Upward sports league

[lisaann]

Do any of you participate in this? I hear it's a Christian based sports league for kids.

Right now my ds plays basketball for the local Rec. league. He really likes the game but, quite frankly, he's not much of an athlete so it seems a bit much to me to commit 3 days a week to this. I heard about Upward sports league and I think I remember them saying that the basketball was one day a week. Apparently they have a practice then have a game afterwards. :thinking If this is true it would suit us much better. :thinking Ds just wants to enjoy the game, not work on a college basketball scholarship. :lol2

If you have any information I would appreciate hearing about it.

[txmomof3]

I have not heard of it, but I am going to see what I can find out. IMHO, most leagues place WAY too much emphasis on the game and my kids and I are all at the point where we don't really want to commit four days a week to a sport.

[ftwspursfan]

Upward is a great lightly-competitive sports program. Our church does the program and our last church did also. Practice is 1x a week and the games are usually on the weekends. There are Bible lessons and memory verses for each week and the kids get awards after each game for best sportsmanship, offense, defense, effort and Christlikeness. Most leagues cater to K-6th grade and the program is not geared to prep for JH or HS athletics. check them out at www.upward.org I am heavily involved as a ref for flag football and coaching Basketball.

[ftwspursfan]

We also do upward cheerleading during football season. At halftime of each set of games, we have a testimony or real short Bible lesson. At the end of each league, we have an awards ceremony and give the kids medals or trophys. We have a speaker/evangelist who presents the gospel. Our church has reached many kids for Jesus thru this program and our believers baptisms are increasing.

[Cookies4me]

My husband ran one of their first football leagues. Love the league just glad we are not running it anymore. I would second everything Ftwspursfan says.

Adding that the kids go home with scriptures each week and they receive stars for reciting them. They also get stars for how they did in the game. Best defense, best sportsmanship, Most Christ like on the court....... and so on. They also usually don't stack a team. There is an evaluation day where each kid is tested for his skills. Then they are placed on teams. Each team having about the same type of skill level.

It's lots of fun :thumb

[lisaann]

:thumb Thanks for the feedback.

Interesting enough, ds came to me and said next year he doesn't want to play basketball because he doesn't like running around so many days a week. I told him about Upward and he said if it's only once a week he might still want to play.

I wish I knew about this before we started with the rec. league this year. :tsk My poor son "might" get 10 minutes of play during a whole game. :tape :tsk

[OnTheHorizon]

My kids were in Upward basketball for several years and it was a very positive experience.:)

[ftwspursfan]

:thumb Thanks for the feedback.

Interesting enough, ds came to me and said next year he doesn't want to play basketball because he doesn't like running around so many days a week. I told him about Upward and he said if it's only once a week he might still want to play.

I wish I knew about this before we started with the rec. league this year. :tsk My poor son "might" get 10 minutes of play during a whole game. :tape :tsk

Upward requires every player to play equal time each game. In B-ball we have 3 periods per half, so each player plays 3 periods per game minimum. Obviously, it breaks down if you have less than 10 players for that game, but our league specifies 10 players per team. I hope he enjoys Upward if he decides to join a league.

[lisaann]

Upward requires every player to play equal time each game. In B-ball we have 3 periods per half, so each player plays 3 periods per game minimum. Obviously, it breaks down if you have less than 10 players for that game, but our league specifies 10 players per team. I hope he enjoys Upward if he decides to join a league.

:thumb

This past Saturday he only got 4 minutes 53 seconds in the game. :furious Both of the coaches sons played the whole game! No wait, one of the coaches pulled her son for the last 2 minutes 50 seconds of the game. :rolleyes :whoopdeedo I am not the only parent who is noticing this unfairness either. Good grief! These kids are only in 5th grade for Pete's sake! It's not like they are competing for college scholarships. :furious

Normally I would insist on finishing the season out but since there is still two more months of this nonsense I told ds that it's his decision whether he wants to continue or not. He was actually depressed and out of sorts all weekend because of this. Rec. league elementary basketball is not worth all of this. :nope It was supposed to be fun. :tape

[Cookies4me]

Upword has a mandatory rotation list.