Rejection

I don't know what else to call it!

Middle Sister has been playing in a summer basketball league since early June. The team is made up mainly of girls from her school, going into 5th and 6th grades. When we signed her up, we were told that the league is a "just for fun" thing with no practices, just an opportunity to keep the girls playing in the summer. Out of 10 games scheduled, she missed 2 at the most. She always arrived early, ready to play, with a good attitude.

She's not the best basketball player on the court, mainly because she's not the most focused. But she's got height, stamina, speed and good rebounding and passing ability.

Toward the end of the "season" she started getting discouraged because she didn't get much playing time. In a 40-minute game, she'd play less than 10. She was starting to resent that the games took her away from playing with friends, and then she didn't even get much of a chance to be in the game.

Last week's game was, to our understanding, the end of the "season." There was never a mention of Playoffs in any of the communications from the coach or the league. But the dad who was subbing for the coach last week told all the parents that Playoffs would begin on the 23rd and we'd get a notice about our game time.

On Tuesday I saw an item in the sports section of the local paper. It said that Middle Sister's team had won its first playoff game. One of the girls at Middle Sister's sleepover last weekend had been the leading scorer.

We had never heard about the game.

I asked everyone if there had been a phone call from the coach. I checked my email. Nothing.

So I emailed the coach:

Hi—
I’m sorry Middle Sister missed last night’s basketball game. I saw in the paper that the team won the game. We never got a call or email about the game—we had no idea! Are there more games scheduled or was that the end?

No answer.

This morning I saw another item in the sports section. Middle Sister's team had played again last night. This time they lost the game. Once again, we never got any notice about the game.

We're not sure what to think. The first time, we figured a message had been lost. But at this point, "These lights are off on purpose." We are wondering if the coach only called the best players to come to these games.

I'm not telling Middle Sister about this one, I don't think. Her feelings were hurt enough after Monday's game.

This kind of thing could turn her off on sports altogether.