Sunday, February 17, 2008

My Winner

In January, my oldest son participated in the Knights of Columbus Basketball "shoot-out" at our parish. He's never been great at basketball, but God bless him, he's got heart : ) This is the third year he has participated and the first year he actually qualified to go on to the next round. He was TOTALLY excited...

So this last Saturday we were up early, stuffing down breakfast and getting everyone dressed and out the door to the local Catholic High School Gym, to compete with the other K of C council winners. Thomas' age group was the largest age group, and Don and I, shame on us, sort of gave each other a knowing look that said, "this won't take long..." okay, okay, I know... shame on us... But when it came time for Thomas to shoot, he made a surprising 9 baskets! 3 more than he did at the previous level! Woohoo!!

My husband was helping with the judging and tallying of the other shooters, so the kids and I went to the outdoor basket ball courts to run around and play while we waited. About a half hour later, of the K of C coordinators came outside calling Thomas' name! He had tied for first place! Thomas was BEAMING. So, I quickly gather up the kids and hurry back inside for the shootoff. The other kid went first. No warm-ups, just the best out of five shots, wins. No pressure....

As usual, Thomas gave his all. The other kid took the prize and the opportunity to move to the next round, later that afternoon, and Thomas tried very hard, with tears welling in his eyes, to put on a brave face. I was SO proud of him.... Trying to cheer him up, we reassured him that he had NOTHING to be ashamed of. He gave his BEST and he should be proud of himself. He did great. On the trip home, he mused that he now had an entire year to practice for next time. Next time he would win... : )


We got home just in time for the begining of our neighbor's First Holy Communion party, complete with a bouncy house erected in their front yard. They had come over earlier in the week to invite us and with the shootout, we had completely forgotten. It didn't take T long to forget all about the loss... And in my mind, it really wasn't a loss, anyway... : )

1 comment:

1GrandmaAnn said...

Way to go Tyler! I am SO Proud of you!!!! Next year, hands down, you will be the winner!!!!! I flopped at Basketball!!!! :) Ann Jones!