Basketball

It's time to do a post about basketball.  Miriam started practicing with her team, 'Liberty', before Christmas and they had their first game in January.  I wasn't very good about taking pictures at her games, but I had so much fun cheering for her and her team.

She had a great group of girls on her team!  They were all really nice, friendly and welcoming.  Miriam was one of the youngest, but not the smallest on her team.  About half the girls had played the year before and it was the first time for the other half. Two of the girls went to Serra School also and were super sweet to Miriam.  Their coach was a dad of one of the girls who also coaches various sports at the middle school for his day job.  He was great, super encouraging and positive, while also laid back.

It was so fun to watch the whole team progress and learn through the season.  In the beginning, Miriam would go to her 'spot' on the court and wait for the ball to come near her.  She was fearless about getting in on the action and had a lot of steals and jump balls, but would wait for the action to come to her.  As the season progressed and they came to understand their positions better, they had more movement in their area of the court.  They won most, but lost a few too, which was good.  Most importantly, Miriam had fun and learned some fundamental basketball skills.  She already can't wait to play next year!!

At her last game, the point guards really wanted to help all the girls score a basket if they hadn't yet.  The first time she got the ball to Mimi, she passed it right back to someone else.  We were all yelling, "Shoot!!! Shoot!!!"  The next time, she had defenders on her, so she had to pass it out.  It was the right call.  Finally, she got the ball and went to shoot.  She missed, but was fouled, so she got two shots, which she also missed.  But it was still exciting and we still won the game.