Jenna’s basketball team this year has been so exciting and so fun to watch. I never thought I’d be the parent who looked forward to games or enjoyed watching all the practices but we are so into basketball and love watching our girl play her heart out. We eagerly wait for each game, as if we were little kids waiting for Christmas to come around. It really helps when she’s on a team with her friends and looks forward to each game herself. I never have to fight her to get ready for practice or anything to do with the sport. Praise God!

Every game day, as we hop in the truck, she asks me who’s coming and she makes her calls to each person to remind them what time the game starts. Every Saturday, Chuck (my ex husband) is to arrive with Cameron, Jenna’s brother. The last two games, Cameron has slept in, since the games started early and Chuck showed up without him. This is when my baby girl makes me so proud and shoots him an “L” sign with her hand over her forehead. It’s their own little love language. I wish she would send me heart hand signs but unfortunately she reserves sign language for Chuck.

Last season, she was a little timid taking control of the ball. This season, it takes her about five minutes bouncing around the court until she’s ready to come out of her shell. She likes running back and forth and she’s eager to throw her arms up to block the ball but it’s usually not until her coach yells out, “Jenna, that’s your ball! Go get it!” It’s like you can see a switch flip inside of her and she comes alive. She instantly runs for the ball and slaps it out of the other player’s hand. She’ll do whatever it takes to snatch the ball. Even if it means the referee has to blow the whistle on her. Whoopsie.

Jenna and this little girl with the ball were trying to outplay each other the entire game. They were the perfect match for each other. It was like watching high school girls, they were so aggressive. It was really fun to watch these two together.

Based on the next few plays after this time out, our girls did whatever it took to go down with the ball. I’m assuming these were direct instructions from the coach but if any of our team had the ball and they couldn’t pass it, they covered it and protected it with their life. This mainly was after rebound shots.

There were a couple of plays John got so excited watching Jenna play, he had to stand up to get a good view of Jenna. The parent’s on our team were cheering and yelling and rooting these girls on. By the time someone made a basket or the referee blew the whistle, we were all laughing and pretended to be exhausted anticipating the goals.

Here’s a time where Jenna stole the ball, after her coach yelled, “get that ball, Jenna!” She dove in and secured it under her little body, lol.

Jenna enjoys when she’s able to throw the ball in. She’s been able to dribble across court, a few times, but always gives her dad a thumbs up after she tosses it in.

This girl gets so into the game that she falls all the time. She always leaves the games with marks, bruises and cuts on her. Sometimes she considers them like a token of war and other times, she gets so offended that the girl from the other team was so rude. I can’t help but laugh when she says that. She is so dramatic but she means it. She says, “I mean it, mom. She was rude. She didn’t have to push me like that.”

Here’s Jenna and my favorite girl from the other team. This is how the two of them played the whole game. No matter how many times they fell, Jenna was never bothered by it. I’d watch a hundred games of these two playing. They are such an adrenaline rush.

This was one of the last plays before the whistle blew. One of our girls dribbled it down court and passed it to another girl on our team, who then passed the ball to Jenna. Jenna immediately turned and shot the ball but she hit the rim, right as the whistle blew. The crowd on our side, simultaneously, let out a big “ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

Here’s another jaw dropping moment of the game. Our girl on the top left had the ball then threw it to another teammate. Jenna did her best running around, trying to get open but just couldn’t get free of the other teammates…..

So she threw the ball as hard as she could to our number three. Number three had seconds to find a teammate to pass the ball to before our opponents swarmed her. She tried to pass the ball but our girl lost clearing, so number three jumped up and threw the ball toward the goal. AND SHE MADE IT!!!

This was the absolute best play of the whole game! As soon as she made the shot, she looked over at her mom and they were both so proud. It was so so sweet.

This is our coach, right after that play. As our girls ran to the other side of the court, he high fived every girl that made that play possible. I love coaches like this. This is what sportsmanship should look like. Win some, lose some but coaches should always let the players know how proud they are of them. And these kids loved the high five.

We won! 8-0 What a fun, exciting, game. I love our days of practice and of course game days. I’m hoping Jenna sticks with basketball. I think this is her sport. She’s already made some special friends here and looks forward to every meet they have.

I hope you like learning about my family. I think it’s really important for my clients to get to know me behind the lens, since they won’t see my face very much, during our sessions. Events are so much more fun and meaningful when you know the people around you. Those in your circle, cheering you on. I’d love to cheer for you. I just need you to invite me in. Stay tuned for more of my family adventures.

Love you mean it,

Christy