Basketball and Relationships

This morning we went to Tec for the second day in a row to practice and scrimmage with their team. Tec has an interesting set up for the basketball gym. They have three courts in a row under a huge tent/dome area. One would not expect a basketball game to be rained out or mosquito spray to be a necessary spectator survival item, but at Tec this is a reality.

The white worm-like canopy is the gym with tennis courts in front and the weight room in the building on the far right. All of this is situated in a valley by a river, thus the mosquito problem.

Morning practice. The girls have been doing great! The altitude is still a challenge for some, but the team is starting to gel. :)

In the afternoon, we once again piled into two taxis (we are becoming experts at loading into small vehicles) and joined the Casa Verde (campus ministry at UDLAP) in visiting an orphanage. A few basketball girls from UDLAP joined us. For a few of them, it was their first visit to an orphanage. The Moms of the orphanage were going out and took all the girls with them to church once we arrived. So our group of 14 girls were left to play with the boys of the orphanage. Not quite what we expected, but it turned out great. Marnie led crafts with the younger boys, and many of us joined in on a soccer game played on the basketball court with the older boys. The kids were very interactive and loved having people to play with.

This pic was primarily UDLAP girls, us, and Heith (he works with Casa Verde) until the boys noticed a picture was being taken. There was a quick stampede and all of a sudden the group had doubled! They were quite the photogenic group!

Shelly shoots to score, definitely in her element. She played soccer throughout college, but is putting on a basketball jersey to help the AIA team for the upcoming tournament.

To end the day, we went to John and Natatlie's house for a great meal of chicken casserole (made by Katie), a watermelon & blueberry lettuce salad, garlic bread, asparagus, and Natalie's famous banana bread cupcakes. Yum! We arrived in time to interact with the kids before they went to bed. Then Natalie gave an hour and 45 minute talk on relationships. She covered topics from how God views women to what a husband/wife relationship looks like as the years go by and kids come along. As eyes were drooping and energy fading, we ended the session by asking John and Natalie relationship questions. Only a group of girls can talk about relationship stuff after a long day until 11:30 pm at night!