The Hoffman Family Adventures: Days 8 and 9

Around this same time last year, I had a post where I was trying to take pictures of basketball to reflect the day and had to take a volume approach to my shooting. I am happy to report - with the help of my photography setting mentor, Taylor Wilson, that I have learned to take exactly the shots I want to take when I want to take them. I consider that success!

This weekend was a basketball tournament in Kansas City for E's team. E's team doesn't travel a ton which made this trip extra special and extra challenging. The level of competition is higher and took some adjusting. The girls got beat in every game which may beg the question of why I would title this post success. The girls played hard, they stayed in the game, and they battled to the end. From the first game to the last game, the level of play continued to rise. Despite the tough competition, E had multiple assists, rebounds, steals, and buckets in every game. A couple missed layups she wants back (I can hear her Pawee groaning from here) but otherwise a really solid performance weekend. Most of all, she learned a lot about mental toughness and playing all forty minutes. How can you complain when your kiddos learn about the importance of resilience and tenacity, losses are learning opportunities and to not give up until that last second passes. So many translatable lessons in there.

Most importantly - it was a weekend of friendship and fun with teammates. They enjoyed singing songs at the top of their lungs, dancing around hotel rooms, running to Starbucks, and shopping at the mall. Basketball will come to an end some day but the friendships and the memories will live on.

During this time, Rich was at home running the other three to their basketball games. Rich coaches, usually with E, the kindergarten group. Apparently K got hit in the head with a basketball in "practice" (aka the first 20 minutes of the game) and reacted in a similar fashion as one who has had an arm severed. When Rich told me this story, while I empathized that he had his hands full with three kids, a bunch of kindergarten basketball players, and a wounded drama mama, I could not help but laugh at the mental image. Trying to hold the injured one, ensure the other two kids are not running amok, and running a basketball practice. I think he deserves an award. :)

Finally, it will always feel like success to have one on one time with any of my kiddos. We shared laughs, car dances (or at least mom dancing and E rolling her eyes), and tons of great conversation. She is a really great kid with a good head on her shoulders. She has an amazing self deprecating sense of humor, a strong work ethic, and is an inclusive friend and teammate. The basketball is just the side show to the main attraction of getting to see who she is and what she stands for come together. I feel really blessed to be her mom.

It feels so good to have the family at home but I wish we had one more weekend day to enjoy one another. Enjoy some pictures from this weekend.

Shooting

She is becoming quite the shooter. She needs some consistency but it is coming. But she is also really good at seeing the court. She looks for the cut and to see if someone has the better shot. This next series shows where she interrupted a layup to make the pass to the better shot.