Goooooo Lakers!

Say "Hello" to Heidelberg's lil Lakers basketball player: #14, Benjamin Chapman. He had his first basketball game today! He has been practicing on the Bambino Basketball League on post since the beginning of January so today was a very exciting day for their team. There are 3, 4 and 5 year olds in this league and they do a great job at teaching the kids the fundamentals of the game. But to watch the games with kids that young is just total chaos and hilarity! I enjoyed every minute.

Some kids appeared to be playing more of a football type game.

They would run with the ball across the court (no dribbling, of course) and zig zag in every direction with no apparent destination in mind, besides escaping the other kids - all chasing them.

The coaches and parents are allowed on the court (at least early in the season) to help encourage and reinforce the concepts of the game.

And there is a referee as well but I don't

think the kids understood his purpose for the first quarter of the game! They wear armbands on their wrists in different colors to match up with a wrist band on the opposing team to help them play a man to man defense. Benjamin wore a purple arm band today... however, the majority of the kids do not grasp the difference between offense and defense at this point.

They play with small basketballs and small hoops and the kids on both teams did a great job at racking up the baskets today! Score is not kept however, so we called it a tie.

It is going to be an exciting season as we watch all the kids grasp the concepts of the game and watch their abilities on the court blossom.