Basketball Star

If any of you know my twins, you know how badly they have HATED sports through the years. When the twins turned 6, we started signing them up for any city rec. sport that came available. We signed them up for baseball, basketball, football, tennis....everything! They're Robb's kids...they should like sports, right? WRONG! I couldn't have been more wrong, and I couldn't have wasted more money through the years. It was my twins that went all Bobby Knight at a couple of basketball games because no one passed the ball to them. It was my twins, while in the outfield on second base, sat on the ground and played with grass. It was my twins, right in the middle of a game, took off up a hill. When I asked them where they were going, he screamed, "To the bathroom. Is that alright?" I can't even begin to tell you how many tears have been shared and how many, "I hate sports. Why don't you get it?" with me through the years. Finally, about $500 dollars later and hours of running to practice, I resigned as the sport signer-upper about 2 years ago. We had a family council and I informed the twins that they were NEVER going to set foot on another field or on another court unless they came to me and asked me to sign them up. Needless to say, the tears stopped and they were relieved that their sports-playing days were over.

Right when I started getting used to the idea of no sports, Coop came home and begged me to sign him up for city basketball. I paused. I contemplated. I hesitated, and reluctantly decided to give it a shot. He has gone to the practices, and I am so proud of him because he makes it the entire time without one single breakdown.

Last Saturday was his first game. He started talking about how nervous he was a couple of days before. When I asked him why he was so nervous, he said, "Because everyone will be there looking at me." I had to remind him that was part of the game. He got up on Saturday and I could tell it was killing him. I kept reassuring him that all was going to be fine. We got in the car, and as we pulled into Central Davis, I heard Cooper say, "Oh no. Here we are. Oh no. Oh no. Okay....I can do this.....I just gotta believe in myself."

This is one of those moments as a mother when you want time to stop because you realize that your child has semi figured something out. In a matter of two years, Cooper went from being the WORST sport to being a very motivational sports player. I turned around and told him that was EXACTLY what he needed to do! And then Connor quickly ruined the moment by turning to Cooper and saying, "Guys, that was the cheesiest thing you have ever said."

I was so PROUD. Maybe a two year hiatus was exactly what Cooper needed. Maybe some of the pros could learn from Coop.