Basketball overload!

 Last year there wasn't a coach for the high school girls' basketball when the team suddenly had the opportunity to play in a single match against another school. It was the first opportunity since 2019 - before Covid. I figured I was better than nothing. We just practiced for a couple of weeks and then played in the game. AND it was a lot of fun!

A few of the girls grabbing dinner after our game.

Fast forward to this year when a regular basketball season was going to happen for middle school girls. Again, there were no coaches, so I said I'd do it. This time we'd have a full season and I really knew that I had no time to prepare or learn how to coach, so I asked Floyd to help me. He was VERY reluctant. In fact, he said no at first but I convinced him to just help prepare me for practice and then I'd coach by myself. Before the first practice even happened, he was sucked in. 😂

We coached the middle school girls - several of whom didn't even know what the game was about. I can't say that it's always easy. We've probably had more arguments related to basketball than anything else this year but I can certainly say I've enjoyed it. Also, there's no way I could do it without Floyd. If we couldn't make it work together, I'd have to bow out for the sake of the team. 

Middle School finished in 6th place in the league. We'll take it for year 1!

We finished middle school season in October and started high school the very next week. Floyd was excited to realize that many of the girls have some natural ability and a few played in middle school before covid hit. Most of my players from last year are on the team again but we also have several new teammates. 

High School Team photo after our first game (photo taken by a student on the yearbook team).

Just a few days into the season, the boys coach realized he had way too many boys and he couldn't handle training all of them. There is one person that would be available to take over in January but there was no option until then. He asked Floyd if he had the free time to help out. Floyd gave it a little time to see if another option would come up, but it didn't. So, Floyd is coaching the boys JV team (9th and 10th graders) at least until mid-January. 

On Fridays, we share the gym for the first hour so the boys and girls warm up together. 

This definitely keeps us busy with practice 4 days a week and games happening on week nights or Saturdays. But man is it a lot of fun and a great opportunity to connect with the kids. 

Here are a few fun shots:

In our first game with the HS girls (just last week). 

A great shot taken during the game by a student in the journalism club.

Teaching the middle school girls to be more aggressive and how to tie up the ball.