A Football Score, but a Different Game

My niece is in her last year of Rec Basketball--on the verge of what will probably be a decent Junior High/High School career (hopefully she'll get good enough to grease the rails towards higher education). Anyway, Saturday was the first game of the season--and somehow, the first game I've attended, despite her doing this for 5 previous years.

Anyway, I had to keep reminding myself this was their first game--it was a disaster. They were clearly rusty (except for the very few who were playing their first game), very few seemed to understand the game at all--and most of them didn't understand much. Of the 20 or so girls out there, I'd say 1 really knew her stuff (not my niece, for the record), and 4 looked like they'd be a real threat once they got warmed up. The game was 2-2 at the half, (I wasn't sure at that point if I was watching basketball or soccer) 12-8 at the end.

The refs, I should add, were wholly professional--they acted just like NBA level officials--clearly in the bag for the home team.

I'm really looking forward to returning at the end of the season to see how much they've improved--I have moderately high hopes.

But what really struck me was the level of play--and I'm not trying to pick on these girls. Most of them are in their sixth year. Contrast what I saw to a Little League game of baseball--opening of the season or not, you're just not going to find that level of...clumsiness and cluelessness much beyond T-ball. Especially not in people with 5 years under their belt.

Is basketball so different from baseball? What is it about the two sports (I'm really only a casual observer of one) that gives these kind of results?