Basketball practice

Namine and I went to basketball by ourselves this weekend.

We arrived a little early, so we let ourselves into the gym (the entrance was unlocked) and Namine started warming up. She doesn’t (yet) have a sports wheelchair, so ran sprints across the gym in her own. It wasn’t long before the coaches arrived, so she came back to the sideline. This was the first time she transferred herself into the sports wheelchair, and she did a fine job of it.

For the first half of practice, everyone was divided into small groups of two or three. Namine has become fast friends with one boy in particular, so the two of them (of course) gravitated to each other.

The second half of practice was all about scrimmaging. The Junior Bucks have a tournament game next week, but Namine isn’t among the kids who are playing. If that mattered to the head coach, you’d never be able to tell — she made sure to include everyone in time on the court.

Namine is getting better at defense. Up until now, she’s been taught to do man-to-man defense. This week she was introduced to the concept of zone defense, which was a bit of a switch for her. She kept wanting to defend against a single person (which is understandable), but after a while she got the hang of it.

Nearing the end of practice, the coach had them playing Sharks and Minnows, which Namine loves. She really cuts loose, laughing and squealing. I love listening to her joy.

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