Hoop It Up

Aria had her last Hoop It Up basketball last night and she definitely went out with a bang!  When we started out, Aria was the youngest and smallest player in the group.  She did not know how to dribble.  When she shot it, she could barely get the ball up to the net of the 7 foot hoop, let alone the rim.  And she had never heard of a bounce pass.

Little by little, each week Aria improved.  She quickly picked up on the passing techniques.  She instantly knew the correct terminology.  She went form not being able to dribble at all to being able to keep it going for 5 or 6 dribbles in a row.  Aria had a great time and always looked forward to going to basketball, but she was still the smallest and the youngest.  And she was not even close to making a basket.

Back up a week to our conversation on the way home from basketball after week 6 of 7.  Aria told me she had fun playing and liked basketball, but she did not want to do it again.  It took awhile to get it out, but her reason was because she could not make a basket.  I felt bad.  I felt like I put her in a situation where she was destined to fail.

I didn't really know what Hoop It Up basketball would entail when I signed her up.  She was excited to try it, so we did it.  In hindsight, I don't know that I want her experiencing sports with boys 2 years older than her, but oh well.

However, I don't think failure was our case.  While she was frustrated she didn't make a basket, she still loved going and had a smile on her face and tried everything with all her might.  She loved the games they played.  It was easy to see how much she improved throughout the session and to encourage her because of that improvement.  We were also able to praise her for working hard and listening to the coach.  Let me tell you, my girl is a rule follower and if the coach said to stand on the red line, she did not move from that red line.  And speaking of lines, she always knew her place in line and didn't allow any budging!

After all that, you can only imagine our excitement when on the very last night, during the game they played near the end, Aria finally made a basket!  Of course I cried.  It's what I do.  First, Justin and I both yelled really loud.  But then we had to hold back our cheers because Aria does not like it when you cheer like crazy and praise her a lot for things.  We didn't want her to cry so we just smiled and clapped and gave her a thumbs up.

The game was when your number is called, you run out, grab the ball, dribble to the basket and shoot.  You are trying to make it before the kid on the other team at the other hoop.  I was recording the game and I have all the 6 or 7 misses leading up to the big shot, but of course the camera stopped recording right before she made it.

The coach knew Aria was close to getting it to go in, so she kept letting her have more shots to try and make it.  Aria actually made her basket before the girl on the other end.  Everyone in the whole gym cheered for her.  It was really fun!  She did have a big smile on her face, but she also had this look of 'what's the big deal?  That is what you are supposed to do.'

I haven't asked her again if she thinks she would like to do Hoop It Up next year, but I think making the basket definitely boosted her confidence.  I'm sure we will be doing plenty of hooping it up at our own house between now and then.