Church Ball...

Ten Mormon Mommies, plus one Mormon teen (who is not a mommy), warm-up on the basketball court of the stake center. Lay-up drills are run, three point shots are taken, and a lot of laughing ensues.

The referees call the teams together for a prayer. One for safety on the court and also that everyone will maintain sportsman-like conduct. (it's amazing how aggressive a whole bunch of Mormon's can get)

The prayer is said, and the starting teams take the court. Five on five. The whistle is blown, and the jump-ball happens. Our team consists of women who are no taller than 5 feet 8 inches. The other team's shortest player is 5 feet 8 inches. They are taller than us by a whole head!

A few minutes into the game, we realize that this team is a bunch of scrappers. That this team is going to give us bruises when we leave. By the time the game is half over, we have them figured out. And we're not going to let them run all over us.

But one thing they're doing to us, is fouling. They're knocking us all over the place. One of our players is thrown to the ground so hard she has a huge bruise on her arm at the next game--a week later!

And, since you probably don't believe me about how bad it was, here's the proof. In photos.

 Exhibit A. Notice the arms, all up on my teammate. And the lady with the pony--totally reaching in!

Exhibit B. Notice, I don't even have the ball, but the same lady with the pony is all up on my back! What's up with that?

Exhibit C. #15 is blocking correctly, but her teammate...reaching in again!! What?!?

So my question is, why is church ball so competitive? Why do the claws come out on the court? We're all a bunch of nice people, but for some reason when a ball of any kind is involved, we transform into totally different people.

Can't we all just get along?