Ballin'

As I mentioned in my last post, we've had some recent basketball developments.  Less than two weeks ago Craig signed Jacob up for an August league nearby, with the first game last Tuesday.  Games are twice a week all month.  There are four teams, and the last two games will be the playoffs for everyone.  As they don't have practice, it's essentially like a series of scheduled pick-up games, but all with the same team.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but it has been an interesting experience so far.

It takes place inside a warehouse building.  When we drove around to the back, the garage door was open and I could hear squeaking of shoes on the court.  Otherwise I'd never have known it was there.  But what's inside is really nice.  It's not an actual wood floor, just sport court, but the hoops are really nice and overall it's a cool little facility.  The spectator area is just a bunch of folding chairs.  Oddly, we have to pay a couple bucks each to watch his games.  Luckily the league isn't that expensive, but it felt sort of like getting into some underground club the first time we went, given the location and setup!  Jacob is the only white kid on his team, which I think he sort of relishes.  Based on seeing what a lot of college and professional rosters look like, I think he figured at some point he'd end up being the "white guy" on the team.  I guess he's just getting a feel for it earlier than he thought.  The league is for 11-13-year-olds, so he's definitely on the younger end.  There are kids a head taller and probably 80+ pounds heavier than him out there.  This is such an odd age because of kids hitting puberty at different times, and I keep warning Jacob that he, too, is going to change so much in the next couple years.  This league definitely proves that.  But size isn't everything, and you still need skill.  The tallest kid on his team has a heck of a time making a basket from below the hoop, so you just never know where players might excel.  Overall, though, the kids are pretty talented and the level of basketball is head and shoulders above what we saw with Upward.

In his first game, he didn't get any points but he did so well defensively, making a bunch of steals.  He moved the ball well and certainly held his own.  His team came back from a deficit and ended up winning by a nice margin.  Here are a few pictures from that game.  It was fast action, so they're not great.

This was after a scrum to gain possession of the ball

Game two was a bit tougher.  The team they played had three white kids from the east side suburbs who have played together for years and now play travel together.  They basically took over the game and Jacob's team lost by a bunch.  He had a three-pointer, which was good to see.  Right after that he did an amazing fake from the same spot and just missed a closer shot.  But it looked so good!  From what we see right now, he just needs to be more confident--he needs to have faith in his decisions to shoot or pass, and give himself some credit that he could make a shot if he took it.  When he hesitates he gets overpowered pretty easily, but when he plays his game he's great.  He'll get there.

During the course of the week, we found out about tryouts for an AAU team (which is travel, essentially, and would be a rapid rise for him) that's connected to the same organization that runs this facility.  The tryout fee was low, so while it was a longshot, we decided to let Jacob try out.  If nothing else, it would be a good learning opportunity and a good chance for him to gauge where he stands against other kids his age.  Tryouts were Saturday, and let's just say it didn't go awesomely well.  It wasn't bad, but in the words of the coach, he also "didn't stand out."  Craig was frustrated watching him because he wasn't shooting much and was being his usual unselfish self.  It's essentially what we've seen from him in lacrosse the last couple years, too--good but not a stand-out, partly because he is more likely to pass than shoot.  We haven't heard yet whether he made one of the two teams, but the good news is that while they were talking after the tryout, the coach suggested he play in a different league this winter.  He was planning on playing CYO, as it's the next step up from the level of play in Upward, and he had a couple friends to play with.  But this other league is even better, and it's apparently where he needs to be to keep improving.  So that's next on the agenda after an additional month of the league he's in now.  Whether or not he makes this AAU team, it's good to have some next steps and get himself on the radar of the basketball community.

One other random Jacob highlight for the week--of the non-basketball variety--was having his first soft pretzel in about six years.  Gluten-free soft pretzels are pretty hard to come by, and I have long-balked at the $9 price tag of the six-pack that Wegmans carries.  I was feeling generous the other day and gave in, and he has been enjoying them very much!  It's the little things, people!

