Today was supposed to be Namine’s first basketball tournament, but she didn’t get to play.
We were in for an unpleasant surprise when we arrived at the high school where the tournament was held. The head coach informed us that Namine was not a rostered team member, so she wouldn’t be allowed to play at all.
We were sure we had filled out all the forms, but the people in charge informed us that we hadn’t. We had filled out three forms, but there was a fourth that we had missed.
There were two forms allowing Namine to attend practice, one for Milwaukee Parks and Rec, and one for WASA; one form allowing her to travel to tournaments, for WASA; and one form allowing her to participate in tournaments, for the WNBA. That last form was the one we missed, and so Namine was not allowed to play.
Namine was upset, and visibly so. Despite that, her reaction was more mature than I expected, given her excitement over the past two weeks about being in her first tournament. I was very proud of her for how well she handled herself.
There were a total of three tournament games in which Namine would have otherwise played, but we only stayed for the first one. Namine enjoyed watching the game, especially since it was her first time watching a basketball game of any sort. I explained the rules as the game went on.
When the game was over, we decided to leave. Namine was still upset at not being able to play, so we went home.
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