Chandler came home from school a couple of days after basketball registration and said, "My friend Trevor says he's going to put me on his basketball team. His dad is the coach and gets to pick." We couldn't have been more lucky. Trevor's Dad and his assistant coach were fantastic, and the Lakers were just a great bunch of kids. And, I swear, a few of the kids grew, like a lot over the course of the three months.
The Lakers lost one game and came in third place for the season. At the end of the season there was a single elimination tournament, and the Lakers made it all the way; winning the championship! The last two games were particularly intense.
Being on this team really helped Chandler with his confidence and aggressiveness. When he started he would kind of get out of the way if someone else was playing near him in a , "Excuse me. Oh, sorry," kind of way. By the end of the tournament, he was ripping balls away from people, passing, rebounding, shooting and dribbling with confidence. He made a lot of progress and we are really proud.
Chandler left the awards ceremony yesterday with three trophies: third place in season, first place in the tournament and the sportsmanship award. Each coach picks someone from their team who showed exceptional sportsmanship. We couldn't be happier for him to have had such a wonderful, positive experience with athletics.
