Would You Just Pay Attention!

I am struggling a great deal with Griffin’s current efforts toward learning basketball.  Last Monday night was the single most frustrating event I’ve experienced in a long time.  We went to basketball practice around 6pm, and I knew things were going wrong before we even hit the court.

While the rest of his team was lined up, listening to the coach and doing what he said, my son was somewhere behind the back of the line, watching other teams on the court go through their drills.  He was more concerned with the stadium clock than the instructions, and even got hit in the face with the ball once because he didn’t see the pass coming to him.

I pulled him out of line, many times, to chew on him about paying attention.  Every time he went back, he listened for about two minutes and then started playing chase or wrestling with the other boys.  His approach to the whole evening seemed to be more of a social event than a learning event.

I can’t help but wonder if I’m expecting too much of him.  Is five years old too early to learn a team sport like basketball?  Most of the other kids seem to be able to listen and perform what the coach expects.

Their first game, on Saturday, went much like the practice did.  I could tell there was a great deal of confusion on Griffin’s face as he loitered near center court.  Their team had a rough time remembering which goal they were supposed to shoot at (especially after half-time), they didn’t quite understand that they needed to get back behind the red line when on defense, and of course the mechanics of dribbling and shooting just aren’t quite there for the little Kindergarteners.

I’m trying to keep in mind that I didn’t play competitive basketball until I was in 5^th grade, and by then had played many a pick-up game with neighborhood kids.  I’m thinking that Griffin just hasn’t been exposed to it enough to know the basics of the game.  I feel that once he realizes how to play the game, he’ll have more fun at it.

Until then, the practices are going to be awful…and the games not much different.

On the bright side, Gage really enjoys going to the practices and the games.  I think it has more to do with the cheerleaders who are also practicing at that time.  He pretty much crushes on any girl wearing a cheerleader uniform…which is terrifying.  So, yeah, there’s that.