Richmond Tigers are Number One!

Wade finished up a tremendously exciting basketball season with his 5th grade team the first weekend of May.  Their team won the St. Ann's tournament that weekend, beating out 7 other teams.

Their school principal, Mrs. Glennon, came to every game and was a wonderful supporter.  At a school assembly later that month, she praised the kids on their sportsmanship and skills and said that, to her knowledge, it was the first time Richmond had ever won that tournament and brought home the trophy to the school.

WOO-HOO!

The secret, besides the boys' efforts and good attitudes, was their coaching duo, Mark and Becky Anderson.  Friends of ours and members of our stake, they focused on teamwork, fairness, playing hard, and having a good attitude.  

One example of this was the awards ceremony at the end of the tournament.  Coaches had to choose MVPs from their team, but they let the boys vote instead.  Miguel, Nick, and Tucker were chosen--and they were right on the money there.  Wade would have won the Best Defensive Player if such an award existed--he was SO GOOD at sticking to his man and not letting the other kid do ANYTHING but try to get away from him, hahaha!

Wade learned so much and had a BLAST doing it!

Excited to bring home the trophy to their school!  There's a story for me about Usman holding that bigger trophy in the middle.  Throughout the whole season, he hadn't been able to make a basket yet.  Well, the last game, he made this HUGE basket.  I told Coach Becky that no matter what the score had turned out to be, that made the game for me, especially since it was the first and only game that both his parents had been able to attend.  FUN!

Coach Mark, Wade, Jacob, Miguel, Nick, Coach Becky
Elijah, Usman, Tucker, and Dillon

Before the championship game!

Mrs. Knehans, one of our 5th grade teachers.  So cool of her to be the mascot! :)

Wade with one of his best friends Jordan, the Monday after the tournament.  Check out the sign! :)

Wade's first basketball game

Jacob, Aidan, Nick, Wade, Elijah, Usman, Dillon, Coach Becky, Tucker, and Miguel

First game of the season--Wade's 5th-grade boys team won 25-9!   It was a spectacular game--we were shocked to see those boys play that well together!  They were a T-E-A-M!

We love his coaches, Mark and Becky Anderson from our church (3rd ward)--they have done an OUTSTANDING job at practices focusing on skills, passing, teamwork and sportsmanship. Those 9 boys made few mistakes during the game and looked like a well-oiled machine--it was scary cool to watch, haha!!!! Wade made one basket, a perfect "swish"!

Wanna know what my favorite part of the game was, though? It was when Wade was racing back to the other side of the court and started pumping his arms up and down to get the crowd excited. HAHAHAHA! Too funny!

Who knows what the rest of the season will be like, but if this team plays the way they did that night, they are going to have a ton of fun!

Love, Mom

Swade,

I’m sorry for being hard on you for being hard on yourself.  The irony of that bothered me all morning.  I’m sorry.  Your dad and I did not encourage you to try out for basketball because we want you to be the star player and score all the points.  We encouraged you so that you could:

• Try something new
• Widen your circle of friends
• Learn new skills
• Get good exercise
• Work in a team, together, supporting each other
• And have the experience of working with probably the best coaching duo you will ever have in your entire life, for realz.   

It’s so much more than making the shot.  It’s trying to make the shot and dealing with the consequences well, either way.  It’s about, in the famous words of my new favorite movie, having courage and being kind (to YOURSELF, too!)

Have a great day!  Have fun!  I love you!

Love, Mom

Where's Waldo/Wade?

Geez, I've got a lot to catch up on from the past few weeks!  This post, however, will be all about Wade.  He has been a very, very busy boy!

Over the past month or so, Wade:

1.  Got a hair cut.  After the haircut he looked like he grew a foot taller--weird!  He misses his longer hair and curls, but he likes the cut, too.  (Oh, and his braces were taken off temporarily--he's done with the palate expander but has to lose about a gazillion baby teeth still, so they gave him a break.  The nice thing is that he's paid for!)

2.  Did a fantastic job with 3 other friends in an ensemble recital.  The left piano had a damper pedal stuck during their performance, so we couldn't hear those two boys as well--their piano teacher felt so bad about this that she asked the boys to perform at her ward's talent show next weekend.  Another chance to play a fun song!

3.  Completed the 6th Grade Common Core Accelerated Math library--this is a big deal because he's the first kid to do it this year!  Woo-hoo!  (We had yummy Bacon-Wrapped Little Caesar's pizza to celebrate!)

4.  Made the school's 5th grade basketball team!!!  We encouraged him to try out "for kicks," saying we'd be happy  no matter what and that he needed the exercise!  He went to 3 or 4 practices/try-outs, and then found out he made the team.  The really fun part is that 2 of our neighbors (and Wade's buddies) across the street made the team, too.  He practices twice a week and is learning SO MUCH with Coach Mark and Becky Anderson (some dear friends of ours--Mark is in our stake presidency and Becky does Battle of the Books with me).  The team's first game will be next Wednesday night!

5.  Went on his first for-realz Boy Scout campout.  The only proof I have of that is his packing list:  

Yep, I made him pack ALL of that, and he probably used a 1/4 of it, hahaha!  Jason was able to go and be one of the adult leaders--they both had a good time!

We are proud of Wade for trying new things and doing his best!  Way to go, buddy!