Daughter the Coach

A vehicle full of ladies went on an adventure one evening last week. It was my younger daughter, my mom, my sister, my niece.......and yours truly. For some unknown reason, I decided to upload these photos in medium size, so click on any of them to enlarge.

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Alway, always, its a challenge to find a gym in the dark in an unfamiliar city.......but FINALLY we found it. If only someone had given me the heads-up on the unique architecture and lighting of this roundhouse gym, I might have known better what to be looking for. Or next time I should think to ask, "Does the building have any distinguishing features?" Better yet......if I actually would have planned ahead and done a MapQuest search, that might have solved our problem from the get-go.

We are here to watch my older daughter coach her junior varsity girls' basketball team from____ ____ High School. She also assists with the varsity team. Should I say where she teaches and coaches? I never know how closed or open to be on the blog when it comes details about family members. Some of you might be able to figure out where she teaches and coaches.
Oh, no.......yikes.......the bleachers are those archaic, rickety, OPEN-to-the-floor type. Hold on to your coats and purses, ladies.......and for goodness' sake, keep a firm hold on little kids and grandmas! And, CAMERAS! A camera surely would not survive a tumble down one of these cracks!

Quickly now, turn your attention from the bleacher cracks to the game..........the action is about to begin.

We sat right behind Daughter's team's bench.......but, she was so engrossed in the game, she didn't even seem to notice us until the JV game was over......or maybe she was ignoring us. Talk about feeling miffed......we sure did! Or do coaches get THAT caught up in their games? Yes, they do! That's part of being a coach.

Here, Coach Daughter beckons her team to move closer to the mid-court line. Or else, she has completely lost her focus and is calling a volleyball side-out.
Hair can be exasperating at times........its sensible to keep a handy pony-tail holder on hand.
A time-out is called.......time for instructions from the coach. Hey.......pay attention and listen.......even if you're a bench-warmer at this particular moment in the game.

During time-outs, the coach may draw diagrams of plays on a dry-erase clipboard. I must confess that my daughter certainly did not inherit her good basketball strategist abilities from me. I can never even see plays going on! It all just looks like scrambled eggs to me........players mixing and milling about in random chaos. My sister sitting next to me there on the bleachers would exclaim knowingly, "Oh, that was a good play!" I'd nod in agreement as if I knew perfectly well what she was talking about......but, I truly didn't. To me, a good play is simply one that ends in points being scored!
One thing I do know how to do is draw smiley-faces, so I drew one on the clipboard, hoping it would catch my daughter's attention and warm her heart. I drew my artwork on the wrong clipboard, though......oops......this one belongs to the varsity head coach......a guy in his 30's. He probably thought, "What the heck is this?" Hopefully, he didn't think I was trying to flirt with him.......I would never do such a thing, anyway......flirt with a guy THAT young......are you kidding?!! (Sorry, the clipboard photo uploaded sideways.)
The game is going well........the coach is smiling.

What's a cage game without a cage-full of extra basketballs........and, a glossy wood floor is nice to have, too.

In between the junior varsity and varsity games, the coach enjoyed a well-deserved cookie break! The Band Boosters were selling Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies as a fundraiser. Yum......I had one, too.
During the varsity contest, my daughter recorded the game's stats on a little electronic stat keeper. Gone are the days of those hand-written statistician's notebooks, apparently. Apparently, too, there is plenty of friendly camaraderie between this coach and her players.
Between games, the coach must make sure the young scorekeepers are awake and up-to-date on any roster changes coming up in the next game.
Here's a closer view---although rather blurry---of the little stats-keeping gizmo. Look quickly, though; everyone is gathering up their gear and heading to the locker room, from there to board the bus for the ride home. The games are finished........two wins for the victory column!
Daughter and her husband stayed home for Thanksgiving.......they had too many games going on over the holiday weekend. They are a busy couple.......my son-in-law is an athletic/activities director.......he organizes activities for hundreds of kids........it sounds like an overgrown, nightmarish mom-type task. I feel sorry for him.......although, on second thought.......he does get paid for what he does.
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After the games, we had a brief photo shoot with my daughters and Grandma, Aunt, Sister, and Cousin there in the roundhouse gym.......then some quick hugs were exchanged, and we all went our merry ways. It was a fun evening!
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