Basketball has been in full swing the past few months. Joel wanted to play again and has actually really loved it. His coach is amazing. Originally Brent was going to coach with his friend Ian (they have coached together at Upward the past few years) But they redid the age groups so Ian went up with his daughter and Joel stayed down in his age group. But he ended up with the most amazing coach that made it so fun and really encouraged Joel. In the beginning games, Joel would just stand there and didn't really go after the ball. He wasn't very aggressive on the court at all. And as my mom said, we know he can has it in him because he's very aggressive at home with his family. Finally the next to the last game, Joel turned it on. He said afterwards he wanted to get a yellow star so he did what he had to do to get that. I didn't tell him that everyone at some point gets the yellow star but whatever works to motivate him. The last game Joel was stealing the ball and making a few fast breaks down the court. He really improved and most importantly really enjoyed playing.
Colin played again but didn't play for Upward. He played with the rec league and enjoyed it. Brent coached him along with a friend Jim that Brent works with. And a guy on his team goes to Colin's school and is in Young Life with him. Its a great group of boys. They've played well. I've only been able to watch two games. I told Brent when he signed both boys up for two different leagues that their games would always be the same time. Of course not brent would tell me. Well I'm always right according to the kids and all but one game has been same time, different locations. I was able to watch another game only because it was a snow make up game during the week. Colin enjoyed playing real defense. In Upwards you are assigned a color and have to stick with your player. The rec league is played as a real game. They can also call time outs and shoot foul shots.
