Winding up his middle school basketball carreer!!!

Well... it wasn't everything he had hoped it would be

and not everything it could have been even...

But Willie played his heart out every time he got to get out on the court

and having heart and desire is a good thing and gets you somewhere!

If you have the heart, and the desire, and practice hard

you will eventually be exactly where you want to be!

Willie loves sports...

he watches sports,

reads about sports,

talks about sports, and plays them too.

Unfortunately he hasn't had as much 'formal' experience

as he would have liked.

But he gave it his whole soul and did really quite well!

The last game was a rough one...

they played their rival,

and may I mention this particular rival has a distinct advantage

like a team who has played together for a very long time.

Some of them practicing with the high school team

where fathers coach... and the very distinct height advantage I'm sure didn't play

any part in it at all...

although when the 6ft 4inch boy purposely body slammed my son

it took all I had to not go over to him and show him some of the moves

my dad had taught me to take care of bullies like that!

But like a trooper he played on with a loose tooth and a pretty beat up nose.

Because when you go in to play,

You go in to play tough!

But he will continue to practice

and find the place where he wants to be

and he is willing to work for it

and do what he needs to do so he can be the type of player

he wants to be!

So he plays his part out on the floor for the moments he is in there,
And he tries to learn as much a he can while he is given the opportunity.
And he plays with heart...
And desire!
And those are some pretty good qualities to have when you are finanly ready to play with the big boys!

Guard your man,

stick with him like glue and never let him get away with anything!
And run like crazy to keep up with the other team! :) 2 points for...what did they call it? Slamming you to the ground???

But you made them both and that will show them!

This would be the time mom thought she might have to jump in...You know it's bad when the other team even boos their own player... when a well over 6 ft boy purposely takes down a very NOT over 6 ft boy down, as in purposely go after him to cause pain and hitting him in his already bruised nose and taking him down. Of course the precious free throws (he was making on the picture above), both of which he made

did make us feel vindicated... but not much!

23 purposely took Willie down to prevent a shot... but it was a cheap hit!

Way to go Willie for handling yourself like a pro!!!