The Power of the Tongue...

We are doing Upward Basketball again this year. The girls love it. I thought I'd post some pictures since Sarah was gracious enough to take photos. I don't like taking pictures during the game. I want to watch, and if I'm trying to take pictures, I miss the game...So, Sarah came to the first game and took pictures for me! What would I do without a family photographer?

First, here's a brief synopsis of how Upward works. It is faith based. In the younger grades, there is no score keeping. They have to guard the girl with the matching clip on their shirt. This is to keep them from swarming the one girl with the ball. Also, they are not allowed to steal the ball from the other team, until the team gets the ball to their side of the court. I find this frustrating, but I can understand that some teams would never get the ball on their half of the court, and we are trying to demonstrate Christ to them. Teams are divided according to skill level at the beginning of the season, so each team should be reasonably well matched. The girls are paired against each other based on their skill level. This means you don't have an experienced player against a girl who has never looked at a ball before. Also, the game is began with prayer, they have a half time devotion, and they finish with prayer and are given awards for each game based on skills they displayed in each game including, best offense, defense, Christlike, etc. Anyway, the girls have fun, and it's a great way to learn the fundamentals of the game.

So, without further rambles, here's pictures of Popcorn's first game...

Have you ever noticed how integral the way you hold your tongue is to dribbling?

Stealing the ball or fighting for it is a hard skill to learn when your kids have been taught to share, be nice and not take other's toys...

Look closely. You will see that the tongue is even important for defense!

And running...

Shoot, it's probably even necessary for rebounding!

I forgot to mention that the girls play half court basketball. This way the church has 2 games going on all day long until the evening when they do 5th & 6th grade games.