Go Panthers!!

A new team kicked off its season today, and this time Daddy and I were the fans.  Beth Marie's Champion Basketball team had their first game today--GO PANTHERS!! 

She was both nervous and excited.  This was her first basketball game...ever.

She's had 3 practices, and we've been so impressed with the program so far.  We couldn't ask for nicer coaches, and she's learning a lot already.

She was nailing her free throws in warm-up!

 

Here, she is on defense: 

At the beginning of the game, they match you up with your "person", and you defend the same person the entire game--which is nice because you learn one face and you always know who you belong with.  But in Beth's case, the girl she was matched up with was literally running circles the entire first half of the game.  (We suspect that she may have been the coaches daughter maybe?)  She ran under the basket and around to the outside and back under the basket again.  Poor Beth was getting over a cold, and we could tell she was exhausted after about 2 minutes in the game.  The expression on her face said, "You've gotta be kidding--get me outta here before I DIE!"  But, she stuck with it really well.  You could see the relief on her face when the first quarter was up and she got to sit for awhile.  She was a thirsty girl when she finally got a break! :-)   In the second half of the game, Beth was designated as the girl who brought the ball up the court, and she did an excellent job.  She was having a great time, and you could see her confidence building...  (You can just see her braid in the backgroud): 

She really got her second wind after halftime.  Her girl was beginning to tucker-out a little, so Beth was able to defend her much more easily.  She wanted the ball more, and had several opportunities to shoot: 

Yay!  I believe this was the shot that went in.  :-)  We all thought it was pretty special that she scored in her first game.  It was so cute.  When the ball went in, she was so excited that she paused to do a little dance and celebrate.

In the second half of the game, she had several rebounds and got her hands on the ball quite a bit--which pleased her Daddy very much.  He was glad to see his girl getting herself in position to score...

The Panthers ended up winning 30 to 26.

We were amazed at how high-scoring the game was!  It was a lot more competitive than we thought it would be.

This was one happy girl!

It was a great first game!  She won the "defensive champion" award because her coach said she basically ran a marathon to keep up with her girl.  She's catching on quickly, and we're so glad for her to have the opportunity to play in such an excellent program.  We hope she learns a lot about basketball, makes some new friends, and has a safe season.  :-)