Love of Basketball

Back in November some of Ben’s friends started to ask about signing up for basketball. Bryce and I were not going to sign Ben up because we figured he wouldn’t be able to shoot it up to the hoop, but since all of his friends were going to play we changed our minds. I’m so glad we did. When the season started in January he couldn't even throw the basketball up to the hoop and struggled dibbling. But he loved it as soon as he started. He dribbled his ball up to the school and back to the car. If it wasn't cold outside he was outside practicing. His friends would bring a basketball to school and they would practice every recess. He has found his new passion.

He plays all the time now. When we pull in the drive way to come home from anywhere he has to shoot some hoops before he comes inside. He has a basketball hoop upstairs in the toy room and if he can’t play outside he is upstairs. If he is ready before it is time to go to school he is upstairs playing for a few minutes. He has games with himself all the time. And will let Abby be his cheerleader who can dance during half time. He always knows the score and will have tournaments and everything. With all this practice he has gotten pretty good for his age. He loves to dribble still, but now he has become a pretty good shooter. And loves to practice all the time.

Bryce had some old Jazz memorabilia and Ben loves it. We read this book “To The Hoop” every few nights and it is about the Jazz in the early 90’s and now Ben knows the names of the players and loves John Stockton. He is always talking about John Stockton and what a good player he is and how he loves to dribble like John Stockton. Then like a dream come true Bryce took Ben to a Jazz game. They got there early and bought Ben a Jazz shirt. Bryce said he loved it and Ben felt all emotions he screamed, laughed, cried, and yelled some more. It was a great game that went into overtime with a Jazz win. Ben was in Heaven!!

But the benefit was it has helped Ben really feel more confident with his sports. He is playing better soccer than in the fall. It has just clicked and he loves it. He still isn't very aggressive, but that just isn't Ben. But he is going towards the ball more.

So March Madness was perfect for him. Ben loves graphs and lists and organizing and with his new love of basketball it was everything he loved together. So Bryce explained the way the tournament worked and he was hooked. One Saturday Bryce was gone with the Young Men and Ben only wanted to watch the basketball game. He will sit down and watch full games without moving. So when the tournament was down to the final 16 we let him fill out his own bracket and invite his grandparents to his league. He knew exactly who he wanted to win each game. He was in love with BYU because they were from Utah and picked them to win the whole tournament. Ben did pretty well and tied for 4^th place in his tournament, but Abby took it all and won 1^st place. She was pretty happy. Now when he plays his basketball games outside or upstairs he is BYU and he plays all the other NCAA teams. It is so fun to watch him play and see him having so much fun.

May 26, 2011 - His love for basketball hasn't changed, in fact it has increased. Now he is watching the NBA finals. He wants to stay up to watch all of the games. But if it goes too late then he has to have Bryce write down the final scores and leave it on the bar so he can read it in the morning. He made a bracket for everyone in our family and we had fill out our picks.

The other morning he discovered Sports Center and loved it. He thought it was so cool that all they talked about was sports. During the last month of school they had a "no TV week" (it was actually when Bryce and I were gone and he was staying with his grandparents) so his grandma and grandpa showed him how to follow the sports in the newspaper. So now when he plays a game by himself he plays both teams and writes an article about the game. Usually it consists of the score at the end of each quarter and the scores at the time out. Then sometimes he will do a write up about the final minutes or something exciting that happened during the game.

This is a video of one quarter of his basketball game. He runs back and forth in the toy room and plays for both teams. Then he keeps track of the score. It actually has really improved his math as well, because he has to count by twos and every once in a while he shoots a three pointer and counts the odd numbers. I actually couldn't keep track to the score as well as him.