Making the Team

Although baseball is his primary sport, Connor has always been interested in basketball but never had a great opportunity to learn the game and develop the skills. He played on a couple teams in Dubai and definitely enjoyed the experience, but it wasn't a very competitive environment. Last year in junior high, he was recovering from his broken wrist and therefore didn't see a lot of time on the court despite making the team late in the season. When he began his 9th grade year this fall, Connor joined the basketball Athletics program with the goal of trying out for the freshman team in late October. The parents and students were cautioned by the coaches that it was a cut sport and many kids wouldn't be placed on the team. With that in mind, Connor set a daily goal to shoot hoops outside and practice with Jeff for at least 30 minutes a day. For weeks, they could be found most evenings in our driveway practicing shots and running plays. Slowly but surely, Connor was building both confidence and skills. 

The freshmen team tryouts were held as a series of drills over the course of 2 weeks. Connor felt good about his performance but was understandably nervous about the results. On the very last day of tryouts, the coaches told the kids they would post the results of the team selections between 5:30-6:30 that evening. Jeff and I were out of town for the day, and it was a long day of anticipation for all of us. As we drove towards home to pick up Connor from a buddy's house, the time seemed to drag on and on. When 5:30 hit, we watched the website intently hoping for good news. We all hit Refresh on our browsers too many times to count. By the time 6:30 rolled around, we wondered if the coaches were playing a cruel joke on the kids, ha! At 6:32 (to be exact), the results were finally posted. 

We were now the proud parents of a Katy High School freshman basketball player! Wow! The joy was intense and I'm not sure who was more excited between Connor, Jeff, or myself. Out of 30-40 kids trying out, Connor was 1 of the 14 kids selected for the team. We were ecstatic for him and just so happened to arrive at his buddy's house to pick him up at that exact moment. The smiles were big and the hugs were strong. So proud of this kid! And now, the REAL work would begin!