Our little athlete

Here are a few pictures of Nate. I have to figure out how to properly use my camera indoors to get better pictures.


Here is Nate working on the still rings. This is a new apparatus since he changes classes in December. The coach holds all of the kids while they're working on this right now.

Nate had his first basketball game on Saturday. Its a developmental league so they don't keep score. Kenny and I think Nate's team lost by two points.

Nate and I had a miscommunication before the game. He had his uniform on. It was pretty cold outside, so I tossed him some warm up pants and had him put them on. When we got to the game Kenny discovered that he had taken off his shorts. They let him play in his pants.

After Thursday's (disorganized) practice we were a little worried about how this was going to go. We've had bad experiences with non-city run sports leagues.

The game went amazing well. The have an inflatable tunnel that the kids come out of before the game. It was cute. Maybe I'll get good pictures when I learn more about my camera. Or maybe we'll figure out the download video thing soon.

Once the game started the kids were a little confused because of the "arm band" rule. In order to keep the kids playing man-to-man they have a wrist band and can only guard the kid on the other team playing with the matching wrist band. It's a great idea, but you should probably roll it out to the kids at practice, not in the "locker room" before the game. They use preschool classrooms for the locker rooms.

Here is one of the instances when Nate was actually guarding his guy.

Nate mixing it up.

Nate acting scared of the ball. This is a pretty normal stance for him.

We were very impressed with the refs. Whenever they make a call they used it as a teaching opportunity. They also don't call everything because, hey, these kids are just 5. If someone isn't dribbling, they call them back and have them do it again while dribbling. If someone steps out of bounds, but is close, they don't stop play. They constantly remind the kids to find the opponent with the matching wrist band.

We were a little confused by the format of the game. After playing 3 six minute periods they announced half-time. It turns out that they play six six-minute periods. Most of the teams have 8 kids, and they play 4-on-4. They substitute the kids kinda like a hockey game. Four kids play the first period, then the other four play the next. The only other time they can sub is for an injury (also known as a crying player). It seems to work well for them.

He really did seem to like it. Granny Debbie got him a basketball goal for Christmas and we got it set up today. We spent some time outside playing basketball this afternoon.

It's back to work and school for everyone tomorrow. I should start to slow down at work next week, which will be a very welcome break. I think Kenny just got put on a special project and will still be very busy. On Friday we have a parent teacher conference to get the results of Nate's reading evaluation.

Have a great week!