Basketball season draws to a close and I finally post some pictures

Basketball has eaten up a great portion of what used to be our "free time". 5 out of 6 Shaffers here are participating/are done participating in basketball this season.  Admittedly, I am sporadic with my picture taking and more sporadic with posting pics here, or anywhere else for that matter.  So, be prepared for the onslaught of pictures.

Here we go.  These may or may not be in some sort of order.

Ewan-looking spiffy in his travel jacket.  He loves this thing and wears it all the time.  Fun fact: Ewan, Marcus and Cale all picked the number 22 for their basketball number.  If I had my stuff together, I might have tried to force those three to take their picture together in their uniforms.  Didn't happen.

For fun-Ewan's team got to play a game at Banker's Life Fieldhouse-where the Indiana Pacers play (and, for more fun, they went to and actual Pacers game first-Andy took all our boys to that game).  I got to take Ewan and enjoyed watching him play.  He also scored 4 or 6 points.  I can't remember-but I know he was the highest scorer on his team that day. (Side story-I drove our big van and parked it in a tiny, old parking garage that we barely squeezed into.  When we left, I got one of the employees there to back the van out and bring it down to the first level for me.  I think they just wanted to get rid of me.)

On the court.

Passing the ball in.

Kella wanted to play basketball this year.  She is on one of 6 kindergarten teams.  She is probably the smallest person on any of the teams and definitely the most fancy dressed for practice.  

These 2 are random photos from one of Marcus's games.  Look for the 22.  He played on the "b" team this year and had a good time and a good season.  There are just 2 weeks left with one more tournament.  It's an "a" team tournament, but Marcus was asked to keep playing with a chance of maybe playing in the tourney.

These are all Cale.  They might have been playing the same school as Marcus was.  I don't know.  Look for the 22, red hair and orange, knee-high socks.  That's how I figured out which boy I was looking at.

We spend time taking selfies during the games. 

Some more of Cale.  This was his last game of the season.  The 6th grade season is shorter that the other grades.  Cale played on the "b" team, too, and did a great job.  Personally, I think he should have played on the "a" team.  But, I am not the coach.

Another selfie interlude.

These are of Marcus's last home game and last "b" game.  They are in a backwards order.  Just how I uploaded them.  I had the sense to get out my phone to get these pictures.  Potentially, one of the last games he plays in ever-if he doesn't make the freshman team next year.  

Ewan's travel team.  Their regular season is over.  The team finished the season with 1 win (in the last game).  They get a Sunday off and then the next one will be the start of the tournament.  At this point, I do expect them to not win and advance.  A totally different position than what they were in last year, when the team (made up of several different players) won the whole post-season tournament.  But, Ewan's had fun and it's been a good experience.

Rec league is still going strong and will for most of February.  Ewan, Liam and Kella are all playing in that league.  These games take up our Saturday mornings for now.  Hopefully, that means I will get a couple pictures to share here in the future.

In honor of March Madness...

Listen, I don't even know what teams are playing in this year's tournament.  A causality of having no cable, I guess.  But,  I do know that all the boys are finally done playing basketball for the season!  This is very exciting and has lead to spare time, more homework time and time to do other activities.  

So, here is the second to last basketball post.  It's second to last because I still have a few photos on the phone that I have to transfer to the computer.  A task for another day.  Something else to look forward to.  

Here is Liam's team.  There were 4 teams in his 1st grade league and they had the distinction of coming in 2nd place for the season.  This let them play the undefeated 1st grade team in their final game for the championship.

Liam, blue shorts, arms crossed, ready to play.

It's kind of hard to see.  But, that is Liam actually dribbling the ball down the court.  Holy cow, he can make it halfway down the court before losing control of the ball and needing to stop.  What an improvement from the start of the season.

What do you know?  These kids won!  I know, you can see the excitement in their faces.

Excited for the trophy.  Excited for the cookie.

Ewan's team also made it to the championship in the 3rd grade division.  They got to play in the high school gym.  That was cool.  They did not win.  That was not as cool

Us parents might have forced some of the kids to smile for this picture.

Then, the next day....

Ewan's travel team made it to their league finals.  It's kind of a big deal.  This team went undefeated in their regular season play and did well in the tournaments they were in.  Most exciting for me was that Ewan always got a fair amount of playing time in the games.  That has really improved Ewan's basketball skills and confidence with the game.  These kids were super-fun to watch all season.  They played well together and had great coaches.  And, I enjoyed hanging out with the other families watching the games.

Getting some coaching.  And, yes, that's Cale sporting an orange mask.  Gotta dress up for the finals.

They won!  How exciting.  It was close for the first half and then the boys had a bit of a run that the other team couldn't catch up from.

Final score.

Champions!

They even got a trophy to take back to school and present to the principal.

Ewan and one of his biggest fans.

the beginning of the end....of another travel basketball season

Well, we have come to that time of the basketball season.  The start of the final tournament was Sunday.  Play to advance was the name of the game.  We had two pretty excited players, ready to go.

Ha!  Tried to get their numbers:  Cale-42 and Ewan-4

Game on.  There's Ewan working on some defense.

And, offense.

The results:  Ewan's team won both games.  Cale's team won their first game and lost their second game.  Cale's team is done for the season.  Ewan's team could advance to the end if they continue to play well.  We shall see.  I made it a priority not to take pictures during the games.  I just wanted to enjoy the moments and watch the games.   That was my philosophy this whole basketball season.  Hence, the lack of photos.

Part of the fan club.  Pretty sure by the end, Liam had seen enough basketball for the day.  

Until next Sunday.