Take it to the hoop

Today I am basketball mom schlepping jacket and snacks and water bottle and book (wishful thinking) from gym to gym to support our team in the end of season tournament.

The team isn't very successful and with my recent focus in family dynamics it's made me ponder...

The team is filled with sweet, gentle, spunky, scrappy, angels in 9-year-old boy bodies. They have all, at least to some extent, chosen to play basketball. As individuals, all so amazing, all so full of potential, all supremely gifted boys although the basketball court highlights the gifts of some more than others.

But as a team they don't score many points, they try for rebounds but loose grasp. Players for the other team reach in and aggressively take the ball away sprinting down the court for a (albeit ungraceful) fast break. Some of the players are quite good - but while a star can have an outstanding performance to carry the team, more often they are limited.   

And our talented angels get frustrated. They lose interest. They run the offensive play their coach shouts at them by going through the motions, but their heads are not in the game. They wish each possession away so the game can be over and they can beg a hot dog off their sympathetic parent.

And I'm on the sideline thinking FOCUS! It's such a short game. Now is the time! Pay attention, watch your guy, hands up, get open - let me see the passion in your eyes, don't be timid, let me see that you WANT to win this game. It will be over before you know it and then it will be too late. There won't be any going back and playing that game over.

 And so it is with family days too, isn't it. Except I'm not sitting on the sidelines, I'm in the game. I'm suited up.  Some degree of experience and maturity reminds me that every day counts. That the crazy dinner/homework/bedtime hour will be over so quickly and then that time will be gone. That day will be gone. No chance of doing it over, it's in the record books.

I guess this is a nudge to not be such a harsh judge on these little hoopsters - it's hard to be present every moment even when you do love the sport. And also a nudge to apply this sort of encouragement to myself when I think about executing the game plan here at home. The cheerleaders may not actually be sitting in folding chairs at the edge of my dining room (whew), but I can hear them if I listen. I can feel the presence of my coach too - if I allow myself. And as team mates we can encourage each other as well. As parents we are the team captains, the seniors, the leaders.  

Today's thought: Show up to play.