I LOVE basketball! And I love it all the more when I get to watch my kids play it. Bennett is in an excellent league this year with a wonderful team. He works SOOO hard each week at his practices. He's learned alot from his coach. It's always wonderful to see a bunch of people, in whatever situation, learn to work as a team.
All their hard work during practices has definitely been paying off on the court during game days. We've gone undefeated so far. But today we were to play another undefeated team. We were very nervous. They were taller than our boys, knew their position better than our boys, and were excellent ball handlers and defenders.
We were down by 7 points at the half. At this age, a 7 point lead is almost impossible to comeback from. It was a hard game to watch. Fouls were all over the place and not getting called. The boys played hard and persevered even harder. The parents were cheering so loud, we were getting hoarse.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the score was 19 - 13. Our boys spent the rest of the quarter catching up and had finally tied the score 21 - 21. Unbelievable! They did an amazing job at keeping them scoreless for the last quarter.
Then comes final 9 seconds of the game. Our guys rebounded then passed down the court. Somehow, Bennett was the one with the ball. The other team was all over him. He went down. A foul was called. He shot two free throws! He made made one of them! Each time with a huge smile on his face. The crowd went wild. This is stuff kids dream about. The timer buzzed and we flew off the bleachers yelling in victory over the unreal comeback. Final score: 22 - 21.
Bennett couldn't wipe that smile off his face the whole rest of the day. He was so proud of his team. Each one of them did amazing. We told him we were shocked that the foul on him got called and he confessed, "I got fouled on purpose." I didn't even know he knew he could do that. Then he explained that during the time out, Coach told him that if he ended up with the ball, to try to get fouled. It worked!
Be still my heart. I might just have the next Michael Jordan in the making! If that's not a proud mom, I don't know what is!
