Basketball!!

Ryan and Abby are both playing CYB, the local youth basketball league, this winter.  Ryan played last year, in third grade, for the first time.  It was a great experience that he really enjoyed.  So here we are with the Big Two both playing this season.  I absolutely love watching them.  It's a great feeling to watch your kids do something they love and the fact that they're both pretty darn good at it helps too :)

This past Friday, Feb 9th, was a small scheduling miracle in favor of the Chase family.  There happened to be two home games at our Macedonia gym that night, Abby's team at 6:30 followed by Ryan's team at 7:30.  What are the odds?!  [I'll give you a hint, not very good.  There are four 4th grade boys teams alone].  I'd been looking forward to this night for awhile, and it certainly didn't disappoint.  Nana and Mr. Pat came to town for the evening, and Sarah Allen brought her three out to cheer us on as well.

Abby's games are so much fun.  She's so spunky and energetic and has that x-factor that you just can't teach.  She's fearless out there, despite being the smallest on her team.  I love it.  At some point early on in the game, she drove in for a layup and her first two points.  I actually got that play on video.  However, the best play ever, did not make video.  Hence the desire to try and capture the moment here.  Final seconds of the third quarter.  We are down 9-8.  Abby's team has the ball on offense, and she shoots one of those crazy buzzer beaters from just inside the three point line.  AND IT GOES IN!!  I'm emotional just typing about it three days later!  I'd give just about anything to be able to watch it over and over again on video :)  Those girls went wild.  We went nuts.  Nana and Mr. Pat witnessed it.  As did her fan section led by Jackson and Cooper.  AND Ryan's whole team.  By this point, they were all there ready for their turn.  We were sitting in the top row behind Abby's bench.  Ryan's team filled the next section, just to our right.  Seeing those boys jump up cheering and screaming for my little girl was priceless and still give me goosebumps.  It was just one of those moments.

That basket won the third quarter for the Wildcats and put us up 10-9 going into the fourth.  The score stayed that way for the first nine minutes.  It was such an intense and great game.  We were holding our breath the whole time, trying not to jinx things and think that Abby's buzzer beater might really be the game winner.  And then with about a minute left in the game, Abby gets fouled and heads to the free throw line where she makes both of her shots bringing the score up to 12-9.  The visitors were able to score on the last possession of the game, but we held on and eekked out the victory 12-11.  I do have the free throws and the last minute on video.  Wow is about all I can say.  It was a goosebump kinda game for sure.

Ryan's game was just as intense.  His games are so face-paced.  It's really awesome to see how these boys have come together as a team this season.  Coach CJ is really great.  I love that he rented out the Trinity gym six times [out of his own pocket] over the Christmas break for optional practices.  And he included Abby in most of those :)  He is really patient with the boys, and he comes to practice prepared.  Those practices have really paid off too, it's cool to see the boys running actual plays during the games and passing the ball so well.  So back to Friday night's game...  Ryan's coach yelled a couple of times to the team to 'breath!' but I'm pretty sure he was actually talking to me.  Ryan's team led the majority of the game.  I didn't realize until the next day that this team was undefeated.  Both Ryan and Abby's teams are middle of the pack [4-4 and 4-5 after Saturday].  Although I honestly think Ryan's team especially is waayy better then that record reflects.  Unfortunately, they ended up losing the game by one point in overtime!  I'll try not to go into it too much here since it goes against our values and beliefs and what we try to teach and model for our kids, but I will say that I haven't watched a basketball game yet that was this absurdly refereed.  I'll leave it at I was pissed by the end.  And the kids picked up on it completely on their own.  When we got to the car they were asking things like why the other team was allowed to travel and why there were so many fouls [we barely ever even get into bonus fouls and I don't think we've ever had anyone foul out.  We had two kids that night.].  So anyways, enough about that!  What a night, what a night!!

Ryan's team came back and won another nail biter on Saturday afternoon.  Which brings both kiddos to four wins and they need five for playoffs.  Their final games are this coming Saturday, should be another exciting day of basketball!!