LETTERS TO GRAMPS 4-8

BY ED RILEY COPYRIGHT 2002

E-MAIL 4

Gramps,

Meg is in bed and said to say hi if I wrote you. We just had our first basketball practice tonight and it was a terrible disaster. But first, let me tell you about getting ready for practice.

Meg brought home a note from school saying coaches could pick up their balls and uniforms last Wednesday night. When I got there, guess what? Everyone had gotten there early and the only thing left were 4 raggedy balls with the leather peeling off. I told the lady that would be fine and she just smiled, then winked at me.

"Those aren't good enough for the first woman coach in our elementary school's history," then she laughed. She reached down under the counter and produced a bag with 6 brand new leather balls. "I knew the 'boys' would come early to pick over the equipment, so I set these aside for you. I never did like those guys anyway." I laughed, then thanked her.

As for the uniforms, I handed her the sizes I needed and again, she reached down and came up with a pile. I got to choose from a stack of new uniforms. "We may not play well," I thought. "But we will look good!"

Back to my first practice. Gramps, I couldn't have done anything more wrong if I had tried. I forgot my whistle, so getting them to pay attention was like pulling teeth. All they wanted to do was see how far away from the basket they could shoot.

I finally did get them calmed down and I went over dribbling with them. After 5 minutes of trying to correct their 2 handed dribbling, I think they finally got the idea.

Then I let them play dribble tag. This was the drill you found for me. It worked OK until 2 girls started screaming that the other one cheated. From there, my practice went downhill.

The highlight was at the end when I handed out their uniforms. They all smiled and laughed and thought they were the coolest thing in town. So everyone left happy but I didn't teach them anything.

I could really use some help. If you find anything, call me or e-mail me, please.

E-MAIL 5

Gramps, I love you dearly. I read the book on that internet site that you gave me. You are truly a life saver. I feel like this guy wrote it just for me. I had my second practice and it was great.

My biggest problem in my first practice was getting the girls to listen to me. This time it was no problem. I explained to them about the blowing my whistle and yelling baseline. They have 6 seconds to get there or everyone runs 2 laps. Gramps, this actually worked. They only messed up once and all the girls let the lazy one know not to do that to them again.

At the end of the practice I let them know that if we had 2 more good practices, I would throw them a pizza party at Chuckie Cheeses.

One thing I need to say, I may only have one natural athlete on the team. And Meg, my God! She can't catch a ball. She's a good head taller than anyone on the team, but I sincerely believe her hands weren't meant for anything but playing with BARBIES.

If a girl passed the ball to Meg, it would bounce off of her chest, or hands. One even bounced off of her eye! She's sporting a nice shiner now. This could be a long season!

And Gramps, she won't jump. She says she's tall enough she doesn't need to. This is going to be a real challenge because she is convinced she is right. Was I that clutsy when I first started playing, I hope not?

Sorry to talk so much about basketball but being from Kentucky, I know you live and breathe it, I'm starting to myself. I have to go pick Meg up from school so I'll talk to you later.

E-MAIL 6

Gramps,

Meg performed her solo and I almost cried. She only missed one note and she was so cute. We must have gotten the wrong baby in the hospital because she has such a sweet voice and I can't carry a tune in a bucket.

Let me update you on the basketball team. I got the girls to lean toward the incoming pass like you suggested, and it works. All of the girls are catching it better.

Well, Meg still has problems. If she sees a hard pass coming at her, she holds out her hands and turns her face away. She says she's not going to get hit in the face again. If I weren't the coach I would have to laugh at it. She is so funny looking when she does this. She turns her face to the side, squinches up her face like a prune, and closes her eyes. I can tell I am going to need a lot of patience.

Our last practice was something else too. We had to share the gym with one of the other 4th grade girls teams coached by Smitty. I call him Smithy behind his back. He's about 6'4" and really, really big. When I look at him I think of a black smith.

Anyway, "Smithy" is the jerk who said "The broad's got the dregs." He yelled at his girls throughout the whole practice. Even though he was on the other side of the gym, he still scared my girls a little.

