Baby Hoopsters

It was the final game of the season, and I'd been hearing from fellow blogger Baxley what it's like coaching a basketball team filled with kids too young for elementary school, so I wandered over to the YMCA Friday afternoon to catch the future local Kobes and LeBrons in their hoop infancy. This is what I saw ...

Each team has a player or two more likely to chase a butterfly during the game than a loose ball.

Dribbling is extremely difficult when the ball is roughly half the height of the dribbler.

It is impossible for anyone over 5-feet, 2-inches tall to walk past those lowered baskets and not have an overpowering, instinctual, from-the-gut urge to dunk.

Even with the basket low enough for me to dunk without jumping (the only way that's gonna ever happen again) some of the players don't have the strength to shoot the ball that high.

When changing from one end of the court to the other, players are as likely to skip, dance or prance as run.

In the midst of the most intense action on the court, there was always at least one player looking to the sideline and smiling for Mom, Dad or the grandparents' camera.

The smile on one grandfather's face after his kid made a buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter was as big as if the shot had been a buzzer-beater that won the Gold Medal for America.

In case the NBA dream doesn't pan out, some of those Clay County kids are cute enough to be TV stars.

One of Bax's players is the fastest 4-year-old I've ever seen.

The word "coach" is probably a little strong for the adult in charge of a team of 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds.

At that age, they may not have the skill level of Kobe, LeBron and the rest of the NBA stars, but every one of the kids at the Y yesterday played with a smile. Every single one.

Michael S. Mann

michaelsmann@comcast.net