Another season

Basketball practice hier soir. First of the year. Only one of the year. Calendar year. With enough athletes for four traditional 5-on-5 teams and one 3-on-3 team, we needed to get organized. Each of the five teams' rosters would be full. Maxed out. Not enough room for even one more Special Olympian, no matter how valid their excuse for not registering on time. Five teams! Grizzlies, Kodiaks, Polar Bears, Panda Bears, Koala Bears. (I know koalas aren't really a bear Dear Reader). Troy and I coach the Kodiaks. Since 1994. Either 14 or 15 years. Hard to tell exactly because the season used to start earlier and wrap around the New Year. This is the first time in a long time we even held one practice prior to Новый Год. Now we are ready to hit the floor running when weekly practices resume on January the eighth. By "running" I do mean the line drills which we incorporated last season. Conditioning. Conditioning. Conditioning. There are eight returning Kodiaks, and two new ones. Melissa and Molly, ages 20 and 21, probably not respectively. They were excited to be placed on our team. We were excited to have some new blood. Younger blood. Blood that can dribble with either hand, while looking up the court and not down at the ball. In addressing the team at the end of practice, I pointed out to our newest members that Debbie and Char have been on the team every year since we began our coaching careers. And that Molly and Melissa were, at that time five or six. Again, probably not respectively. But maybe. It's going to be a great season.