The end of Club Basketball

The boys finished up a LOOOOONG basketball season this weekend with their IBA club teams. Joe will not be able to return next year as he will age out of the program, but this is a good thing. He is already a head taller than all but maybe three or four other players in the whole league. He has been training hard with the ISS JV boys' traveling team and his skills have somewhat surpassed this "beginner" venue. Timmy is in his prime, though. He is young enough that he can return again next year for even more experience and more individual coaching sessions. The teams were small with only 10 players to a team. This was ideal for getting more experience and more coaching to his weaknesses. Tim is a powerful defender. Rarely does anyone score that is guarded by Tim.
The club season ended with a tournament of 5 games with all 5 teams playing each other. Afterwards the trophies were handed out to all the participants. I would say how nice it will be to have my Saturday mornings back but in the same breath I remember that baseball season starts at the end of the month. Ah well.
The ISS boys' JV basketball season plods on. Tim had a game at Stavanger Idrettshal after church today. He did well. There is still one last tournament in a couple of weeks up in Haugesand - a two hour trip (including a ferry ride over a fjord) north of here. Joe will play in that tournament and Tim may as well. Then we will turn our attentions to baseball. Both boys want to play. Neither have a lot of experience on teams but can hold their own. They will be playing in different leagues, so that could be interesting (I say this as Messina household head taxi driver). Joe is also thinking of going out for track. That will be interesting for other reasons. Now that he is 13, he is finally catching up with the coordination that left him during the hmmmm.....probably 2nd grade. He no longer looks like a baby giraffe on roller skates when he runs. However, speed is usually an issue in track. We shall see. His father is recommending a field event. :o)
Lily is doing great. She is going through withdrawls of not seeing her brothes and Daddy all day long like she did on our vacation. I am trying to de-program her from saying "no way" instead of "no". Thank you Joe and Tim! It is obvious as to which brother she has spent the most time with in any given period. "Tim wears boxers and Joe-Joe wears big girl panties!" and vice versa. Loads of fun. She had a moment of panic yesterday at the gym after the basketball awards ceremony was over. She didn't follow any of us and the four of us went in all different directions to collect our things to leave. None of us were more than a few meters away from her but she couldn't she us well through the crowd. She panicked and was crying at the top of her lungs (which if any of you have heard her cry in earnest, is unbelievably loud). I ran and scooped her up immediately but once the crying starts, it is hard for her to stop. When she could talk within sobs, she sputtered to me, "You lost me!" with huge crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks. Poor thing! She really panics if she feels she is being left.
Rich feels she is really growing up. He told me she has learned to "talk woman." Intrigued, I wanted an example. He said she skirts around what she wants rather than saying it outright. When we were on the shore excursions and she wanted her Dad to carry her, she would stop him and look up at him and say sweetly, "I'm not so heavy." instead of "carry me". Ha!