Girls Defeated, Boys Victorious

Our school crowd was almost deafening as the whistle blew at the basketball tip-off. The munchkin-like Under 11 girls chaotically ran around the seemingly HUGE basketball gym, completely overwhelmed by the court, the noise, the players- everything! Chaos was what we expected, and that it was! Most of our girls have never actually seen the game played, let alone participated in it. Many, overly excited and nervous about playing, forgot EVERYTHING I taught. Dribbling seemed a foreign concept, and many opted to just grab the ball and "Heisman" style charge through the crowd and run for the basket... so much easier than having to bounce that large and cumbersome ball around!

I had decided ahead of time that I would not yell or become frustrated with the girls- some of them are only 9 years old! Instead, before the game I explained our top 3 goals: 1.) Have fun! 2.) Listen to Coach. 3.) Play fair. While I never got frustrated (how could I when I was laughing most of the time?), I did end up yelling- "Defense! (or) Offense!", as many times they would run by asking, "Where's our basket? Which way am I going? What do I do?"... good times!

We managed to make a couple of baskets- and several times found our "man" to defend and blocked some shots. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to secure a victory and we were defeated, 4-16. You really couldn't have guessed the outcome by the look on the girls' faces though, most aglow with smiles, as shrieks of, "That was SO much fun!!" filled the gym.

The boys played right after and played well. Coach Eddy had the same goals in mind with his team- Have fun and good sportsmanship. They were beyond victorious, shutting our rivals out completely for a 26-0 win... Well done Under 11 boys!

Jess' Passport: We will go today to try and "retrieve" my passport/visa. This continues to be a critical situation as I cannot travel/leave/return without it... Pray!!!

Friends In Town: We are fortunate enough to have some friends visiting from the states- Gary and Peter. While we haven't actually met up with them yet, I did randomly see them speaking at a church that I just happened to be walking by yesterday... cool! We will be meeting up with them this weekend.

Photos: While I had hoped to have some documentation of our games, Eddy and I both had to referee the games... sorry, more photos next time! Here are some of our Under 11 players at a fourth grade "party"...