My Daughter, the Coach!

Today's guest blogger: my 8-year-old daughter Suzanna (with help from my 7-year-old daughter Abigail):

A couple days ago, I saw some kids shooting some baskets at school during recess. I told those kids, "You don't shoot a basket that way." I went to basketball camp myself this past summer, so I came up with the idea of having a basketball camp for them. I asked some first- and second-graders to join, and I started putting them into groups and teaching them how to dribble and shoot the right way. There were two kids in each group, and they both made up their own names for their teams. Abigail's team is the Twins with her classmate Zach. On the other team are Jordan and Riley, and their team name is the Midgets.

As the kids practiced more and more each day, the better and better they got. Now we are having extra help from even better basketball players in third grade. I am coaching the kids on dribbling and stealing; my friend Brandon is teaching them how to do tricks; my friend Jacey is teaching them how to block; and my friend J.B. is teaching them exercises, such as dribbling around the court and running without having to stop and take breaths.

Next week we're having a huge game at my school, but I have to make sure it's okay with my principal. If it's okay with her, then I will start making posters and hanging them around the school so that more kids will come, but I'll have to make a poster saying, "We need one more team" and a sign-up sheet. The Midgets and the Twins are actually going to be one team called the Midgets; they were only separated for practicing. Now we need four more kids for a second team (we'll figure out their team name later). This team will be third-graders. We are waiting to find them the day before the game so that the little kids will have more practice and will feel confident in themselves. Those kids are learning so quickly that I think they're going to beat the big kids.