February 13 kids sport

We’re half through the Hermosa Beach junior basketball season, just 10 weeks . That’s it for the year , gotta keep the kids studying . It’s actually an interesting format , foreign to the junior set ups we see at home . The kids must all attend a tryout for their age group . A simple dribble , shoot and pass sequence . A group of coaches (10) observe from the sidelines . From there the coaches draw their name out of a hat to establish what position in the pecking order they are for choosing the kids from the group . Just like a draft system the kids are then chosen by each coach . Leroy was a first round draft choice . We don’t know his actual order position , but as our team is below average I’d think he was between 5 and 10 in the draft . It’s a good idea for evening up the competition , but as the kids are picked on skill and not competitive traits you can still get some big disparities. When it comes to game day each kid is given a coloured wrist band . This is so the kids can then man up on their opposing colour match . The game becomes much more orderly as the better kids are matched up against each other and encouraged to be disciplined in minding their opposite when in defence.Of course this can be manipulated to create mismatches . The kids are hardly reffed. In general this is a positive but initially it has disadvantaged Leroy as he is better skilled than 90% of the kids . He will often get fouled and is vulnerable to kids stealing the ball as he constantly dribbles . Same with shooting , he’l often get his small arms dragged down or chopped . Still ,the kids are taught several plays that they can call on without it falling apart with their lack of dribbling skills holding them back .Leroy started poorly , was quiet in the first two games and was overawed at being the top player and thus matched up against the oppositions best . The the last 3 games he has been excellent , scoring regularly and dictating play . Of course amongst all this is me . Anyone who knows my past knows that I was a poor sport and arguing with umps , refs or anyone was my specialty. I’m generally quiet watching kids sport but I tend to be harsh on Leroy , he’s a gentle kid who just happens to be very coordinated. ( don’t know where it came from).He does things easily but sometimes he can fight a little harder . Wins (1) have been hard to come by . Last week we led all game and got ran down late . Most teams have 8 or 9 kids , it’s expected that each kid will spend a quarter on the bench ( there are 4 quarters) . Our opposition had one really good kid . You know the type ; that good but annoying kid that won’t pass , will only shoot and only celebrates his own work while he looks over at dad . Leroy ended up opposing him for a big chunk of the game and subdued him enough to keep us in front , that was until he went to the bench . This kid quickly got on top and dominated . When Leroy came back on his coach swapped his wrist band so as to be opposed to our least skilled kid .This is where I’m starting to get majorly pissed off , this isn’t in the spirit of 6 and 7 year old bball .At the start of the last I’m getting smug , he’s gotta come off as he’s been on the whole game , but you guessed it ,he’s still on while the other 7 kids in his side rotate around him . Leroy is matched up on him now and has scored to get us level , but still this kid stays on with 3 mins to play . He then shoots 3 consecutive long range shots from the edge of the key to ice the game for his team , no mean feat for a 7 year old . This kid has just shot 28 of his teams 30 points and must of taken 40 + shots .At this moment with a minute to go their coach walks along the sidelines yahooing and dancing ( no shit , he’d be the first bloke you’d punch in a bar fight ), whilst he pulls out his handkerchief and pretends to wipe tears from his eyes . …… Seeing is believing , it’s hilarious in retrospect but oooh buddy , you don’t know who’s in the crowd. We lost by 4 and our coach teaches and coaches in the right spirit , the kids know they’l be benched and are expected to pass the ball . ………..Afterwards their coach ( cocky fucker with hat backwards , pencil mow , and shoulder length hair ) approaches us in the car park to congratulate Leroy on his game . I just smile and lock eyes on him and say thankyou . The same time I’m thinking you’d better be careful , don’t wanna see you trip over and hurt yourself out here why know one is looking . Yep kids sport ……………. it’s for kids …. isn’t it ?