Damon and his team had a rough season this year. They were the little guys and one of the few teams that only had 3rd graders on it. So many of their games were within 1-5 points. Rarely did they get blown out. However it was really hard for this group of boys to lose. They are all extremely competitive. Damon didn't seem to get in a very good rhythym until the end of the season. It seemed like he was super intimidated or something. But his speed was pretty much unmatched. The kid is quick!! About 3 weeks before the end of the season he sprained his ankle really bad while playing in the driveway with Kyler. He didn't even do it in a game. After sitting out for 2 1/2 weeks, Kenney said he could play in the tournament. The league was really nice and set up a bracket with the 3rd grade teams (basically the losers bracket) to give those teams a little more confidence. Their team dominated! Kenney didn't play him a lot, but he did awesome! It was like the Damon we were used to seeing. He played with so much more confidence even though he had a slight limp. He really is fun to watch because he's quick and he gets so excited! Kenney continued to struggle coaching this group of boys. Every practice and game were extremely draining. The boys are loud, inattentive, and hard to control. However, Kenney does an amazing job with them. Damon is very blessed he his willing to coach them. I didn't see as many of his games this year because so many of them were at the same time as Kyler's. Watch for #10 in the videos and ignore my voice and bad filming. I pretty much always had a baby in my hands.
The first game Damon and Kyler played this year was against one another! It was a really close game in the beginning, and then Kyler's team slowly started to edge Damon's team out. At halftime, Kenney told his assistant coach, "My own kid is killing me!" He was talking about Kyler because Kyler had an amazing game and kept making a lot of outside shots!
Such a crazy group of kids!
All smiles after they won the losers bracket, haha!
Celebratory ice cream at Braums after they won!
Damon is really good at seeing an open man and passing the ball. Some on his team are still struggling to pass it to someone that is not their friend, but Damon has never had that problem.
Poor Damon got shoved quite a bit, watch #13 just body check him.
Damon got a good layup right after he almost scored for the other team when he ran to the wrong basket, haha!
Coach told him to cut to the basket, so he did. Look at that, Coach knows what he's talking about.
He got a little excited after beating everyone down the court and didn't have a soft touch, but it was nice to finally see him doing things like this again!
He hardly ever got the call but watch #54 just push him down!
This kid gets so excited and pumped when his team does well. He was especially excited when they won their last game and the 'championship'.
Radley was so excited to play basketball this year. He has been watching the other two for 3 years now and couldn't wait to play himself. His grade doesn't have very many athletic kids, but we were able to get him on a team with 2nd graders. He was the youngest and smallest, but it didn't stop him whatsoever! 3 of the kids were even older than Damon. So many people hold their kids back here that our boys with summer birthdays are really odd! It took quite a few games for Radley to make a basket so it was really exciting when he finally got one. However, after that he seemed to find a groove and make several buckets! He got better and better every game. His coaches made sure he was able to dribble the ball and get in the game. Honestly, even though he was the smallest and youngest, you couldn't tell. He was much more coordinated than most of the other kids. He will probably be on a different team next year, but with kids closer to his age.
Radley's coaches did a great job and made sure Radley had plenty of opportunities. He had so much fun!
Radley was pretty much always the smallest kid on the court. It was so fun to watch how little that effected him. He wasn't intimidated or scared of anyone. I guess playing with older brothers all the time makes him used to being the smallest.
Their team often had to flip their jerseys because we played so many other red teams, but you can still find the little guy running around. Here is get a steal and them misses a shot, but he never gave up or got discouraged, just kept trying.
He got an awesome fast break and basket!
The only free throws he ever shot, and he made both of them!!
The beginning of the year consisted of mostly school and basketball. Here are a few of the other things that happened. A Super Bowl family gathering and a poor excuse for a snow storm. We didn't do too much, but this is what I captured!
Best Buddies ready to watch the game!
Damon is always willing to share with the little kids!
This girl loved playing with an Apple watch. Too bad she won't have one for a while.
Mackenzie and Acey are quite the pals. They share all their space! Almost once a day I will find Mackenzie getting into Acey's crate!
Don't you brush your teeth in a dog bed???
We never really got much snow this year, not nearly enough to play in, but the kids tried!
She was trying to play, but she was getting grass everywhere because it didn't really cover the ground.
Radley and Bentley trying to make some snowballs.
Damon trying to help Mackenize have fun.
Now that is some BLUE ice cream!!
This girl loves to talk! I love how much she changes the inflections of her voice. Now if she would just say some 'real' words.
Bentley shared some of her hidden talents and tricks for you viewing pleasure. It took a lot of self control to get this video without laughing, because as soon as I would start to laugh she stopped!
Kyler did the 'Shawn Johnson Challenge' and then challenged her to his cool trick!
