Basketball is going well these days. Logan really is learning his position. He plays center, which is odd. He not only isn't one of the taller kids in the league, he might only be about the 4th or 5th tallest kid on his team. The reason the coach is putting him there is that he's strong and durable and can bump and grind down in the paint.
The weekend was a bit of a disappointment. 4 games and all losses. We played the same team, twice: the other Sylvania travel team. They're called the Tarheels. It was put together with some good players who played together when they were young, then augmented with the two most athletic kids from Logan's travel baseball team.
Prior to this weekend, I would have thought that they were clearly a couple of levels above us. Now, though, Logan's team has really closed the gap. The first game, we lost by 4. Second game, we were missing 2 starters and lost by 6.
Really, all in all, the boys should be proud. The Tarheels are one of the better travel teams for a team from the 'burbs. We have our weaknesses, but overall the team has improved. Logan started the season being maybe a good-ish rec player, but not playing at the level you see in travel. Now, he holds his own. Very proud of the progress he's made. He did it all on his own. Unlike baseball, I've given him very little help, guidance or coaching in basketball.
He loves basketball, though. I'm going to work with him on it, year-round. As I've often said, basketball is the first sport where it gets difficult just to make the team. Baseball is not far behind. A reasonably athletic kid can play football, run track, do wrestling, if they put forth some effort. Baseball and basketball really require that they are working on the sport, even if just a little, all year-round and not just when the season is approaching.
Logan is getting tall enough and skilled enough that I can probably play some 1-on-1 with him. He already has better ball handling skills than I do. Any advantage I have will purely be based on size, but it's not the worst thing to learn to play against taller opponents.
Baseball workout last night was a lot of fun. Logan is still looking remarkably sharp despite no off-season workouts. He has proclaimed that his three favorite sports are football, basketball and ping pong. So, I have a fear that his interest in baseball may be precarious at this point.
I'm very, very glad he's on a different team this year. His last team, he got pidgeonholed a little bit. Played some amazing center field, but only got to play maybe 8 innings of infield all year long. That's probably how many innings he pitched, too.
On this new team, not only will he have the chance to play infield and pitch, he'll probably have to. There are 11 kids on this team, too. 11 is a more manageable number than 12, for a number of reasons. There are a couple kids on the team who can pitch, but Logan will clearly have to step up.
They're going to have a short rec basketball season that starts right around the time our travel season ends. I'm going to sign Logan up. His coach is going to talk to us about it. I doubt the rec will let us play as a team, but I think that's what he's going to try to do. Will know more as things develop.
I'm getting excited about the baseball season coming up. I hope Logan is, too!
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