There is no Offseason

This past weekend was the last weekend of the YMCA Boys Basketball season for this year. This made for a VERY busy Saturday. It was one of the few times this season that the boys basketball schedules didn't directly conflict, so I was able to watch some of Jake's game before Tanner and I had to leave to get across town to his game.

He did great and has made a lot of progress this year. This is the last year he will likely play in the YMCA league as he is eligilbel to play AAU next year if he would like and he is ready to play at the next level. His team has three other really good players and the coach (also his football coach) does a good job rotating the boys in throughout the game. He does put all of the good kids together on the floor in the 4th quarter, which has led to some great come-from-behind finishes this season. This last game in fact they won by one point, with no time left on a free throw, so it was very exciting. Jake really likes basketball and I'm interested to see what he chooses to do with it going forward as he is sort of at a cross-roads with it now. For AAU, believe it or not, the teams are organized by which high school you are planning to attend, so now we have to figure that out.....

I had an absolute blast coaching Tanner's team this year. There was only one kid that I didn't coach last or coached in another sport, so all of the kids were really comfortable which makes those first few games and practioces much easier. Tanner was also really happy that most of his good buddies were on his team. We worked a lot on setting goals (my goal for the season was to be able to tell Shane and Ryan, the twins, apart without looking at their shoes - I did it, which was awesome. I went an entire baseball season getting them confused before now.), and all of the boys improved a lot over the season. This was one of the best 1st grade teams that I have ever coached. There is no score at this level, but if there were, we would have won EVERY game, by A LOT. Even the other coaches were amazed at how well these boys played together. I ran out of things to teach them that applied at this level, so for the last two practices, we worked on a give-and-go set play that is pretty advanced for this age (it's mainly bunch ball on the court), and the boys ran it twice for layups in our last game.

All of the parents seemed very appreciative of the team and coaching as well, making sure that I would email them next season for sign-ups so we could attempt to have the same team.  After the game, we had the end of the season pizza and trophy party and had a really good time. 

The very next day we were out at the  North Boise Little League equipment shed cleanout. Since I joined the board of the local little league, I have been spending a lot more time on baseball. As we get start to get ready for 2013 sign-ups, it was time to clean out, organize and order more equipment from our huge shed. I volunteered to help out and decided to bring the boys with me so they could pitch-in and help their league, plus learn a little something about volunteering and how much work goes in behind the scenes so that they can play the soprts the love.

It was cold. There was A TON of equipment to go through. We had a lot of help and it still took us almost five hours of work in the cold outside to get it cleaned out and organized. I still have to go back and help with the ordering. The boys did so great and I was so proud of them. Jake had some buddies show up that he had played with in the past, but Tanner just jumped right in working with different grown-ups, sorting equipment etc., while I re-stocked the shed with the re-organized gear bags. For five hours, they hauled heavy equipment bags, hand checked freezing cold aluminum bats and followed directions on whatever they were asked. I was so proud of how hard they worked wihtout complaining that I took them out for Applebees afterwards to celebrate (and get warm). We watched the Sunday night football game in the bar and got wings, dinner and dessert. We had a really great time out. 

We love our sports here in the Alan household, but sometimes it feels like it never ends.