Kidspiration: Teaching kids to love basketball at an early age

For parents Michael and Vanessa Castelo, teaching their kids to love sports at a young age was one of the best decisions they made. Though it required an intentional effort to balance time, work and training,engaging them helped a lot in the growth of their children.

Source: Instagram

Michael and Vanessa Castelo are proud parents to their two children Giselle (11 years old) and Michael (8 years old) who are both playing basketball at a community-based volunteer club "Marymede" in South Morang.

As early as 5 years old, their children developed the love for the sport which started at home through watching basketball games with their father. Vanessa recalls "as you know, Filipinos really love basketball so of course it starts at the home, you know their father plays basketball, their uncles pretty much everyone in the family, their grandparents.. so from a young age it was already instilled in them that they had to play basketball that was the beginning of their love for the sport".

Giselle is the first-born of the couple, she was very much into the sport. She basically liked what her dad likes. She would go to her dad's basketball games and was very interested in learning it. Giselle started her competition when she was 7 years old but was already picking up and dribbling ball at the age of 4. Michael does not believe in pushing or forcing his kids. For him, the way to go is to encourage them to play. Though it took awhile for his son, Michael to get into the sport eventually at a later time, he was starting to like the sport.

"With my boy, being a boy, I'm like please do basketball... I don't really want to try and push my kids that much..I encourage them to play the game. But it took awhile for my son to get into it cos he was more so into his legos... Not as sporty as I would have liked but I think my girl ended up getting all that gift for now." Michael added.

Son Michael Castelo with fellow basketball player Source: Vanessa Castelo

Marymede is a community-based club in South Morang run by volunteers. The club originated from a local Catholic school wherein volunteers are composed of parents, students and teen coaches. The group is selflessly dedicating their time to teach kids basic skills in basketball and other sports. During the week, the kids train on a Thursday and play the game every Saturday against other clubs in the area.

Vanessa admits it is not easy to handle all things at once especially that the couple are both working full time. However, her teamwork with husband Michael and strong support network made it easygoing.

"It's busy, it's is a juggling act..Being a full-time working mom you get through it..The weeks go very quickly but lucky for me I got good support network around me which helps quite a lot."

A pose during and after the basketball game Source: Michael Castelo

The training was a little bit hard for the couple because they needed to find balance in family, work and training the kids. The kids would normally go with their dad to his Sunday basketball and do simple drills. They are also being taught to dribble before and after school as Michael believes this is the basic skill his kids needed to learn in order for them to become competitive in the court.

"I'll take one child and he might take the other. On other days, He plays basketball himself.. So we have to work around that as well.. Obviously if the game times are overlapping on a Saturday we would have to split and one parent would take one child and obviously the other would take the other." Vanessa added.

Dad Michael Castelo with son Michael ready for training Source: Michael Castelo

For Michael and Vanessa, engaging their kids in sport at a young age provides positive effects in the growth of their children. It builds their self-esteem, gives them a goal to become better, teaches them to play in a team environment and develops a spirit of sportsmanship within them.