CYO Basketball!

Conner has become quite the basketball player this year.  It was great fun to watch him play CYO after he played at Danville.  The Danville coaches were amazing at teaching him skills and confidence.  When he played on the Danville team, he played with kids who play travel ball or who have played for many years.  The games were intense and the kids were amazing to watch.  At CYO, it is very relaxed - some kids have never played at all it is also a team of first and second graders and boys and girls.  This was the first time that I saw Conner's confidence.  He knew he could do it.  He was proud and I could tell.  Conner is critical of himself - much like me; so to see him be proud and have confidence was amazing. 

 What I loved the most though is that even though his teammates always passed to him -because he can make a basket and was not afraid to run the ball to the goal- he always passed the ball back.  At one point, the score was very close.  Conner's team was up by only two points (and winning at this point in Conner's life -especially against his classmates - is very important to him).  Conner had the ball and there were 15 seconds left on the clock to end the game.  I watched him, knowing that this could potentially be a game winning shot that he would remember his whole life.  He looked up at the clock and ran faster, dribbling with one hand and using the other arm to block the other team members.  Then he stopped.  As he looked around to pass the ball my heart dropped - see, I knew what he was going to do..... even though winning is so important to Conner....he has been given a gift to empathize with others and to give.  He found the first grade little girl on his team who was WIDE open and passed the ball to her.  He quickly ran up and guarded her (knowing that she cannot dribble very well).  She shot the ball and everyone in the stands stood up and held their breath.  She MADE the basket!!  The winning basket with three seconds left.  Her FIRST basket!!!  Everyone cheered and that little girl jumped up and down for what seemed like an hour.  Conner gave her a big high-5.  Conner's coach gave him a big hug and the referee told Conner he was proud of him.  Again - I saw his confidence and his pride but this time for doing something for someone else.