Basketball. Eeek.

Let me preface this post by saying I love all my children. They are all unique and wonderful. And some of them are athletic, and some of them are...not.

Thing Two is my "cerebral" kid. He's super smart, super creative, and prefers to hang out on the computer or play video games when confronted with the choice of "play outside" or "play inside." He's not very athletic per se, especially compared to his younger brother and older sister.

Imagine my surprise when in November he said he'd signed up for the 5th grade boys basketball team. I was like "Uh, Ok, honey. If you really want to."

I sort of left it at that. He's never been "super" athletically inclined. Okay, who am I kidding. He's just not into sports at all. When our family gathers around the TV to watch Football, he's always whining that he'd rather go play or watch a movie instead.

He's changed in the last few months. He's making an effort to watch sports with us. He even told Hubby he wanted to start "working out." (He's ten.) And he went out for basketball. The first day back to school, he went to practice. Yesterday, he got his uniform. When I picked him up after school, yesterday, I asked him how practice went.

Me: "So, how was it today?"

Him: "Hard."

Me: "Well, Basketball isn't easy. But it gets easier, the more you do it."

Him: "I know. But I was last today."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Him: "We had a running drill and I was 30 seconds behind the rest of the guys."

Me: "Well, that will get easier, too. Remember, you haven't played team sports for a while. The last time you played soccer was three years ago."

Him: "Well, I'm getting better at practice. The coach is helping me."

Me: "Good. How is he helping?"

Him: "Well, he told me to stop dribbling with both hands, and since then, I haven't done it."

Both hands??? Yeah. I didn't know whether to burst out laughing or cry at that comment. I am just so...worried for him! He's determined to stick this out, though, and I am going to be the last person to discourage him. In fact, I'm a little nervous for his first game, because I'll probably cringe the whole way through it, but you know what? I love him, this is something he wants to try, and I'll be danged if I'm going to tell him not to do it. I'm trying to think of some people I can recruit to help him with his basketball skills--Hubby just works too much to help him out. Especially now, since he's traveling and closing out the year.

I just wish it wasn't so dang cold outside. He can't even go out and shoot hoops. We'll have to find an indoor basket somewhere. I even googled "Basketball lessons" the other day to see what I could find. If he really wants to do this, I'm going to get him some help.

Wish me luck.