St. Jacobs Family Basketball
Feeling like you could use a little more exercise?
Feeling like you may have had a little too much turkey or gingerbread this holiday season?
Wanting to connect with your kids around something other than the dinner table or the TV?
I’m putting together a weekly parents / kids basketball night.
Location: Calvary United Church / 48 Hawkesville Rd, St. Jacobs, ON N0B 2N0
Time: from 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Date: Monday nights starting January 9th (until spring)
Age: 10+ (We don’t want to exclude anyone, but smaller children could get hurt if adults are bumping into them.)
Structure: We will typically practice / warm-up and stretch for the first 30 minutes (until 6:30pm), and then we’ll make teams and play for about an hour (until 7:30pm). If we have enough people for full court, we’ll play full-court. If we only have enough folks for half-court, we can play half-court. If we have too many people for full-court, we can have two half court games running simultaneously.
Ethos: This is not serious basketball (AKA - “prove to everyone present that I’m the second coming of Michael Jordan”). This is meant to be “fun basketball”.
Everyone is welcome, even if you lack skills. I lack skills big-time. This is more about getting exercise and having fun with your kids and people from around the community. It is not about blocking every single shot (aka “stuffing your friends”), and it is not about show-boating and being mean. It is not about putting your elbows into the face of your opponents and having anyone get hurt. Physical bullying will not be tolerated, and neither will mean talk. If everyone is having fun, we’ll be accomplishing our goal. This should be one of the highlights of your week if we do it right.
Cost: There is no “official cost”, but all attendees should consider making a donation to the Church for their generous use of the space. My wife did a boot camp at the church years ago and the attendees all donated $5 per boot camp session. So, if we played weekly between now and the spring, you might want to consider chipping in $150 to $200 per parent / child combo. However, no one will be enforcing a minimum amount.
Equipment: Assuming that there is interest, I’ll buy a few balls and some pinnies. But for the practice portion (the first 30mins) you and your child should have your own ball to practice with.
Other Considerations: Since the Calvary United Church will be kindly allowing us to use their facilities (and it is a beautiful basketball court), we must leave it each night as we found it. That means, we’ll leave our wet winter boots and gear by the doors when we come and go. And only dry clean basketball sneakers are allowed on the court. If you bring water or snacks, the garbage must be taken with you or placed in a receptacle.
The doors will have to be locked shortly after 7:30pm upon our departure each Monday night. So, conversations after the game will have to be taken out of the church. Since I am planning on unlocking and locking the doors (upon our arrival and departure), for any weeks where I cannot attend I’ll have to find someone else to take over my unlocking/locking duties.
Please RSVP / express interest to me at: shane.silverberg@rbc.com
Thank you,
Shane
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