While Jacob was at his tryout on Saturday, I took Carter to the playground.  He's such a playground fan, but we haven't had as much opportunity this year to go to them.  He'd been asking to go to the town playground by the library for weeks, and I figured it was probably a good day to go since it was a tad cool for the adjacent spray park, which might keep the crowds to a minimum.  It was still full of kids, but it was very manageable.  He had a blast climbing and jumping, and it's amazing how much more he can do as a big kid compared to when it opened two years ago!  Although, he no longer fits in the swing where he and I could swing together, so that's a bummer!  (Sadly, I was also surprised at how worn the playground has gotten in only two years.  The concrete-based structures look like they should be super durable, but I noticed fading, cracking, and mineral deposits throughout.  I feel like this should hold up longer, and maybe it will, but I wonder what the company's guarantee is because I'm sure this one did not come cheap!)

He could climb the ropes but never quite wanted to get on the top of the rocks here!

This is was a high climb!

He was forever having me chase him and often retreated to the top of the slides where he had a quick escape!

Weighing his options as I chase him

From the top of one structure looking toward the spray park

And from the top of  another (where Carter was laying on the rock above)

Playing restaurant through the holes in the rocks

Smiling while balancing on ropes!

We ran around and played for probably an hour, until the big boys were on their way home, and then we made a stop at Aldi before getting home for dinner.

On Sunday we promised the kids we could go mini golfing...if Jacob finished a portion of his summer reading.  He's officially through the first book, and we're now working on the writing portion.  It's a dialectic journal, which essentially means pulling 20 passages from each book and talking about them.  He can talk about how it makes him feel, how the characters might feel, why they did something, how it relates to the rest of the book, why he agrees or disagrees, etc.  He can really talk about almost anything.  But essentially it all boils down to critical thinking about the book--not just regurgitating the plot, but deeper significance--and apparently that's not a strong skill among sixth graders.  Or so a few teacher friends have told me.  So, perhaps this project is being looked at as a starting point for that learning process...or at least, let's hope so.  Thank goodness I read the book, because it has helped tremendously to know plot points and ask pointed questions so he thinks about them in a certain way.  It has been a struggle, though, as drawing the deeper thinking out is like pulling teeth.  He did have an a-ha moment yesterday when he thought of a good one all on his own, but even then, enhancing his writing to get to that 60-word target is a challenge.  For a kid who knew giant words at a young age, it appears that eloquence doesn't always translate to paper.  We'll get there eventually, and he's trying to work through it in manageable pieces, doing three per day.  I've pretty much consented to letting him do the book he read last year for his second one.  We had picked a different one, but I read it and I really think he'd struggle with it.  It's called Loser, by Jerry Spinelli, and follows an outcast kid through elementary school.  His behavior was rather bizarre, and there were times I was a little thrown off by what he was doing (like carrying around a dried, chewed piece of gum as a lucky rock because a little girl gave it to him, or giving his prized hat to a kid because the kid said it was his).  I think it would just annoy him, honestly.  With the book he knows, I think he'll already have an established set of knowledge that may make the writing part easier.  I think he's getting a good enough lesson on book #1, so at this point we're just trying to make it through book #2 before the first week of school.  Anyway, he made his Sunday goal, so off to mini golf we went!

Carter stole the show on the front nine, as he scored three holes-in-one in the first seven holes!  I'm not quite sure how he does it!  He did it on the first hole, the first shot of the day, and then did it twice more!

This one was ridiculous!  He hit it hard enough to launch off the first hump, and then it somehow hit the back of the border and rebounded in.  Crazy!

Both boys got a hole-in-one on hole #7! 

Craig and I held our own as well, and in the end I won with a 40, and Jacob's and my team took the victory again!  But Carter brought up the rear with a respectable 49, so we all did well!  We headed in for some arcade time, and drove our ticket total up closer to 1,000!  Still nothing the boys want to buy, so we'll just keep saving!  But Jacob enjoyed his basketball game (and got so close to the high score twice!) and we all had a fun time.  

So, onward through another week.  More basketball, the last night of Carter's lacrosse, more summer reading "fun", and savoring what's left of summer the best we can...