Every winter the Young Men of the ward participate in a stake basketball season in which
the wards compete with each other according to their age group. The groups are
split up into Deacon Basketball and Teacher/Priest Basketball.
Jack is one of only 5 Deacons in our ward, four of whom either declined to
play full time, or had other sporting conflicts. This meant unless we wanted
to forfeit each game, Jack would have to do some recruiting amongst his
friends in order to compete. He did participate last year when he was a new
Deacon, but the older Deacons were so many and so aggressive, he
didn't get much playing time and didn't really enjoy the time he got.
This year, however, he had a great time and performed really well.
Jack's best friend from school/the neighborhood was a shoe in,
and played in every game.
They also recruited a less active boy, and some other friends, and
were able to show up with a full team every week.
We never had to forfeit one game! Because Pete had the most vested
interest in seeing Deacon basketball be successful, he stepped up
as the coach for the boys.
As mentioned, Jack and his friends had a great time and performed well.
It was fun for me to see Jack really come alive and be aggressive and make
passes and shoot (and make) baskets and think about the game.
Their team won most of their games and made it to the playoffs. They were
eliminated in the first round, losing by 2 points. But they were all
in good spirits after the final game, and I feel that the season was overwhelmingly successful,
mostly to see Jack experience the game of basketball and find a little confidence.
Here are some still shots of Jack playing, plus a video!
#10
Here is some video action - in this game they were playing against a team with
a ringer, who they lost to. But the highlight comes at about 2:40 when Jack's
friend passes to him and Jack puts it in the basket. This is video from the first
game of the season, and this is Jack' first basket.
#15
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