The Golden Girls

For the past month I've been coaching a woman's 55 and older basketball team. I believe the oldest one being in her later 70's.....and yes, it was as funny as it sounds.

I volunteered to help teach these ladies some of the basics of basketball. I mean really, really, basic. Such as, you have to dribble the ball, not run with it. The differences between offense and defense ( i know it seems obvious, but it turns out that its quite confusing to some of our senior citizens ) :) We were practicing with a goal in mind; to help raise money and gather food for our local food banks.

The first practice was a little shaky, but they improved each week and were having a great time. I had imagined it to be a slow paced game, but I was way off. These elderly woman are aggressive and competitive! They were flying all over the place; hacking, stealing, blocking, shouting, flying sprawled out on the ground after a loose ball. I thought we were going to have some broken hips or something more serious by the end. Even at one point we had to stop a scrimmage and remind them that it was just for fun and to lighten up a bit. They were awesome and it shows ya no matter what your age is competitiveness stays with you. I enjoyed spending the time with these ladies getting to know them and was happy to help them out. After a month of practicing we split them into four different teams and I was in charge of the blue team.

We had a great turn out from the community and tons of food was gathered for the food banks. These woman definitely sacrificed their bodies and time for a good cause and I was happy to be a part of it. The Blue team ended up taking third, well we ended our last game 3-3 with the red team and decided to just call it a tie, so no one came in last place :) The ladies I coached were so happy to be a part of this basketball team that they asked me to coach them for next years Hoop Fest, which is a huge 3 on 3 tournament in Spokane, WA.

They handed out medals at the end of the games that said "Golden Girls 2008" It is hanging in my room and is a good reminder that it's always good to take some time out of your life and help someone else.