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Photo by Bob Williams/FOCUS Reid Moser is enveloped by his fellow Timberwolves after sinking a buzzer beater from beyond half-court.

Basketball season tipped off in style

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youth sports Perham, 56573
Perham Minnesota 222 2nd Avenue SE 56573

A true sign of the impending winter, basketball has tipped off and it began in the gymnasium of the Heart of the Lakes Elementary school, where fourth through sixth grade boys entertained friends and family alike.


The crowd ringed the two courts and attendees were privy to a range of emotions, a few missed traveling calls and one prayer come true.

Youth sports are fun. Every shot chucked at the rim is met with cheers of hope from the crowd and each miss followed by communal gasps of empathy. There are equal parts humor and pathos when watching young kids attempt to master their growing bodies and spongy minds in pursuit of putting a large ball in a small hoop at the end of the gym.

A vast range of styles were on display from the kid who can always steal the ball and race down for a lay-up to the young person who may have a mind on the PS3 in the living room between dribbles.

Regardless of perfected strategy or the occasional lapse in fundamentals, if there is one thing to be said about youth basketball, it's that everyone in attendance is having a good time.

One young man, created a crescendo both from the crowd and his teammates, and lit up the entire gym.

Time was running down and the opposing team threw the ball in at half court.

The pass missed its intended target and bobbled its way into the hands of one Reid Moser.

Moser knew what time it was.

He had two seconds and a lot of court between the ball that had suddenly appeared in his hands and the destined hoop.

He dribbled once, took two steps and from behind the half-court line launched a prayer.

As it left his hands, it had that feel and from the chosen arc, it could be seen, the shot was going to be close.

The gymnasium fell silent as all eyes watched this heave of hope curve down toward the rim. Time moved slowly. All the kids on the court stopped and just stared as Moser's hail mary did nothing but snap the bottom of the net.


"OHHHHHHHHHH!" the crowd bellowed.

There was a smile on every face to be seen. The opposing team stopped in their tracks in possession of bewildered faces.

Moser's teammates mauled him in a group celebration just off their bench.

Moser's shot exemplifies why sports are great. The look on his face and the faces he created in the gym Thursday afternoon were priceless.