Exciting weekend for “The Boy”. The standard disclaimers apply to this post as it relates to being a proud parent. I know this can be a very fine line, so one of the checks and balances I keep in place comes from a quote I once read by Rick Reilly:
“We are here to be there for our kid when they score the game winning goal…and especially when they don’t”
As a matter of fact, I covered a time when he “didn’t” about a year ago. Heartbreaking. This year has been different. It’s been an interesting year of watching my 11 year old son trying to find his place within the game of basketball. From the first time he put on a uniform of any kind, in any sport, he has been the tallest kid on the team. In basketball, that translates to playing “down low” or in the post. Yet, I know his hearts desire is to be a point guard that makes great passes and shoots the “3”. He’s worked hard to do both and do them well. We’ve seen glimpses all season, but this weekend he really put it all together.
Saturday featured two games against one of the other rival local schools (Hilliard Bradley). Game one was a game to remember for sure. Feeding off a new full-court press we have installed, “the boy” would hit 3 out of 4 three pointers and score half of his teams points. Each three was within the flow of the offense and at a critical moment. Davidson would go on to take both games from Bradley.
Sunday would be another game against a local rival school. This time it was Hilliard Darby which are always close games. After jumping out to a 16-4 lead, Davidson would struggle against a zone defense and ultimately lose the lead. With the game tied and 11 seconds left, Davidson had the ball and a chance to win the game. That’s when this happened….
Though the video quality is poor, the shot was not. After the game someone said they are going to start calling him “CCC – Calm, Cool and Collected”. As his Dad it was great to see the game winning shot, but far greater to see him finding his place in the game. Because he’s a “shooter” I constantly remind him that his mentality has to be that “the next one is going in”. During the timeout prior to that shot, I whispered in his ear that “this one’s going in”. I just had the feeling that it would.
Let’s say that the shot didn’t fall. Let’s say we leave the gym with a loss. Again, am I “being there” for him then too? Am I cheering him just as loud if he scores no points? This is the balance I have to find as a Dad. While he finds his place on the court, I have to find my place too. Proud of you number 50!
