Lundaspelen - basketball mania

Nils super sweaty after a tough game.
Alice still wearing her uniform from a game earlier that day.

The whole family came to watch most of the games.
Need to get hearing protection for Poppy.

It is our last day of winter break. Alice and Nils are resting, but this afternoon basketball practice and soccer practice is on for the spring season. During the break they have experienced Lundaspelen for the first time. It is a huge basketball tournament in Lund and this year it was the 35th annual with 320 teams, 80+ referees, 87 clubs from 10 nations and about 800 games played over 4 days. I did know that basketball was big in Lund, but not THIS big. The tournament is a tradition and an institution by now and is always run the first days in January when kids are still free from school. The teams from abroad stays in the local schools, volunteering parents and players of our local club have shifts cooking for the guest players, running cafeterias at the games, helping referees keeping scores etc. It is a major operation, but very fun for the kids.

Nils #74 down in the right corner

Nils scoring a penalty shot

Both Alice and Nils play basketball now. It took a while to get them started in the fall since Nils (who was most keen on finding a team) broke his arm the day before school started. No use to sign up for basketball then, but after our fall break in late October I signed up both of them with the local club Eos Basket. It turns out to be a great club with their own basketball gym built some 20 years ago, but still very functional. In the building they also have a study room. Many kids walk there right after school and do their homework before practice or just hang out with their basketball friends. One of the main organizers in the club used to be a teacher so he helps out if needed. There is also a cafeteria run by the club where you can buy sandwiches and healthy snack. The gym is located a 10 minute walk from our house - perfect!

The rules are the same here as in the US, but during the games (only 2x15 min) in the international tournament they met some hard competition from the Danish and German teams. They played so rough, in a way we had never seen before. It took a while to adjust for our Swedish teams, and it was not in time to go all the way to the finals, but the play did increase immensely. The last game I saw Nils play was the best I have ever seen him play. His coach let him be point guard and he did 10 or more points. It was a big achievement agains that Danish team.

Alice with parts of her team

Alice in the far right corner

Alice's team is number one in Sweden and very competitive. Since she had just played for two moths when the tournament happened she got to play in the beginning, but as the opposition got tougher and tougher they played their safer and more experienced cards. Also, they have many girls on their roster now and the tournament only allows 12 players/game so they had to switch the girls around to let everyone get playing time according to how much practice they had done during the fall. Her team made it to the 1/4 finals, but there they were beaten by the great Danish team which is the best in all the Nordic countries.  

Both kids are very happy to be playing basketball again and I enjoy watching the fast, intelligent game.