Girls' Basketball

Last Fall, Jesikah had a big interest in learning to play basketball.  My good friend, Priya, did some research on teams, and she found out that both her girls and both of our girls could all play on the same team.  Well, since we are neighbors, we thought this was a very good option for car-pooling too, so we went with it.

In the picture, Tessa is on the bottom far left and Jesikah is the top far right.  Divya and Pramika (our neighbors and the girls best friends) are sitting right below Jesikah in the front row next to each other.

They started practicing last November. Their games started in December and ended in February. It was kind of a frustrating experience for everyone I think. Our girls were both beginners as well as Priya's girls. We planned to put up a basketball hoop in our driveway so that the girls could have a place to practice, but still haven't gotten it done. On the team, the coaches two daughters were very experienced. The coach would get frustrated with our girls for their lack of knowledge and hardly let the 4 of them play in games. He never took the time to teach them the basics of the game.  We had to spend time with them at home just to explain the rules of play.  He would rotate one of our 4 in at a time and his two daughters would always play.  It was important to the coach to make a good impression and to win.

The only way they will learn to play is get the opportunity TO PLAY.  Jesikah would notice that they were the only ones being left on the bench during the game, and she would approach the coach about it.  The coach would say that they needed more time to watch and learn...whatever!

The pictures were very unprofessional too (as you can see).  I did some editing on them to even get them this clear(the lighting was very poor).  I wished I would have just taken my own pictures.

Most of the games were pretty funny to watch because the girls really didn't know what to do if they ever got the ball since it was such a rare occasion.  In the end, they did improve some, and I was proud of them during the last game because they really tried hard and were able to make a few good plays.  Anyway, I guess we will know what team NOT to put them on next year(if they decide to do it again).