Last week the kids from Good Shepherd participated in the annual basketball tournament. All the orphanages from Makeevka had been invited and eight teams (four girls, four boys) showed up. A family from St. Louis had come earlier this year and paid for the replacement of windows as well as some remodeling in the gymnasium. The administration was so proud that they recommended that the basketball tournament be held there. Seventy-two children participated. It is not the type of coaching that I was used to in North America, with many of the kids not knowing where to stand during a free throw or even how/where to play defense, but Good Shepherd represented well. Each game consisted of two, 10-minute halves (running clock), making the games go rather quickly. It was exciting. The boys advanced to the championship with a 32-2 win over the team that ended up taking third place. Then the girls came back from a 10-4 second half deficit to win the championship 18-14 (in a five-minute overtime period). The boys also played well in the championship, but could not get their shots to fall. They ended up in second place.
It was exciting to see how much better both teams played when compared to how they played last year. It was also interesting to compare the behavior of the Good Shepherd kids to that of the kids from the government-run orphanages. Such comparisons always make me realize how great of thing is being done by the people at Good Shepherd.
Dave
Last week the kids from Good Shepherd participated in the annual basketball tournament. All the orphanages from Makeevka had been invited and eight teams (four girls, four boys) showed up. A family from 
