Basketball

Basketball is done for another season.  Jaret enjoyed playing, despite some of the ups and downs he experienced over the course of the season.  He enjoyed his coach and felt that he got to know the boys on his team and he did see improvement in his skills.  He really showed more confidence in the last few games - playoff games.  One of my favourite moments was in the first playoff game.  He was trying so hard and had a couple of opportunities to score.  He did end of scoring on the second chance he had and two of the dads on the team stood and cheered louder for Jaret than I did.  It was so great to see them encourage him like that.  It is great when others genuinely want to see your child succeed when they see how hard he perserveres.  It brought tears to my eyes.  And the smile on Jaret's face after that just filled my heart with joy - he was so proud and was beaming from ear to ear.

Thunder won their first playoff game but then lost their second last weekend.  That brought them to playing this weekend for the bronze medal game.  It was a close game throughout against NorthWest.  The score went back and forth, sometimes we had a one point lead, then they would score a basket and be ahead.  We finally pulled ahead in the final minutes but only by two points.  With only three seconds left, we were ahead by one point.  We held that lead and ended up winning 33-30, thanks to two foul shots.  They boys were thrilled with the bronze medal win and even more excited that they got medals rather than t-shirts this year.  Moving up a division after Christmas meant more still competition, but it also helped to build the boys' skills and helped them to be better players in the end.  I was pleased with the sportsmanship that I saw in Jaret and his team mates.  Way to go Thunder!  Well deserved!