Good Lord, there was a time that I'd almost weekly give an update on Rec ball/AAU/School ball for my girls. When you're travelling all over creation for different levels of ball for two girls, it's a bit of a lifestyle, good or bad.
My rants dried up after Maja broke her wrist in the first game of a school trip summer league back after her Freshman year. Mind you, she played 30+ minutes of the next five games as a tiny 5'9" center on a short-handed team, without a thank you, without a follow-up by staff. So when one of the other players wrecked her knee playing AAU, and the hordes came in to comfort her, she had enough. And when the varsity coach realized what went wrong and wanted her back, AND OFFERING CONCESSIONS for non-basketball activities... Maja said hell no.
And with Maja focusing on volleyball and theatre, Millie was now one of the chosen ones, her and a 6'3" center who would crack the varsity line-up while a dozen girls wallowed in JV time with a volunteer coach we wouldn't want in the community rec league for grade school kids.
Except our 6'3" player got a full ride to a private school out side of Philly and is playing in some tournament in Arizona.
And Millie (and Maja) moved with their mother to Upstate New York.
I always told all the girls to keep plugging along with the system, be it sports or activities, unless (a) you're not having fun or (b) the folks tell you to stop showing up. I realized early on that the school they've moved to is the paragon of "participation trophy" when the volleyball team had EIGHT SENIORS on Varsity, and half of those wouldn't make the JV team back at Maja's old school, which stuck new girl Maja as the team manager.
Basketball added another level that confused me. Varsity and Junior Varsity are two distinct teams. There's never any chance of promotion during the season, even if three or the entire Varsity team came down with the flu, it would be a cancellation/reschedule.
In the new school, two of Millie's freshmen classmates tried out, and made Varsity. They're playing as 5'8" centers... because they're the tallest girls on the team.
I didn't like that Maja didn't try out for basketball with a new team and new experience, but she would've been stuck in the same exact spot she was before.
So the good news?
It's all good news, even if they're not winning everything.
Millie's starting point guard, still has teammates that can't make lay-ups or move to get position on a pass (and to be honest Varsity can't either). She's got 11 other teammates, and the coach has tried to situational substitute them in the second half.
She should not be the second shortest on the team, and third in the team in rebounds. I'm still amazed that I've caught four out of her first five games (plus a host of others locally with her ex-teammates) and everyone loves to shoots threes, but it hits less than 20% and the defensive team snags the rebounds 3/4 of the time.
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