Tennis and B-Ball

Nothing says summer in Ridgecrest like taking advantage of the city's Parks and Rec summer course schedule!  They really go all out, offering everything from ping pong to jump-roping to cooking to chess to soccer with British coaches, and everything in between.  For such a small town, it's really impressive!

Rhiannon's sport (class) of choice is consistently tennis.  I'll ask her if she wants to try this or that, and she says, "No, just sign me up for tennis in the summer."   She enjoyed doing it the past two weeks and her coaches, Yoko and Riley, told me they appreciated her good attitude and the fact that she listened to them when they offered suggestions and help.  (I think there were a few kids with some big chips on their shoulders!)

There were a few kids in the class who had been taking tennis year round since they were 5 or so, and there was a big difference in how they played!  That may inspire Rhiannon to try taking the fall tennis class this year...and for us to get out early and practice!!!! 

The class started at 7:15am each day, which was rough, but we had to take advantage of the cooler weather.  By 10:00am it was close to 100 degrees some days!

Rhiannon with Coach Yoko

Coach Riley with Rhiannon--she said he was pretty funny!

Wade tried something new--basketball!  He loved it!  The class was taught by the coach of the local high school's girls basketball team, and members of the team were the counselors.  Coach Campbell and those high school girls were SO GREAT with the kids.  I think Wade and I were bummed that the camp was only 4 days.

Watching Wade learn some basketball basics was very entertaining for me.  The first time they played a "game" with kids in his age group, he would get the ball passed to him and he'd pick it up, hold it tightly in his arms, and then run around with it.  He had absolutely no idea what traveling was, and he wasn't the only kid with this issue.  He just needed a quick reminder or two and he was dribbling like a pro!  I asked him what he did when he didn't make a basket, and he said he told himself, "Well, there's always next time!"  I was happy about this because Wade wants to be perfect at things the first time he tries something, and it's been encouraging to watch him "fail" at something and keep trying, instead of giving up when he can't do it right the first time.

"Mom, will you please get this one printed so I can put it on my bulletin board?"

Wade said Coach Larson was really nice, too.  He asked specifically to get a picture with her.

Swim lessons will come later in the summer.  For now we are going to enjoy actually sleeping in for a couple days and then hop a plane to TEXAS!