A couple of weeks ago he tried out for the Glencoe freshman basketball team. He has been looking forward to this for a long time now and has been practicing and staying in shape. Well, sadly he was cut from the team and was devastated for a day or two. My heart broke for him and the mom in me wanted to rush over to the school and explain that he was nervous at tryouts, but he is so skilled, they simply cannot pass him up this year! But the mom in me also knows when to back off and simply offer him my support. So I signed him up with the Hillsboro Youth League and he is now on a team and starting practice next week. As if that is not enough, he also volunteered to be the manager of the Varsity Basketball team for Glencoe. This should be good for him since he will be at all the practices and games and will get to see what goes on at the Varsity level. He will be staying very busy between the two, but Jake seems to thrive when he is busy!
I love the Hillsboro Youth Basketball league. Last year was such a great experience for Jake. He had a wonderful coach, Mr Brauer. He is the welding teacher at Glencoe and Jake is in his class this year and loves him. Anyway, he is a wonderful coach and worked very hard with Jake who had only started playing basketball on his team. He was new to the sport, but as is typical of Jake, he took it on and gave it all he could. He had a great team of boys. I went to just about every game and watching him play is really better than being front row at a Blazers game. Towards the end of the season Jake got especially good at rebounds, due to his height and newly developed skills. He would get the ball and keep shooting till he got it in there. Early in the season it might take three of four rebounds to get it in, but that improved as the season went on. He also got fowled a lot and got pretty good at the free throw line. The coach was really good about giving everyone fair play time. He rotated them out on a regular basis. His team did not win a lot of games early on. Towards the end of the season he started asking the boys if they wanted a good shot at winning. Halfway through the game he asked the boys if they wanted to leave Jake in to rebound, or if they wanted to rotate regularly. Every single boy wanted to leave Jake in. So the rest of the boys rotated around Jake and he played the majority of those last games. His coach would pull him out for about 30 seconds to get a drink and then put him right back in, when they huddled for a time out, he told Jake to sit on the bench and catch his breath. He played exceptionally well, making up to half the points for his team during the games. One game they were down by a basket, Jake made the basket, but got fowled. He made the free throw, winning the game for his team. For a mother of a boy who was so challenged early in life, this was especially incredible and moving for me. Jake became a star in the eyes of many people. My eyes tear up just remembering, so I am very much looking forward to this season and hope it can be as positive an experience as last year. I know it will be great for Jacob!
My dad has been taking Jake to practice in the church gym. He was a star player on his high school team and it is a neat bond between the two of them. Dad helps Jake with things I wouldn't know a thing about! He also came to a lot of Jake's games last year. Megan and Jeremy and kids even got to come to some. Though he may not show it, this support really means a lot to Jake. Thanks guys!!
Last Years Game Pictures, compliments of Richard the photographer
He shoots, he scores!!
Look at the height Jake can get when he jumps!!
Posts
1 comment:
GO Jacob! Jeremy had a blast attending the couple of games without us. Of course I loved watching my little nephew who is no longer so little. You are good mom-- look at far Jake has come- look how far you have come!
Post a Comment