Basketball

This past weekend was full of basketball. Corbin, our 11-year-old, plays on a competitive travel basketball team. They don't play games like your typical rec league (one or two games on a Saturday), but instead they play in three-day-long tournaments. The competition is stiff!

Corbin does a pretty good job playing. He, so far, hasn't excelled in basketball the way he did in hockey (got a hat trick most games he played). However, Corbin's forte has been defensive play. He can block shots, rebound, and overall intimidate his opponents by his size. At the young age of 11, Corbin is already 5' 4" tall! Off the pediatrician's growth charts, percentage wise.

He's the tallest boy on his team and typically one of the tallest or THE tallest out on the court during games. Which brings me to the tournament this past weekend. The first team the Blue Crush (that's the name of Corbin's team) played, were the biggest 11-year-old boys I've ever seen! Out of 12 boys, they had about 7 who were just as tall or taller than Corbin! And BOY! Were they coordinated!! We lost 44 to 10. Corbin felt pretty bad, but us parents all decided that those boys had to be sooooo much older than 11. They had to be at least 12! We did find out that they were from a private school, and that they'd been playing together for over 3 years. That took some of the sting of losing to them, out.

Saturday morning's game didn't fare much better, except that the score wasn't as severe (23 to 12).

Sunday's game, Corbin started in the Center position. There was a good reason for this. The opposing team had their tallest guy in the Center position and we had to answer in kind. Corbin walked out onto the court, took one look at his opponent, then he turned and looked at me. I would have given anything to have been able to take a picture of his face in that moment.

You see, typcially, when Corbin plays that position, he's looking at the top of his opponents head at best, or eye-to-eye at worst. Today, he was staring at his opponents bellybutton! NO JOKE! I saw Corbin walk out onto the court laughing and high-fiving his teammates and take his position in the center of the court. Then, he noticed the mountain standing in front of him. Corbin's head looked down at his opponents stretch limos first (a.k.a. feet) then as his head moved slowly upwards, taking in all 3000lbs. of his 12-foot-tall opponent, the reality of his situation hit him. He turned to me with his mouth open and eyes wide as if to say, "Mommy!".

The refs threw the ball up between Corbin and the "skyscraper", and this kid got his fingers on the ball almost before the refs let go of it. Have you ever seen the movie, "Princess Bride"? There's a scene where the hero, Wesley, has to face a giant in hand-to-hand combat. Wesley repeatedly throws himself against the giant nearly popping a vein in his head, all the while the giant just stands there not budging and inch. Wesley's efforts are a pure lesson in futility.

Our poor boys, Corbin included, would push against their giant of an opponent to the point that they'd nearly be on the floor with their efforts, but this kid didn't budge! We parents decided, by the end of the game, that this wasn't a kid but a full-grown man at least 32 years old.

Well, the team lost the game, 44 - 12. Corbin scored a basket and got three rebounds. It wasn't pretty and the boys felt pretty beat up by the time it was all over. I think they learned a lot this weekend, though. They learned where they're weak in their defenses, and passing. They also learned how to lose.

I think it's so important for children to learn this lesson. When they lose, and they survive, they come to realize that it's not such a bad thing. It seems nowadays, there's a big push to make sure that our children never "lose". Everybody gets a trophy, everybody wins a prize, all so that no one feels left out. If there are no losers, then no one wins either. If our children never feel the pain of losing, they'll never experience the joy of winning. If they never experience the joy of winning, they'll never learn the lesson of striving for excellence.

One of the hardest parenting lessons to learn, I think, is allowing your children to lose. Corbin felt the sting of losing for a few minutes, then we went and got some pizza. He also was allowed the spend a quarter on a game at the restaurant and he won a bouncy ball. All was right with the world again.

BTW - that boy, was actually about 185lbs, and 6 feet tall. But I'm sure, to Corbin , he looked 12 feet tall. :-)