k-STATE Basketball

The ultimate goal in high school basketball is to win a state championship, or more realistically to play in the state tournament. Well, it's kind of the same for the people that officiate high school basketball. The ultimate goal is to work games in a state tournament. Coaches make recommendations for officials based on if the officials did a good job during the regular season. Getting state games is an honor, showing that you earned the respect of the coaches and got recommended by them.

Yesterday, the boys and I traveled to Manhattan to watch Ben ref at the 2A State Basketball Tournament. Right next to Bramlage Coliseum is the K-State football stadium. The cranes doing constructions were huge! 

 But the boys were focused on seeing the big wildcat in the middle of the field. I ended up having to prop Levi up in the air above my head so he could see it. I felt like a Super Mom.

 Eventually, we decided it was time to go find Ben. He'd arrived ahead of us by a couple hours. Oh, but first they had to shake Mr. Bramlage's hands.

Ben, with permission from the guy in charge, took us in the back door. It still felt completely sneaky and like we were somewhere we shouldn't have been.

 Once inside, we found our friends Pat, Amy, Emily, Jake and Jenna. Pat was working games with Ben. It was so good for the boys to have other kids to play with!
We sat and watched the game that was being played, but soon enough the boys were asking for food. They had snacked in the car, but claimed to be hungry again. So up to the hospitality room we went! What a cool location! The boys were thrilled to get a good look at the stadium from up high.

 And the snacks were fantastic too.

 The kids lined up on this couch to get a better view

 of what was suddenly happening on the football field! They asked repeatedly if Weston (the Goessel grad who plays for K-State) was out there. None of us figured it out.

 And then back inside for more basketball!

 The kids watched some of the Moundridge vs. Inman game, but that was about the extent of the actual games that any of them watched.

 Noah and Jake had a good time playing together. Emily did a lot of reading and some walking around by herself, the perks of being the big kid in the group.

 Levi and Jenna played, too. Soon it was time for more snacks.

 And finally, Ben had his stripes on!

 Thank goodness for this open space near where we were sitting. The kids played tag for a very long time, allowing Amy and I to simply watch the game and walk around taking pictures.

There were moments when tag was too tiring and the boys stopped to watch the game.

 In the end, we were reduced to passing the time by taking silly pictures. The boys had been inside the gym for about 5 hours at this point and were still doing a great job of listening and cooperating.

 After a quiet and sleepy ride, we made it home at about 10pm. Not bad! I had feared we'd get home much later than that.

And with that, another basketball season ends. We made it. It certainly has gotten easier every year and for that I'm very thankful. I'm also thankful that Ben truly enjoys being a basketball official and that he can balance the joys and stresses of the game without getting wrapped up in the drama.