My Grace Is My Pick For MVP

Grace wore green shorts and blue shirt. She misplaced her jersey and shorts over the Christmas holidays. She had stolen the ball and was headed to make some points!

Heading to the other court after a point made!(lower) Driving to the goal for points! (upper)

Gracie got a free-throw after being fouled. She missed the first shot, but made the second!

This is the team taking a time-out with Coach Mason. He is wonderful! Grace had a blast playing on the school basketball team this year. She learned a great deal about the game and had a fantastic coach that was all about letting everyone play and learn. He never raised his voice to them in frustration, but encouraged them and taught them stategy and teamwork. I love that he was able to lay the groundwork for her in this sport. He taught them true sportsmanship which will carry them far through life.

To be her first year, she picked up the game quickly. However, she was one of the smallest on the team and began to feel unimportant because of her size. We told her all about the workings of the team and how it took EVERYBODY to play basketball. I told her to use her size and agility to steal that ball away from the others (which she did...some of the opposing team members were telling her to stop taking the ball away from them! tee, hee) I told her to pretend the ball was one that had been kissed by Zac Effron (from High School Musical) and given to her team. How dare the other team take their ball from them! They need to get it back! Zac gave it to THEM. After those words, she was stealing that ball right and left.

In the final game, she scored 7 of the 12 points her team made. It was so gratifying to me to hear adults all over that gym calling my child's name, encouraging her, believing in her ability to achieve, cheering her on. That is so shallow, but it felt so good! I am always proud of my children for who they are, but last Saturday, I was proud of Gracie for what she was doing, as well.

She had come so far in just a couple of months. She began this season as this insecure, nervous, little girl and I watched her blossom into a self-assured, strong, confident, athlete. She had no hopes of winning the game and they didn't, but she played her heart out anyway. She was a trooper to the end, fighting for a victory that she knew she probably couldn't achieve, but fight she did.

After the game was over, she got compliment, after pat on the back, after "good game, Gracie!", from more people than I can count. But the comment that resonated truer than any, in my mind was, "She may be small, but she is a scrappy little thing!" I couldn't have been more proud.