Max’s basketball season is over.It makes me a little bit melancholy because I love basketball, and this may be it for a while for us.The high school teams are filled with kids who have played club ball since they were teeny.
And as much as Max does have a great shot, I don’t know that he even wants to try compete with the likes of them.
What is our world coming to that you can only play school sports if you are “superman?”
Maybe we need to move to a teeny, tiny town where my kids can be the superstars.
Or maybe we just need to enjoy being well-rounded here in the desert.

Elle was one of the lucky sisters allowed to come watch.
Doesn’t she look extremely ecstatic about that privilege?

Their coach was the best yet.
Max got pretty intense at times.
These boys were so fun to watch.Even though I left my ISO up way too high for these you can still tell what a great group of kids they are.
We will miss watching them together.
After those six games on the same day a couple weeks ago they came out in second place in the tournament.
Not too shabby.
(I am definitely not a “Tiger Mother.” Sorry to keep bringing that up, but man alive it’s sure made me think and re-evaluate my parenting lately. I have many thoughts on the topic…I’ll see if I can get around to sharing them tomorrow…)

14 Comments

  1. I had one parent tell me, "My kid can't play lacrosse – he's too old! He'd be a JV player for life." His son was 8! It is sad when everyone can't play on a team and feel good about it.

  2. If you moved to our small town, you would increase the number of children in our branch by 30%. And you would definitely be super stars!

  3. I know what you mean. My Emily loves to play volleyball, but refuses to try out for her high school team. She said they are out for blood. I personally think they are trying to erase several thousands of dollars worth of orthodontic work. She loves church volleyball though. She hates the barely there shorts that the girls have to wear in high school volleyball too.
    I personally think tennis is a nice civilized sport that everyone can enjoy. Would Max be interested in tennis? Maybe swimming?

  4. It's so true Shawni. I feel like if they're not playing a particular sport by 6 years old they can forget participating in high school. CRAZY!

  5. Oh come on Tiger Mama..2nd place isn't good enough!! 🙂 Just kidding…that is awesome!

    I am changing my book club selection to the Tiger Mom book…it intrigues me!

  6. I will say–it's not always true that they have to play club to make the High School team. My daughter didn't make Jr. High v-ball, both years, but did some camps during the summer, practiced, and made the Freshman team at Highland last year. Tell him to keep practicing and try out! What does he have to lose? Some coaches are LAME (my daughter's softball coach was one) and won't even look at kids that don't play club–but I think most H.S. coaches give everyone a fair shot–and you would be surprised to know how many kids have played club FOREVER and don't even try out once their at the high school level, because they're so burned out! Tell Max to keep on keepin' on, believe in himself, and don't accept limitations! You never know until you TRY! :)P.S. I grew up in a small town–and although I loved the superstar aspect–there are SO many more opportunities for our kids here in Gilbert than I ever imagined! Nice to visit…but small towns are hard to grow up in! Just my two cents…

  7. this was so beautiful and peaceful and made me happy for you.
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    Welcome back. Wonderful photos, wonderful story. So glad you could be there.

  8. it is super sad that they can't just play and have fun, it's all about being the best. so sad….Couldn't they just have different leagues, like a/b like baseball/soccer do?!

    well I am glad he did have a fun season! I LOVE basketball!
    tara

  9. just stumbled across your blog and noticed that you're mormon… I am currently writing a book about women and spirituality and wondered if you might be interested in writing a guest post about being mormon and a woman and how that relationship had changed your life… or if you might want to be interviewed… anyway, you can see my blog at http://www.jonikmartin.blogspot.com

  10. Just wanted you to know – I am mormon and newly married and I stumbled across your blog after looking at mormon.org – I just wanted to tell you how inspired I am by you! Thank you for sharing your ups and downs, and your testimony, and your love of family in everything you write – I love reading your blog as a pick-me-up when I want something uplifting to read. Thank you! Bless you!

  11. Man we love that boy! You're right, B-ball just isn't what it should be. Are there community teams so he can keep playing or is there nothing after this age? If not, that sad. Still it was so fun to see him in action both while we were there and in the great pics here.

  12. I know this is a late comment for the post,but I've been thinking about your post. We moved to a very small town and our son played baseball and football for the first time in high school here. He played basketball before and really didn't like it. Almost all the boys play football! He may not get a huge amount of playing time, but if we were in a larger town, he wouldn't make the team, nor have a desire to do so. I am proud of him for surviving and getting stronger during the long, hard practices. Our team has won the state championship in their division (8-man football!) 2 years in a row. It is wonderful to see everyone involved! We are the only LDS family in town, so we definitely are having to make some trade-offs! But we do love the way our "non-varsity" kids can play varsity here in a small town.

  13. Hi Shawni! My name is Leanne and I love these team pictures of the boys. Kade is my son (#5) and I was wondering if there was any way that you could email me the pictures you took of all the team. Kade had a great time with this team and I want a picture or two to remember. My email is bergertime7@yahoo.com THANKS!

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