This review is actually about the Upward Basketball that is housed at this church.
Beth's nephews play in the upward basketball team so on saturday morning we decided to go watch them. Let me just say WOW, where was all this fancy stuff when i was a kid??
Upon walking into the Gym area, there is a donation station with hot cocoa, coffee, donuts, bagels, muffins, cookies, and pizza after 11. The food and drinks were a nice add on, and being donation only I was pleased.
The Gym itself was really cool. The baskets were raised/lowered for different age groups. There was a digital scoreboard that just has red and black teams. Most of the kid jerseys were reversible black or red. seating was around the court is folding chair fashion, no real way to determine which side of the court to be.
So we sat down and the lights went off, Then a spotlight turned on, the smoke machine kicked off, followed by the announcer. He announced each child frist name, nickname, and last name. It really got the parents and kids all riled up. Nothing more heart warming that seeing a bunch of 2nd graders come screaming out of the spot light and "High 5" the teammates.
The games were 6 quarters, 3 then halftime, then 3. Quarters are 6 minutes each with a 10 minute devotional in the middle. This saturday a person brought in his bug collection and a snake to talk about all of gods creatures. It was a short halftime, but the kids all got to touch the bugs, then they could meet him again after the game.
The ref's were very forgiving for the second graders. And when they had to call on something, they would talk to the boys/girls about what they did and what to do next time. It was all really positive and uplifting. Alot better then what i remember my coaches yelling at me about.
After the game, they all meet in the auditorium. The coachs give out stars for different "plays of excellence" but everyone get some color of star. This is also snack time and when the kids can mingle.
Practice is done once a week at the church, each team has there own practice time and location.
The boys really enjoy going and i got to admit, i was screaming and clapping more then at most college games. It has a real positive message, even taking out the religious aspect. I would highly recommed to any parent to get there kids involved in this, its sports, exercise, meeting new friends, learning teamwork, whats not to want?!? read more