There was a skills competition this past week for Grace's basketball league. Each girl in the league could chose a competition event. The choices were a dribbling drill, a free throw shooting contest, a shooting drill and a 2-on-2 tournament. Each of the competitions was split so only girls in the same grade level would compete against each other, though there are girls from two grades in the league. Grace was going to do the 2-on-2 tournament but her teammate in her grade was not available. She decided to do the shooting drill, called the hot shot competition. (The hot shot rules are there are five spots to shoot from: three jump shot spots and the two lay-up spots. A lay-up was worth one point and a jumper was worth two points. Most total points wins.) The top two finishers in each grade would get an award at the end of the season awards ceremony.
Now you need to know something about Grace and basketball. She is a good player, but she plays on a team with many older girls. She does not always assert herself and play with confidence in her basketball ability. Some of the older girls have played longer. For some games, she has shot well and played great defense. Other times she has been very deferential. I was interested to see how she would do in the shooting contest, especially since she did not had time to practice leading up to the event. (We had a busy week without a single free night.)
When they gathered for the hot shots competition, there were a couple of girls Grace knew from school. When it was her turn, she went out there and shot well. Mary, Caleb, Joshua, Rebecca and I cheered her on. She ended up in second place. Mary and I were so excited for her. It was great to see her feel more accomplished and gain a little confidence in her basketball skills.
The most interesting part of the experience was what happened on Saturday morning. I got up to go to basketball and Grace informed me that she wanted to go with me. That is not unusual. One of the kids has come with me on many occasions, though it is usually Caleb that wants to go. During the breaks in the game play, we practiced and I could just see how she was gaining confidence in what she could do. She was practicing with a purpose to learn more skills and was really successful at shooting better.
I think some positive feedback can be transformative for children. Grace seemed to find it empowering in this instance.
Or you could believe there are other factors at work. Mary and I went out on Friday night after the skills competition. Grace told our babysitter that she had won an award at the hot shots competition. His response was that it was "in her blood."
You guys have watched all three of these clips, right? If not, you need to watch.
I almost forgot the well wishes. Happy International Woman's Day! It was a big holiday when I was in Eastern Europe. In America, we celebrate Mother's day, but it is not the same holiday as a Woman's day in Europe.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
RE: International Women's Day: so where are the flowers and gifts?
Re: the Toy Story 3 trailers: I can hardly wait! I split a seam over the Ken bit. I heard the line they used of Mary's "Let's see how much we're going for on ebay." Again, I can hardly wait.
Re: Grace. Well, it is in the blood. That is great that she is doing so well and having such fun at it. Mary, Honor, and Sara have always done well at holding their own against the boys in basketball. I can't think of a better place for her to hone her skills than with the truly "big" boys.
Don't blame me if you don't come to pick up your flowers and gifts. You just need to come here.
I don't know if it is in Grace's blood or not. But she certainly had a change of heart about practicing. I was excited to see her working on specific skills so hard.
Post a Comment