Yesterday, was a warm, sunny fall day in our neck of the woods, so in the late afternoon my daughter and I decided to venture off to the park with a basketball and a flying disc.
Izzy said she wanted to go on the swings and play in the playground before throwing the flying disc. So I pushed her on the swings for awhile and then ventured off to the adjacent basketball court as she played in the playground. I casually shot a few hoops as she played.
Once she was done in the playground we threw the flying disc around for awhile. She has gotten quite good at throwing for distance. Her aim is still not great though, as I had to fetch the disc out of the trees a couple of times.
When she grew tired of throwing the disc she wanted to try to play basketball. We had played a couple times before but she can only really pass the ball at this point because the hoop is too high for her to reach even if we use the junior ball and she hasn't grasped dribbling yet. We had fun, playing as a team against invisible opponents and she would try to dribble and pass me the ball for a shot. After awhile she was getting tired and said she wanted to go home. We had been at the park for over and hour and a half by this point. I said ok "but before we go daddy is going to take a 3pt shot- do you think I will make it?"
She looked at me and said "Yes, but you don't need to get confidence from others you should believe in yourself". I smiled.
Despite the wonderful life lesson, I missed the shot (then proceeded to keep shooting until I made one- I won't say how many shots that was but my FG % would have had me riding the bench).
Thanks for reading.
Sats for all, GR
I love how you kept at it until you made that 3pt shot. Modelling resilience like a pro xP
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Fortunately I made it before nightfall haha
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Iā€™m sure you have honed your intuition based on your many experiences by now haha
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humans can learn a lot from their children
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Wow. That's a powerful insight from a 6 year old. You must be dong something right. šŸ’š
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That's sage advice from anyone, much less a six year old.
My daughter has been trying to dribble a little bit and I had definitely taken for granted how much coordination is involved in dribbling.
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Wise beyond her years. Yes, it's funny when you have been doing something for so many years, even if you don't do it often, how natural it comes and how you take for granted that it comes naturally.
I also had this experience recently with my daughter in the sporting goods store. I was looking as hockey sticks and my daughter wanted to try one. So I found the shortest one I could find for her and put a puck down on the floor and tried to explain to her how you stickhandle. Didn't go well she just wanted to slap the puck across the store. Haha
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I'm looking forward to passing down all these sports techniques. When I'm out walking, I often see one of the neighbor kids practicing baseball with his mom and it's very hard for me to not chime in about his swing.
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Are you that friendly neighbour "hey sport, let me give you a tip" or the know it all "actually, your lower half isn't in balance so when you rotate your hips, that causes your elbow to drop by 6 degrees and is why you keep popping the ball up"
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No, I'm the one quietly shaking his head as he walks past in silence.
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"that kid ain't going nowhere with that swing"
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If I said anything, it would be of the "Can I give you a tip?" variety, but I don't want to step on his parent's shoes.
The frustrating part is that it's something I remember having to work on a lot one season. He's winding up on his swing as the ball approaches, instead of being fully wound up in his stance. Also, his lead elbow is too bent. Definitely not going anywhere with that swing.
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The world of children is amazing and magical. I feel very identified with you because I am also a father and many times I have tried to teach them something and I have been the one who ended up learning.
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You learn a lot about life and yourself as a parent.
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Not only that, but you learn to see the world through other eyes.
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Haha Have you said the same thing to her before?
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I have not said that to her but maybe my wife has or she has picked it up from her online lessons.
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Your kid seems sharp. Whenever my son wants to play basketball, it ends up that l have to lift him close to the basket. That gets old pretty quick lol
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I did that once and she just threw the ball straight up in the air, instead of towards the basket so I decided we would hold off on that until my son is with us so he can at least pass me back the ball after she misses.
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Your frisbee idea seems on point. My son likes throwing a ball back and forth. He also is liking soccer.
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It's not quite a frisbee. She does have one of those but she prefers to throw the flying disc.
Looks like this.
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Oh right. Easier on the wrist.
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Very fun, inexpensive toy. Gets the kids outside and active. Throwing it, chasing it.