Upward Basketball

Cooper was on an Upward Basketball Team this winter season.  He absolutely loved it!  He embraced the sport wholeheartedly, and loved every minute of it.  Cooper has some great qualities that allow him to make and reach his goals.  He is determined to succeed if it is something special to him and nothing will stop him!  This is the attitude he took with him onto the basketball court.  

He already was an expert dribbler.  Being on the team helped him learn how to pass, block, run hard, and how to tell the difference between offense and defense.  His team name was The Rattlers and he had some great coaches.  

Cooper's strength is definitely defense.  They help the kids by giving one boy from each opposing team a color.  Then, the kids with the matching color are to block one another at appropriate times during the game.  Cooper went above and beyond just "blocking" his opponent.  He would not let him go anywhere.  He followed that boy around the court with his arms outstretched around and around.  Even during offense, Cooper often would continue to block his opponent till his coach would remind him to stop blocking and put his arms out for a pass from his teammate.  He was not tall enough to ever make a basket for his team, but he could prevent the other team from passing and making baskets simply by blocking the opposing team's best players.  It was awesome!

The team was great because it really taught the kids how to play a team sport.  They practiced on Thursday nights and often would practice passing the ball to a teammate who then would make the point.  Of course this helps little boys realize that they don't have to make the basket themselves, but  by passing to one another they could work together to make points.  The Upward League is a Christian based league.  During half time the kids would have a little meeting with the coaches on a gospel subject, like loving one another and trying to be like Jesus.  While this was taking place, there would be a Christian speaker that would speak to all the adults and families on the bleachers.  Often they were stories of conversion and talks about how Christ has influenced and changed their lives in some way or another.  It was very uplifting.  It was really neat to see other Christian people, not of the LDS faith, but of other Christian denominations, to share their stories about how they felt the spirit and were led to do certain things in their lives.  It made me more grateful for the Savior, that He has influence over everyone around us.  It was very neat to see.

It was a great basketball season.  We will definitely be doing it again next winter.  Cooper had a blast!!