Winter Sports are over!

At least for us they are anyway! I was so glad that Briley made the 6th grade basketball team, but I'm so glad to see it go as well.  I was a little frustrated with this year. We knew that Briley would not see much playing time.... let's face it, anyone that knows us, knows that we are a softball family. Briley and I talked and I tried to prepare her for sitting the bench, often. She was ok with that, and so we were to an extent. 

You see, it's a little frustrating when you have a coach that will beat a team 44-2 and only let the starters sit the last 3 minutes of the game. That's how it was for us this year. We had several of our friends tell us this is how it would be, from their experience of having a 6th grade boy on this coaches team. As the games went on, Briley saw less and less time.  Her dad started to get very upset with the whole thing.  In his eyes, he's not only coming from a dads perspective but also from a coaches.  Why not let the three girls that sat the bench all the time have a shot with the starters? That would certainly make them better. But, that never even happened. He wasn't very good at rotating the girls. If the starters came out, a whole new group of girls went in. 

I wondered at times what would happen if we had sick starters, injured starters or even ones that fouled out. It would almost be a sad spot for the girls that sit the bench to be in. They would be expected to do something they hadn't been taught to do. 

For me, this isn't about the money we paid for her to play. It's about the experience, but I also wanted her to learn. I found out that the plays were ran with the starters and not with many of the other girls. That's sad. Not very good at prepping a team if you ask me. 

I'm glad Briley got some exercise this past winter and was able to be somewhat part of a team. I'm even happier that the 6th grade Honey Creek girls went to County against Otter Creek. However, they came up short but one point in overtime in the last 10 seconds of the game. It was a huge disappointment, but it happens.

All in all, I'm glad that Briley's basketball this year is over. She has already said she will work on her skills this summer to improve and get better. 


For me? I think maybe with basketball ending, my hopes of Spring are right around the corner. I can smell the dirt fields now, softball's on its way!