Go Nic, GO

kate ice skating

 

I am not sure what comes over me at the basketball stadium on Sunday afternoons, but something does.

My daughter has been playing for a local club for years. She is fourteen now, but has been playing from the age of eight or nine.

By nature, I am a fairly calm and ordered sort of person. However, like many parents, my mind is often rolling like a cassette player turned on with volume down, as it ponders the other important things in life. Its background noise is like a murmur that hums away, padding the spaces between the past, the present and the future.

“Mum. Quick, hurry up, the game starts in five minutes….”

…..Busy week coming up….work…dentist…that email…

“Mum. We need $4 to get in……where’s your purse?…”

….something on Wednesday night, Friday night…and Saturday night…who’se looking after the kids?…..

“Mum. Are you on scoring…?”

…did I sign that anaphylactic camp notice, pay the health insurance?…

“Scoring? Me? god….I hope not, I’m not sure….I don’t think I read the email from the Team Manager…I’d better check my phone”

“No, it’s Mark, Sarah’s Dad, he’s scoring”  phew!

Parents like basketball. Mainly because the game is quick and there are not many jobs to be allocated. If you are not coaching or scoring then you sit and watch the game from the sidelines. The parents from both teams, line up in a row, like chooks on a perch late in the afternoon. We sit cross legged on long, low and cold, timber benches, heads turning from side to side.

Curious things happen.

Normally quiet and conscientious people who read the latest parenting manuals, are transformed into loud, vocal and vociferous human beings. Myself included. For forty minutes each week we sit court side yelling, ranting and raving at our kids.

“GO NIC, GO

RUN…

GET THE BALL NIC

PASS!!

SHOOT

HURRY

PASS!!

THE KEY???

GET IN THE KEY

WHERE’S YOUR MAN?

GET ON YOUR MAN!!!

REBOUND???!!

GET THE REBOUNDS, GET THE REBOUNDS

SHOOOOOOT

GOAL??

YES!!!!!!

WELL DONE GIRLS

WELL DONE”

Faces redden and blood pressures rise. Some parents pace the length of the court, others stand and gesticulate towards their child.

I am often swung a steely daughter’s glare from the court. I feel it penetrate and splice. I am not alone though, I tell myself. Everyone does it. You can’t help it.

In fact there is always someone worse; like the guy I sat next to once at the scorers desk…he bellowed and heaved beside me “GO DIDDY, GO DIDDY“, for an entire game. I mucked up the fouls on (player) fifteen that day, because I couldn’t hear the ref. All I could hear was “GO DIDDY” reverberating through the stadium. I wondered if the the $2 spectator fee had been imbued with an evangelical spirit, rendering its recipient the gift of tongues.

Win, lose or draw the result matters little. We, the parents, rant, rave and cajole our kids, whilst at the same time forgetting about our own inner worlds; albeit, for a short time.

Each week, every Sunday for forty minutes, its just us.

Go Nic, Go.

Comments

  1. Peter Fuller says

    Kate,
    This account resonated embarrassingly with me. My experience is long ago – my basketball boys are now 33 and 34, and played across the same age ranges as your Nic – but the vision of my providing a convincing resemblance to the ugly parent, quickly surfaces with your reminder.

    I think the indoors aspect of the game amplifies the sound and adds to the intensity, so that barracking reverberates; similar noise levels (even of over-wrought character) at junior outdoor sports is soon lost in the atmosphere.

    My addendum to your report is to the aspect that makes basketball a parent favourite, is that it is over quickly – 50 minutes game time, compared to two hours plus for junior football, all morning for cricket. The downside is that it is year round, so there is no off season, and that at competitive levels, the juniors tend to play two games a week, with separate training sessions of 1 – 1.5 hours duration for each. The other attractive feature of the indoor games is that laundering the kit is much less onerous that outdoor winter sports – speaking from experience with football and soccer.

  2. Kate Birrell says

    Hi Peter

    Thanks for your comment.

    It is really intriguing to look at kids sport and view the way we as adults carry on…..I am not saying its all ‘ugly parent’ stuff, it’s definitely not..although there can always be an element of that. I’ve been around junior sport for years now and would say 98 percent of parents participate in truly good spirit.

    In many ways it is interesting…we are as much participants as the kids. And quite often there is an abundance of good natured humour that accompanies these little vignettes of life, that in fact make it all bearable. Lets face it, the idea of Sunday being a day of rest has long gone when kids arrive on the scene and we traipse from one game to another each week.

    You are right in that the basketball stadium is certainly an echo chamber, magnifying all sounds. The same on a footy field literally gets blown away with the wind. I also celebrate mediocrity at home and in relation to sport…we don’t do Rep basketball. I value my Friday nights too much.

    Cheers

    Kate

  3. Malcolm Ashwood says

    I can resonate with your article , Kate and as a Umpire and as a coach have seen most things and been involved and I totally agree , 98 per cent of parents in junior sport are fine but the odd doozy provides it’s moments and being involved mostly in the private school side of things in , Adelaide they have a code of behaviour which in general is adhered too . Thanks Kate and good luck Nic with your basketball and any other sporting endeavours .

  4. Nice article. My daughter is 5 games into her career playing with all boys so I can relate. She is holding her own but having a father who was very vocal and sometimes got ejected from games I am happy to barrack quietly and offer advice behind the scenes where needed.

  5. Kate Birrell says

    Thanks Raj
    I hope your daughter loves playing as much as I think mine has. It is an excellent form of exercise as well as all the other positive and negative things that can be learn throughout.

  6. E.regnans says

    G’day Kate,
    Good on you for pinning one on yourself!
    This is a good incentive for me to find a team sporting option for our girls who are already 8 and 7 now and showing no signs of slowing.
    Love your barracking/ support.

  7. Dear Kate,
    I intend to sue for misleading advertising. When I saw your piece I thought there would be one of your glorious paintings of the ripped black Adonis Nic Naitanui (what other Nic’s are there?)

    “GO NIC, GO

    RUN…

    GET THE BALL NIC

    PASS!!

    SHOOT

    HURRY

    PASS!!

    THE KEY??? (I prefer the goal square but no matter)

    GET IN THE KEY (Get rid of the Americanisms)

    WHERE’S YOUR MAN?

    GET ON YOUR MAN!!!

    REBOUND???!!

    GET THE REBOUNDS, GET THE REBOUNDS

    SHOOOOOOT

    GOAL??

    YES!!!!!!

    WELL DONE GIRLS

    WELL DONE”

    Kate – you have clearly been channelling me on Saturday afternoons – right down to calling Shuey and Wellingham girls.
    I demand that you stop this covert surveillance and harassment.

  8. Kate Birrell says

    Always a subtext Peter and apologies for misleading you, perhaps I should whip up a miniature Nic Nat as compensation and to avoid any lengthy, expensive and drawn out legal battle.

    And thanks David, crazy parents we are. Look at tennis for the girls; Great sport but NO cheering or barracking of any sort allowed. In fact you sit there, as parents, mute. The contrast is incredible!!!

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