Special Olympics Basketball - University of Delaware

It never ceases to amaze me how busy the girls are these days. And us along with them. Today's main activity, other than Grace's ubiquitous cheer practice in the morning, was Julia's Special Olympics Delaware basketball event at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware.

Julia (#65) wants the ball...

Due to the early start of the basketball event, and the overlap with Grace's practice, we had to split up. Amp took Julia, and I did cheer. By the time Julia's first game was done (a loss in which Julia played well and had a great time), Grace was finished. To avoid being stuck in two separate cars, Amp drove back from Newark and picked the two of us up. We grabbed a quick lunch and got back to Newark in plenty of time for Julia's second game.

The team Julia plays on has fun, but generally isn't too competitive. Much to my surprise and delight, a pair of late baskets and a couple of successful free throws had her team pull out a last minute win, 10-8. In this grouping, points are a very precious commodity, and piling up 6 points in the last few minutes of the game was a scoring binge the likes of which I had never seen out of them. Julia was thrilled with the win, and the parents had a good chuckle at the first basketball win some of us had ever seen. Going 1-1 in two games was good for a silver medal, and Julia couldn't have been more proud (or me either).

Many thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers who spend so many hours making these events a success, and to the University of Delaware which is such a terrific host.