On Saturday afternoon, Xander and I headed up to Northern Kentucky to play in the regional tournament for his Special Olympics basketball league. We've only played three regular season games, and this is his first year, so we weren't sure exactly what to expect.
Sawyer and Connor stayed home with Aunt Kelly and Grammy for an afternoon of fun. Dad was working at the fire station.
Xander played in both games, but he had the most fun in the second game. The first game, he mostly ran up and down the court looking confused and trying to get people to pass him the ball (sorry, kiddo, they don't pass to the small guy much). But the second game was a big deal ...
Xander dribbled the ball up on a fast break and made his first basket during an actual game. He was so happy, and so very proud of himself. Many of the team parents, who've watched and cheered all season long as he learns his way around this new sport and format, cheered really loud when he scored. And that made him even happier!
In addition to that basket, he also got fouled on another attempt. And he made both of his free throw shots. He was even more excited!
And to make the day even better, their team won both games for the day, making them first place in their division. So there were shiny gold medals at the end of the day, something else Xander LOVES to get.
So other than it being a little bit of a long day (long drive, followed by two back to back games, the a long drive back home in the rain), it was a good day. He scored his first points during a game (four of them total) and he got another shiny medal to add to his collection. He also will have another chance to add another one at state games next month if his team can have another victory!