Basketball Practice

Wyatt had his second sports class at the local parks and recreation district this morning and improved leaps and bounds over last week's soccer practice.

I talked with Wyatt everyday leading up to today's class about what was expected of him- sit on the blue mat when directed, hold the ball when directed, stretch with the other children and do the task asked of him and it payed off. HE DID GREAT!!

Other than telling the class that he had "nothing" for breakfast during the circle/introduction time (a complete fabrication as I made oatmeal, sourdough toast and apple juice) it went very well. Maybe he would have answered differently if the teacher had asked him what he was "served" for breakfast since "nothing" was pretty accurate in terms of what he "ate". Nonetheless, the other parents were bound to glance my way with his answer as apparently each of them created a 5-star feast, including pancakes, waffles, eggs and sausage.

When class began Wyatt did a great job of doing all of the stretching activities and eagerly did the bunny hop, bear crawl and T-Rex stretches.



The kids practiced bounce passes and chest passes, which Wyatt mastered without any difficulty.





Next they practiced shooting baskets and he did pretty well at that too.

They finished off the class with an obstacle course (the tail end of which I caught on tape) that included stepping in hula hoops, army crawling through a folded gymnastics mat, jumping over a bar and shooting a basket. Wyatt even got his shot to go through the hoop! It was so fun to watch.



Perhaps the best part of the day for me, however, was once the class was dismissed. While all of the other children ran over to their parents and quickly headed home, Wyatt started to clean up all of the obstacle course equipment and didn't come over to us until everything had been put away and he had said goodbye to his teachers. So precious!

Soccer Practice

I signed Wyatt up for a 4-week sports class at the local recreation district and he had his first class earlier this week. The class was made up of 5 kids ages 3-5 and this week's lesson was soccer.

All things looked promising in the beginning as Wyatt enthusiastically shared with the group his name and age but when the teachers asked the kids to stand and stretch he just stood there like a statue. He refused to reach high, touch his toes or jump. I thought This is not going well.

Then the teachers brought out the soccer balls and demonstrated how to dribble the ball and stop it by putting one foot on top.

They asked the kids to do this to music and when the music ended that that was their cue to stop their ball with their foot. When the exercise began the other children gently tapped their soccer balls but not my Wyatt. Nope. He kicked the ball as hard as he could across the room. When the music stopped the other children tried to gain control of their ball and stop but not my Wyatt. Nope. He kicked the ball back across the room. And when the music began again and the other children attempted to dribble again Wyatt completely abandoned the class and made his way over to a soccer goal on the other side of the room and began to score goals.

When that game was over Wyatt didn't want to sit with all of the other children on the blue mat but rather sat to the side of the room by himself. Still not going well...



I intervened a couple of times when Wyatt was way off task to remind him to listen to his teachers and sit on the mat when directed and things slowly got better. By the end of the 40-minute class he was back on the mat with the other children and he mastered the obstacle course.



Overall he had a great time and it will be interesting to see how he does at next week's class when he has a better idea of what is expected of him.