Day 5 – Ballin’

Today I decided to revisit my old high school, Camps Bay High School, to practice with the first team basketball team. Now, when I was in grade 11 and grade 12, I played for their 1^st basketball team. This was not because there was a lack of tall, co ordinated sportsmen at Camps Bay High, but because I was actually quite a good baller! I played on the wing, and was quite good at dribbling and snap shots at the hoop. When I played for 1^st team, I was friendly with most of the other players in the basketball team, as I had known them for most of my high school career. Now, revisiting my old high school and practicing with their team a whole 3 years later… I knew nobody. Not even the coach! Being the shortest person in the basketball team in matric wasn’t such a biggie, because my coach and teammates knew I was capable. Today, I expected things to be way different, seeing as though nobody had seen me play before. Also, I haven’t played since high school, so my basketball was rusty to say the least…

 

At first, when we played a practice game, I didn’t get much ball time at all. I could see that the rest of my team were hesitant to pass the ball to me, which made me uncomfortable and made me feel out of place, and a bit embarrassed. As the game progressed, however, I got into the stride of things quite nicely. My teammates started passing to me more and more once they had seen my shooting, dribbling, and passing skills. It felt like I was right back in high school! The one thing that was different was that I had a beard, and I was WAY unfit. After a quick 20 minute game, unfortunately my team lost 23 – 31, but I felt great that I contributed to 12 of those points!

 

It just goes to show, it’s not the size of the player, but the size of your heart that counts. Today could have been an awkward, embarrassing experience had I not shaped-up on the court, but it turned out to be a really fun experience. After 4 days of feeling weird and uncomfortable, today was a nice refreshing breath of comfort. Don’t tell my lecturer!