Lil Boogers Basketball

Well, JJ has officially started his basketball career as a 4 year old!!!!!!!!!! One of Jake’s Kingdom Hoops coaches organized a little parks and rec team for a Des Moines league and he convinced Jake to let JJ be on the team. I say ‘convinced’ because ever since I’ve known Jake he hasn’t ever really embraced the idea of the kids starting competitive play so young. His theory used to be that they learn bad habits because the hoops are lowered and they aren’t called for traveling/double dribbling/etc. during the games. Not sure what changed, but I do know one thing…..JJ is LOVING getting to play on a team. In fact, to say JJ LOVES the game of basketball would even be an understatement. It’s so interesting because he already has a strong desire to practice and he has big dreams that he will someday play in the NBA. All he wants to watch on TV is channel 216 which is NBA TV. He knows almost every single player and who plays for what team. He remembers the scores of every game which amuses my Grandma as she also loves the NBA so they have full conversations about what games are coming up on TV. This past weekend at my Grandma’s house she was looking up the game schedule in the newspaper and JJ said, “Let me have a look at that.” All of a sudden he found the top 20 NBA scoring leaders listed out and he went down the list reading each of their names out loud. But the crazy thing is that he is 4 years old and cannot yet read! But, by looking at each player’s last name he was able to recognize it because he has seen their names so many times, so he was able to go right down the line and read most of them to us at first try. He got stuck on a few that he didn’t recognize, but he easily got 15 of the 20 on his own. My grandma and I were rolling with laughter! I wish I could have gotten it on video! I remember when JJ was little everyone would ask Jake, “What will happen if JJ doesn’t like basketball?” Jake would always answer, “Well, he’s going to be around it so much that it probably won’t really be a choice...it’s just going to be a part of his life, like it or not.” But like it he does!

JJ requested a little photo shoot before his practice started….here he is all decked out in his practice gear including his jersey of his favorite player - Lebron James, NBA headband, NBA leg sleeve, and he would have worn his NBA shooting sleeve but I nixed that one as it is too big for his arm and he is always messing with it.

And his 'tough guy' look.......

And here is JJ and the coach’s son, Darius, who also happened to show up for practice in his Lebron jersey….

JJ and Darius go way back…..here they are as even littler boogers…..

Darius’s dad and Jake have always talked about how JJ and Darius will be on the same AAU team, and so it begins! The team is co-ed and a mixture of 3 & 4 year olds. They will have 5 games and they practice one night a week for an hour.

At their first practice this week the Kingdom Hoops gym was packed and the little guys & gals became quite the attraction! Everyone loved to stop along the sidelines and watch them and cheer them on. Really, they were so adorable that you just had to stop and smile. Here's a little video of JJ practicing a lay-up....


The first game is next week, but unfortunately we have to miss it because we had gotten tickets to a Timberwolves game up in MN for everyone as a Christmas gift….but, I’ll have to post again once he gets to play in his first ever game! So fun!