The Knights of Columbus hosts a free throw shooting contest every year, ages 10-14. Big O decided to compete in it, and we went to SFX for the local level contest. They shot 15 free throws, and O olny made 6. She's a much better shooter than that, so she was kind of bummed. Her friend Sarah was the last in her age group to shoot, and made 6, so O and Sarah had to have a 5 shot shoot off. O went first, made her first three, then missed 2. Sarah missed her first two, then made her last 3. Another 5 shots. O made 3 again. Sarah made her 2 of the first 4, then rimmed out her final one to make O the winner.

On to Sarasota and the regional competition. She did great - 17 of 25!! Great shooting O, and on to the state finals! One of the cool things was Dick Cunningham was at this contest, he played on the 1971 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Oscar Robertson - the original Big O!

There were a lot of people at the state competition, not just shooters, but family members. The first girl in O's age group went out and knocked down 17 free throws. Again O was the last shooter of the group, and 17 was still the number to beat. She knocked down the first three, and looked good. Then she shot an air ball, and seemed to get rattled. Missing 3 more in a row, she never got her groove back, and finished with 12. That was good for 3rd place! It was a great experience, she had fun with her friend Caroline who was in the next age group up.

It was fun watching her shoot, and a neat time for everyone :) We were so proud of her!