Blog-Escuela de Basket (Part 2)
Getting the office building finished was a big help because it allowed me to not have to transport everything from my home to the community basketball court which is a pretty good walk. We slowly started to compile the lists of participants that we had by age, sex, and by when they had classes. In Bolivia, as well as my experience in Peru, the kids only have extended half days. The morning term is from around eight until twelve thirty and the afternoon term is from two til six. This system gets more complicated, for me at least, because each school picks what ages they want to have at what times. We weren´t able to say, well this kid is forteen years old so he will be with the other kids his age because maybe the other kids his age have classes at the opposite time. This was just one variable and it made it very hard to try and create concrete groups. We slowly tried different options and throughout the next handful of weeks we were able to get something somewhat organized set up. Here is what we ultimately came up with.
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Here are some pictures of the girls group (8-11)
Team 1 (mix of boys and girls ages 8-12) with a few exceptions
Team 2 (girls 8-11)
Team 3 (boys 8-11)
Team 4 (girls 12-14)
Team 5 (boys 12-14)
Team 6 (boys and girls 15-18)
These teams are still in place to this day and they are more or less stable. Some groups are more regular than others, but we usually have enough kids to play games 5 on 5. My most consistent group is the girls 8-11 group. They are extremely enthusiastic about coming to the practices and many times they beat me to the court. They, and others as well, practice some of the drills that we work on before and often times after our practices get done. It´s really great to see kids sticking around and having dribbling relay races after practice is done or dribble knockout competitions. The enthusiam and joy they bring always gives me a smile. If I´m struggling with something or down, it doesn´t take long for a running smiling face, high five, or hug to change my demeanor. The kids really are great and we have lots of fun together.
I sure have learned, for the good or bad I´m not entirely sure, to get a lot better at ajusting on the fly. At the beginning of my time here, I was planning all the details of the practices out. It was probably necessary because it was such a new experience for me. However, I quickly learned, with all the variables, that my plans could be thrown out the window awfully fast, and I had to be able to be create and think on my feet depending on what the day threw at me. I am getting better at this ´skill` and now feel much more comfortable without knowing what it is I/we are going to do on any given day with any level of certainty.
Each practice we try and spend time working on the physical aspect of strength and conditioning, basketball skill set starting with BASICS, games to keep it fun, and some sort of activity to bring the big picture of life into the mix. The activities of specifically touching some aspect of life is what is the most fun for me. Without making the big picture connection I feel like any sport is not being used to its full potential. We have lots of fun with teambuilding activities, short videos with reflexions, and whatever else we find that might have a positive impact on these young peoples lives. The photos that are scattered throughout this blog are of a teambuilding activity where the emphasis is on creative thinking, sharing ideas, listening to others, working together as a team, etc. The kids really enjoyed this activity as you can see by their faces.
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| The little tike in this photo is Lucas. He is the brother of Rudy who is on the far right in the photo above. He loves to do the activities/exercises with the kids. It is a riot to see him trying to imitate the older kids. I think of my nephew Trey, who does the same, trying to be like the big boys. |
