David and I made a big parenting mistake. We let our excitement for Nicole's basketball talent get a little out of hand and we burned her out. See, she had been playing with her long-time comp team a lot. Then, she tried out for (and made) the Jr. High basketball team. Around then, we signed her up for a Jr. Jazz team in the Davis High School boundaries.
***Backstory Alert: Our home has always been in the Layton High School boundaries. That's awesome for Nicole because the LHS girls basketball program is amazing! Like, state-champs amazing. In 2017, a new high school was built in Farmington. This new school shifted the boundaries for several surrounding areas. Our home was moved into the boundaries of Davis HS. Oh what a mess it was! People were really up in arms about it! This is not the post for me to go into details about our feelings on the subject other than how it affected Nicole's basketball prospects. See, HS sports are about 25% skill and 75% politics. Nicki and Charly had been attending Layton summer camps, Jr. Jazz leagues, and comp teams. We felt an urgency to get Nicole in front of the Davis High School coaches and in the pool of players that might actually have a chance.
So between her three teams, Nicole was playing ball every single day. Often, she played multiple times per day. She'd practice before school, have Jr. High games in the afternoon twice per week, comp games and Jr. Jazz practice in the evening (sometimes straight from her Jr. High games) and Jr. Jazz games on Saturdays. She had very little time to keep up on her school work. Plus, she had the stress of NEEDING to keep up on her school work or she'd be kicked off the Jr. High team for not making grades.
Add to this the difficult coaching style of Nicki's Jr. High coach, and it led to a perfect storm of basketball overload. Nicki hit a WALL! She seriously hated life! She hated basketball. She hated school. She hated us. She hated everything! David and I felt horrible for over scheduling her and did everything we could to help her get through the basketball season. Then, we apologized profusely to her and promised that we would never again put her in that situation We would completely support her if she never played ball again. She took us up on that offer. She literally didn't touch a ball for months and months. It was hard for me to tell her long-time coaches that she was going to take a break, and I really missed watching her play, but it was her choice and I'm sure it was the right choice for her at the time.
That's such a hard thing. I feel like kids are so pressured to be playing year round on all the teams!! I would love to see her play sometime if she ever returns to it.
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