Toddler learns basketball: Father's Day Friday
Today's Guest Dad is Tony Chen, a blogger for Savvy Daddy, who last wrote for us about the changes that come with a second child. Today, he shares what his toddler son is learning about sports.
Here's Tony:
I took my 2.5 year old son Me-me (that's what he calls himself) to his first basketball game and boy, did he eat it up. His friend, Kyle, a scrappy 1st grader held his own playing with the big second graders. The opening whistle blew, the parents were clapping and yelling. And my son just sat there as quiet as the night -- this is how he is when his brain is in "Supersoaker" mode. So, I explained the game as much as I could:
"Look at Kyle bounce the ball AND run around. He can do both!"
"They're not playing right now because it's a time-out... er... but not the kind of time-outs you have. These time-outs are so they don't get too tired. Plus, they're also talking with their team about how to play better."
"Look! Kyle shot the ball and it went into the basket. 2 points!"
"Now it's the other team's turn to try to shoot it. Kyle is trying to get it so his team can shoot it and win."
The very fact that my son could even find Kyle in the sea of busy-body boys was already a pretty good achievement.
Later that day, I bought a(nother) pump and got his basketballs bouncing high again. And there he was, bouncing away. First just a few times, but then 5, 10, 20 times in a row. And then, bouncing while walking around. Pat. Pat. (That was the sound of me patting myself on the back.)
The next day, he picked up the ball and we started shooting around -- we have an indoor plastic hoop (a gift he got from his aunt when we brought home his little sister from the hospital). He came over to me, put his arm on my shoulder and said, "Time-out, daddy. I'm talking with my team. You go there, I go here, I shoot it, you get it, okay?"
Watch out, Michael Jordan, Me-me is coming to town.
"Look at Kyle bounce the ball AND run around. He can do both!"
"They're not playing right now because it's a time-out... er... but not the kind of time-outs you have. These time-outs are so they don't get too tired. Plus, they're also talking with their team about how to play better."
"Look! Kyle shot the ball and it went into the basket. 2 points!"
"Now it's the other team's turn to try to shoot it. Kyle is trying to get it so his team can shoot it and win."
The very fact that my son could even find Kyle in the sea of busy-body boys was already a pretty good achievement.
Later that day, I bought a(nother) pump and got his basketballs bouncing high again. And there he was, bouncing away. First just a few times, but then 5, 10, 20 times in a row. And then, bouncing while walking around. Pat. Pat. (That was the sound of me patting myself on the back.)
The next day, he picked up the ball and we started shooting around -- we have an indoor plastic hoop (a gift he got from his aunt when we brought home his little sister from the hospital). He came over to me, put his arm on my shoulder and said, "Time-out, daddy. I'm talking with my team. You go there, I go here, I shoot it, you get it, okay?"
Watch out, Michael Jordan, Me-me is coming to town.
Comments
When my son was in 2nd grade, his basketball team qualified for the league championship. At halftime, they were down 21-3. But they rallied to tie the game iat the end of the second half, and won the championship in overtime.
On the way home, I tried to explain that life would never be any better than it was right then.
That was back in the early days of video cams, and I captured the entire game on tape.
My son is now a high school math teacher and basketball coach. On the evening before his team's first game every year, he and I order a pizza, put on the 2nd grade championship game (since converted to DVD) and get ready for the start of basketball season.
Tony, I hope your son's hoop dreams turn out similarly.
Posted by: Bucky | April 10, 2009 9:31 AM
Bucky, thanks a great story. What a great tradition that you have with your son all after all these years.
Tony
Posted by: tony | April 12, 2009 5:46 PM