaming), I am assistant coaching a kindergarten Upward basketball team at WHBC. Yikes.

Last night we had Upward's Awards night.  (Click here for more information on this AWESOME organization.)  After it was over, one of the refs - and a man who has known me since kindergarten - high-fived me and said, "Randi, I'm proud of you for stretching yourself out of your comfort zone. Good work." Out of my comfort zone may have been a bit of an understatement.  You see, I don't do sports.  I have never played organized basketball in my life, but I knew they needed coaches and I really wanted to help. 

So I twisted my friend Lindsey's arm and she signed up as a head coach with me as her assistant. Lindsey volunteered to be in charge of basketball (she, unlike me, knows a bit about the sport), so I handled everything else - emailing parents, snack sign up, and mid-practice devotions.  We had an adorable team of six boys and a girl, and they played their hearts out!  My favorite moment was our last game of the season.  Right before we went out to play the last quarter, Lindsey said, "Kids, let's try to get every person on our team a chance to shoot the ball.  That means we'll have to really watch out for each other and share the ball.  Do you think we can do that?"  The kids nodded enthusiastically, and sure enough, every kid got a chance to shoot the ball that quarter.  It was a great way to end the season.

Take Aways:

• As much as I enjoyed coaching our kids, I could never teach kindergarten.
• There is a lot more to be learned from the game of basketball than just the sport.  Kids were learning how to share, how to look out for each other, and how to work together.  Not every one of our kids had "talent," but I think it was a valuable learning experience for each of them.
• I love that our church does Upward.  It's such a great way to serve the community.  I am planning to do it again next year!