The "Game of Small Ball" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just arrived at my daughter's house in Urbana, MD. My daughter and son-in-law have two beautiful girls, Courtney and Camille. I say they are beautiful, since they are my granddaughters and well ...... they are just beautiful. We made the trip to Maryland today to see our youngest granddaughter, Camille play a game of youth basketball. She is 7 years-old and enjoys EVERYTHING. School, scouts, cheerleading and poms, baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse and now basketball. Teams have both boys and girls on them and they have a time allotment of an hour to play their game, take timeouts, breaks, and snacks. All players play about the same amount of time. The basket isn't quite as high, they use a smaller basketball, and the court is shorter, but it is still basketball and the kids love it. The adults that run the game encourage you to play by the rules, but double-dribbles, carrying the ball for a few feet, and even bouncing the ball off the wall if it gets away from you are not penalized. Once you have the ball, no one may steal it from you. The players are encouraged to pass the ball to their teammates and everyone is encouraged to shoot the ball. Camille stated as the point guard. When her team got the ball, they passed it to her and she dribbled the ball to the other end. I was amazed how well she could dribble. Used both hands and didn't keep her eyes on the ball all the time. She passed to her teammates and then headed toward the basket in hopes of having the ball returned to her for a shot. They played 4 quarters of approximately 10 minutes each. There were no fouls called, therefore no foul shots taken. Most everyone on Camille's team scored some points. Camille took 5 shots and made one of them. Everyone cheered for each other when a shot was made, even when a basket was made by the opposing team. Since kids mature so differently, some are almost a foot taller that others. One boy on Camille's team played under the basket and he gathered most of the rebounds and passed to her to bring the ball up the court. He also scored most of the 28 points for her team. I suspect in a few years, others will catch up to him and will make the game more competitive. What a joy it was to watch agreat game played by a great bunch of kids. The adults (coaches) stayed on the floor and ran back and forth with the kids, telling them what to do and who to pass the ball to. This is truly instructional basketball done the right way. My congratulations to my sweetheart, Camille, as well as all the others who participated in the game. Final score 28-6, but there were no losers in this game. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are: Camille #5 dribbling the ball into the offensive zone, Camille taking a jump shot (can't believe she is actually off her feet), running up court after a basket has been made, "hands up" on defense, teams prepare to exchange high-fives after the game.