We were out of bed by 5am Sunday morning and driving down the highway by 6. Destination was Becker Minnesota, almost a three hour drive.

This is the season to watch grandchildren play basketball. We needed to be there by 9am to watch our 6’1, 8th grader Zane play a couple of games in the Becker Event Center. Saturday we were in Montevideo watching our 4th grade granddaughter Gretta play against Hancock. This time of year there seems to be basketball and wrestling tournaments every weekend for the younger kids. Roxie and I aren’t able to make all of them, but we sure do enjoy it when we get to see them play.

When we left Madison early Sunday morning I was surprised to see a light covering of snow on the roads. It was like that all the way to Willmar. In some places it was hard to see where you were on the road. At that time in the morning there isn’t much traffic, and I think the first car we met was just outside of Milan. We saw a few deer crossing highway 40 on the other side of Milan and lucky I wasn’t going the usual speed otherwise I would have smoked a few. We arrived in Becker at 8:45, just in time for Zane’s first game.

Watching my grandkids play basketball the last few years has been fun to see them grow and mature playing the game. Adelyn who is a freshman at Montevideo and plays on the JV basketball team tore her ACL and Meniscus in her knee last week and has to have her 2nd knee surgery in a couple of weeks. So she is heartbroken she can’t finish out the season or play softball this spring. She worked hard to get back where she was from her 1st knee surgery. It breaks my heart too because I know how much playing high school sports means to her.

Gretta’s 4th grade team is really good and fun to watch. All the girls are very athletic and can handle the ball well. Gretta plays the game at break neck speed. She is going 100 mph all the time! The girls on that team hustle! It will be interesting to see them develop over the next few years. They reminded me of the LQPV girls that are seniors now and are having a very good season. The Senior Eagles were very good as 4th, 5th and 6th graders and just kept getting better. I see Gretta’s team doing the same.

Zane is 6’1 as an 8th grader and the tallest on his Foley Falcon team. They dominated Big Lake and Sartell on Sunday. Zane scored 28 points in the first game and about the same the 2nd game. He has made a lot of improvement from last year. I told him afterwards that I like his aggressiveness going after rebounds and his assists to his teammates were awesome. Very proud of all my grandchildren and can’t wait to see them play some more.

Unfortunately two of our grandkids live in Wichita Kansas and it’s difficult to watch them on a regular basis. Broc is on the Derby High School’s Sophomore team and Callie is a cheerleader. Watching online isn’t the same. Broc is very good at basketball and tennis and Callie loves cheerleading. I wish we could attend their events.

Now for me section sports start this week with section dance in Montevideo Saturday. Then wall to wall basketball and wrestling after that. Going to be some crazy tournaments this year.