We ♥ Basketball!

The four oldest Sexton's have always loved basketball. The three youngest have been pretty indifferent about the game......until this year.  Something clicked and instead of asking if they can stay home from going to a game of Trey or Allie's, they now get more excited than if they were going to a birthday party.  Between Trey and Allie we sometimes had 3 games a week, so everyday the kids would ask "is there a game today?!?!?!  It didn't stop with watching their siblings.  Tanner, Connor and Sydney are college basketball fans as well.  They have each been to 2 UT games this year and prefer to watch college basketball on tv over pretty much anything else.  Their enthusiasm can be seen in the handmade signs they make to go to games, and in the comments they make to the refs when there is a bad call, i.e.:  "oh, come on ref!  You've got to be kidding me!"  Connor needs to work on not getting upset with a loss, however.

When Connor was the "student of the week" he even answered that shooting hoops was his favorite thing to do.  He goes outside to shoot pretty much every day.

Tanner and Connor like to take turns sitting on the bench with David during Trey's games and being the assistant coach.

Watching Allie play in her church ball games is especially exciting since I help coach and the kids know all the girls playing on the court.

We wish it could be basketball season all year long!

It's never too late to learn basketball

We finally signed up Tanner, Connor and Sydney in a basketball league. As of last year they could barely dribble, so we weren't so sure how they would do on a team. But there is a very non-competitive church league that they all get to play on the same team and so far have had a lot of fun on. The coaches are so nice and the games are very relaxed. The coaches match up players according to ability and they are only allowed to guard that person. Everyone gets a turn to bring the ball down and feels a part of the team. They are really enjoying learning how to play and they actually practice dribbling and shooting at home. Allie has even had them all outside with cones doing drills (along with push-ups if you are not respectful). We are happy that they are at least learning the game and having fun!

Allie is amazing

A few months ago Allie was very let down and discouraged when she did not make the high school soccer team. She worked hard all summer but it was not meant to be. We were all worried at how she would handle the disappointment. As a parent you want to take away all of your children's hurt, frustrations, and disappointments. You go through every ounce of pain with them and only pray that you are making a difference in their suffering. You wish you could take it away. But you know that they will grow in times of trial. Allie surprised me with her resilience after not making the soccer team. Her immediate reaction was to get some girls together and form an AYSO soccer team. Which she did. She also pretty quickly announced that she wanted to try out for the FHS basketball team. On the outside I encouraged her and said "that's the spirit, Allie". But on the inside, I didn't want her to tryout for another sport. I didn't want her to go through all the hard work and then not make it...again. I didn't think I could go through it with her again. So she started attending some of the pre-season strength and conditioning a few months ago with the basketball team. Monday and Tuesday night were tryouts. And she found out today that she made it! She made the JV basketball team. Allie is courageous. She was not about to let the fear of failure stand in her way of trying again. While she had our support, this was something she did on her own. She put herself out there again, opening herself up to possible defeat. I am so proud of Allie. I wish I had her courage. She is amazing.

Father and Son

David and Trey love a lot of the same things. Everything David loves he shares with Trey and it seems that Trey then loves it too. They both love reading, history, video games, and sports (watching and playing). When Trey was a little kid he didn't like basketball right away. He played it for fun, but did not the have the passion that David had for the game at an early age. David never gave up though and by about the time he was 10 or 11 he started to love basketball too. Through the years David has coached Trey pretty much every year (except when the triplets were born). David would set goals for Trey, play one on one, help him work on skills, etc. One day I found them outside with these "beauts" on. What are they you ask? They are glasses that make it so you can't see the ball when you are dribbling, so you can work on ball handling. David used them when he was a kid and thought Trey would enjoy them. It just cracks me up. Trey is up for anything his dad suggests. They played some one on one like this for a while, then Trey showed David his new dunking abilities.