And his coaching? He has his daughter and another girl that touches the ball. They dribble then pass to each other until one of them shoots. That was his practice. That made up my mind that everyone on my team is going to play and no one would be the ball hog on our team.

We are working on passing and dribbling and I used the Ring of Fire drill you sent me. The girls loved it, except for my prodigal daughter.

I have a problem when I let them scrimmage for the last 10 minutes, my forwards and center won't move to get open. They will scream their heads off for the ball, but they aren't open. I only have 3 more weeks before our first game so I need to work on this and their shooting.

Gramps, thanks for all the help and being such an understanding dear. You are da man, as the girls say.

E-MAIL 7

Gramps,

Nothing new at school or work, same ole, same ole! Thanks for the no-dribble scrimmage idea, it worked. My girls are learning to move without the ball, it's pretty cool.

Talk about cool, I am so excited. We had our first scrimmage against another team. The girls and I had so much fun, it was a blast. We played against the other 4th grade girls team, not Smithy's. I was wrong about this coach, his name is Mike, he's an alright guy. We didn't keep score and I'm sure that Mike and I both told our teams we won.

I got a nice surprise, I have 2 girls that are pretty good. I guess you don't know what you have until you play.

One is Casey. She has a homing device built into her. Somehow she knows who the other team's weakest player is and everytime the other team passed to that player, Casey was there and stole the pass. Even though she walked a lot once she got the ball, she still scored a lot of points. I am going to work with her on the walking.

Roo is my other pleasant surprise. If anyone on the team does something good, she hops and down and claps those little hands together. With the way she hops, I call her Roo like a kangaroo. But, Gramps, she has a sweet little 2 handed shot. She must have made 5 shots from about 10' out. I know, I can hear you now. I'll get her to shoot one handed, but these are 4th graders and I've got time.

As far as your grand daughter, Meg had fun. She had that long pony tail swaying back and forth behind her as she "JOGGED" down the court. Now I need to work on her jumping and running. Meg is going to be a project, but she had fun and can't wait till the next game. And yes sir, she did get 1 basket.

After the scrimmage I took them for their pizza party. I really couldn't afford it, but they deserved it. All of them talked and squealed and told me how much they like being on this team and that basketball was so much fun. This is what is making it all worthwhile for me.

Our first league game is next week and I am going to get one of the parents to tape it for you. You know, this is the first time I have smiled this much in a while. Sure wish you could be here for the first game. GTG, bye!

E-MAIL 8

Gramps,

I am so excited and so is Meg. It took me an hour and a half just to get her into bed, all she wanted to do was talk. WE WON OUR FIRST GAME! We actually won a game. The girls and I hopped up and down and squealed our heads off, we won a game.

Everybody in the gym must have thought we were crazy. I apologized to the other coach for creating such a stir and I congratulated all of the other players again, even after we lined up at the end of the game and said good game to the other team.

Gramps, I don't care if we win another game, WE WON A GAME. All I wanted was one win and we got it. I have a tape of it that I will mail out tomorrow.

Gramps, you should have seen these little girls faces. At the end of the game when the scoreboard said we won 8 to 6, one of the girls asked, "Did we win?" The whole team laughed and then I showed her how to read a scoreboard.

I played everyone equally and we still won.

Meg didn't score but she got a lot of rebounds. She would get the rebound and then just hold it over her head like a giant until someone yelled for the ball. One time the ref called a 10 second call because she just held the ball over her head and didn't pass it. All of the parents were yelling "Pass the ball! Pass the ball!" But she just held on to the ball until the ref came and got it. This made me realize I can not take anything for granted. I can not assume that 4th graders know what to do.

But we won a game.

And thank you so much for the check. I didn't mention not being able to afford the pizza party just so you would feel sorry and send me some money. Please don't do that! Meg and I are OK. But, thank you just the same.

The battery for the camera has to be recharged by now so I am going to watch the game again while taping it for you. Thanks again for being there for us, hugs and kisses!