Katie Bball

This year Katie decided to put her name in the ring to play basketball. She was picked up by a little team of 4th grade girls and they started practicing.  Her coach was serious about the game and very dedicated.  They practiced every week and sometime twice a week in preparation for their games.  Katie is one of the tallest girls on the team and she also has a pretty good shot.  Although she is good, there are a couple other girls on the team that are much more aggressive.  After the first couple of games I could tell that this little group of girls had a pretty good team.  As the season rolled on Katie's team only lost one game.  This last weekend was the "tournament".  The first game they had was the semi finals.  They played a pretty well against a group of pretty rough girls but won.  They were set for the finals.  They were pitted against a team that they had dominated in both of their other match-ups.  Katie was feeling pretty confident but was also a little nervous about that "Championship Game".

Unfortunately, this tournament final proved to be the one game that none of their star players could make a basket.  Both teams stayed in the single digits all game long.  We came down to the final two minutes and each team had 8 points.  Both teams were scrambling to try and make that game wining shot.  One of Katie's team mates fouled and a point was made on the free throw line.  This brought the total score to 8/9.  Katie's team needed a field goal or a foul shot to tie or win the game.  Several attempts were made at the basket but nothing would drop.  On three of these attempted shots Katie's team was fouled and put on the free throw line.  Each excruciating attempt bounced off the rim unsuccessfully.  Time finally ran out and the game was over.  "Fever" (the name of Katie's team) 8 and the other team 9.  Katie was definitely disappointed and didn't want to say much about losing this game.  You could tell that she was holding back tears and felt bad that they had lost.  After winning each game all season, they lost in the finals to a team they had beat twice.  I guess that it life sometimes.

Here are some pictures of Katie in action.