One More Season of Basketball

D announces at breakfast, “Mom, I know this is my last year of basketball. But I want to play anyway.” As an eighth grader this year, D will be on the traveling team and play at different middle schools in the district. Well, at least he hopes to play some. There is no guarantee now as most of the eighth graders are preparing for high school basketball and the coaches want to put their best players out on the court.

We’ve been encouraging D to play sports since he was four, and he started playing recreational soccer, T-ball, and basketball. As parents, M & I felt like the physical activity would help him develop his muscles, coordination, and motor skills. For years he was afraid of any ball flying at him and would do everything he could to avoid contact with the ball; now, he is showing more courage and has made baskets, scored touchdowns, and has hit a baseball strong enough to run to base. His favorite subject in school is PE because his teachers grade on effort and participation, not on ability. They teach skills, but they don't compare one student to the next. The last three years in middle school have been a wonderful relief from elementary school where they graded on development. He has gone from "Unsatisfactory" in PE with comments about his weaker muscles and motor skills to an "A" because he is out there daily showing that he cares about what he is learning, even if his throws aren’t as far, etc. His middle school teachers get it and I am grateful! I have admired D’s persistence over the years with something he doesn’t really quite understand what is wrong. He loves sports. This is the boy who can tell you any baseball player's statistics. He watches sports all the time and even analyzes the baseball players' hits. He wants to play well and I don't think he really understands why he can't play as well.

I have also admired how well his peers have accepted him. Throughout grade school and middle school, his peers have never teased him or told him he can’t play well. Even in middle school, the better players have protected D and made it a little easier for him to make a basket by not crowding him when he attempted a basket. Even when the coach would tell the students to treat D the same as everybody else, the other players still tended to be nice to him knowing he was uncertain on the court. Even during the school's championship game during his 6th grade year, the kids sat in the bleacher shouting D’s name! Last year his team made it to the championship game again, but D had to miss for his grandmother's funeral. I've prepared him that it would really remarkable to be part of the championship game three years and not to be disappointed if it doesn't happen this year. :) (I'll let you all know if it happens.)

I'm very aware that visiting school players probably won’t give him the space he has had previous to this season, but I admire the encouragement and sportsmanship the other students have shown as they have cheered him on over the past several years. When we hear so much about bullying and teasing; it is wonderful to report how nice kids can be to each other.

Recently I discovered a chiropractor, Dr. John, who works with kids who have neurological processing problems. So I decided we’d give it a try because by now, M knows that I have to try anything that shows promise. I feel like we are picking up where we left off with last summer's sensory work. D is okay with it because he saw it as a way to improve his basketball skills (large motor skills) for his last season of intramural basketball.

We meet with Dr. John once a week and then I work with D at home on different exercises. The hope is that we can strengthen his motor skills and increase his neurological processing skills. Dr. John has requested that D listen to music, the TV, etc. through his right ear to balance his brain since he tends to process more from left to right. Though, I have to say I’ve had a difficult time convincing my almost 14-year-old that he can only keep the right headphone on in the plane. In the car, we put the speaker all the way over to the right speaker. At home we use activities created by the Children’s Vision Information Network who has created an informational site on vision problems as well as a several visual information processing skills (perception, tracking, focusing, and eye teaming) exercises. The site states that the activities are a fun way to help sharpen learning-related visual skills but are not in any way meant to replace vision therapy. The URL is: http://www.eyecanlearn.com/.

We’ve just started these activities so we’ll see where this practice leads us; meanwhile, D is getting to bed early tonight so that he is ready for the early morning basketball practice at 6:45 tomorrow morning. We have the clothes out and have already discussed breakfast. Now, M and I have to decide who is going to drive him to school that early. Meanwhile, I hear the basketball hitting the closet over and over again as I write this.