Robbery victim in training

This morning was C's first basketball game. If you've never attended a game played by a group of 6 year olds, you have missed out on a lot of fun.

Well, honestly it's probably only fun if you are watching your own 6 year old play. I wouldn't skip out on anything you've already got planned to watch a game, but it is an enjoyable way to pass some time.


(As a brief side note here, you may be surprised to know that I actually played basketball -very badly- in high school. Since I really wasn't blessed with any remarkable skills, I relied heavily on my towering height of 5'3" to help me out on the court. OK, so I was both short & lacked talent, but I was a team player. I was never a ball hog. Seriously, I almost panicked every time I found the ball in my hands & did whatever I could to get it out of them as speedily as possible. My Alma Mater actually won the state title in girls' basketball last year - with my cousin leading them as coach! This tells me two things: 1. I clearly did not inherit the basketball skills that both my cousin & sister were blessed with. 2.I would have no hope of making the team if I were in high school today).


Anyway, I have to say that while my basketball skills have only gotten worse with age, I do remember the rules of the game. When watching basketball played by kindergartners, the first thing you need to know is that almost none of the normal rules apply. The ref doesn't make any of the normal calls, there is no such thing as traveling, double dribbling or even a foul. In fact you are not even allowed to take the ball away from another player. This is true even if they stop dribbling and try to hand the ball to you, which actually happened a couple of times. When you are on defense, your only job is told hold your hands in the air & try to block that person (without touching them or the ball) from shooting a basket. I like to call this the "Please don't shoot me, I'm unarmed stance."

C was a natural at this aspect of the game. In fact, he was so good at it, he almost never put his arms down. It didn't matter what end of the court he was on, his arms were in the air.

He didn't seem to understand, at first, the fact that he was on offense on one side of the court & defense on the other end. On both ends, he kept his arms in the air & tried to block his "man" from the basketball hoop.

At least in this shot he's on defense. In the first two pictures his team was actually on offense.


I think he started affecting his team mates with this new method of play. It really started to catch on. Here they are on offense again and he and his new friend are camped in front of the basket with their arms in the air. I'm telling you one thing, if he's ever in the bank during a robbery, he's all set. He's got that motion down!

Thankfully, by the second half of the game, he started to catch on and gave his arms a bit of a rest. He even got the ball & attempted a few shots. In the end he had a good time & that's really all that matters at this age. I'm just glad his arms aren't sore. He's got to defend the rebel forces from an attack by the Imperial armies at his birthday party tomorrow afternoon.