I go in the gym. First day, my first time here, lots of confusion. People running all pover the place. I get a ball, shoot a couple. Two go in. Seventeen miss. Suddenly, kid comes up. Maybe 7, 8? Shoots five, nothing but net.
Kids there watch. I walk away. I'm pissed.
9:00 A.M.
Camp starts. Guy on stage talks. A lot. Tells us about good attitudes, and devotion to the game. I sigh. Very boring.
10:00 A.M.
Guy still talking. Big mouth. Very.
10:30 A.M.
Guy stops talking. We get grouped. I get grouped with other 13 year-olds, some 12 year olds. Group J. Jumpin' J's. I hope I can do well.
Coach seems okay, for now anyway. Is old. Smells bad. I feel sorry for him.
11:00 A.M.
Bad half hour. Find out, Coach is redneck bigot. Calls me Orbitz. I tell him, Alborz. He says, shut up Orbitz. Says I need mannners. Shouldn't talk back to Coach. I say, I'm just helping you pronounce my name.
I sit out the first 15 minutes.
11:30 A.M.
We play Gotcha. Some sort of basketball game with 2 balls. Person behind you makes it before you, you're out.
I'm third in line. First person shoots, swish. Passes ball to me while second person shoots, misses. I get excited. Shoot! Miss :'( .
Guy in front of me gets his rebound, does lay-up. I try lay-up , too. I score! I stay in another round.
12:00 A.M.
We're doing shooting drills now. We're seeing how many we can shots we can do in a row without missing one. Each person takes two shots, one at one end of court, one at other. Tough to run. Playing outside, 82 degrees. Very hot.
My turn. I go to 1st end. We're trying to get 10 in a row. Already got 8. I got to the hoop. Coach shouts, Make it for once, Orbitz! I shoot. It goes in! My group cheers. Coach mutters in an undertone, Finally. I go back for my 2nd shot. I shoot. I miss. My group groans. Coach takes me aside, tells me I should work harder and not work against the team.
I notice Coach doesn't say anything to the next 4 kids who miss both shots.
1:00 P.M
Lunch. I don't have any friends, so I go, sit alone. All of a sudden, someone comes, sits by me! One of the "cool" group people! Asks me what's going on. I say, nothing much. He says, that's cool. Then, asks me if I'll fill his water bottle for him. I am pleased to oblige.
Fill it, then come back. Hand it to him. I smile. My first friend! He then gets up to go to bathroom. I open my lunch box, look for sndwich. It's gone! Go to see kid in bathroom. I go in. He is laughing with friends.
Sees me. Leaves. I go check stall he was in. I see my sandwich in toilet.
Feel self-pity. I remember 2 years ago. There was girl I liked. Girl I liked liked another boy. I plotted to break 'em up. Failed. Boy stole my lunchbox dollor bill from my locker later. Found it in toiilet. Food +money inside ( 15 $ for a party that afternoon) all washed up. Girl laughs when finds out. I feel bad.
2:00 P.M.
More drills. Guy in front of me in line goes, shoots. Then passes ball to me. Hard. Hits my head. Hurts. Coach tells me to pay attention. Boy snickers in my face. Other boys laugh. I feel rejected. Feel bad.
3:00 P.M.
End of camp day! Guy with big mouth comes, tells about good attitude again, then calls Camper of the Day. Says some good words. My hopes rise. Mentions name. My hopes fall. Then we leave.
Touch bump on head. It hurts. Just as much as the way I lost Gotcha, when someone who was out tripped me, I fell lost ball, got out. Hurt.
Day is over. Unfortuantly, there's tommorrow. I brace myself.
Stick at it if it's something you have your heart set on completing.
The old guy is supposed to have harsh words to say - that's his role - if he said all the right things (about how wonderful your game is) would you try any harder? No. He is giving you a reason to step up to the next level and prove him wrong.
So are the others kids. They worry you might be better than them. Show them that you are. 🙂
Good luck tomorrow, whatever you do - do your best, no-one can fault you for that. 🙂
I've only played basketball a couple of times as a kid. First time i played, i was standing under my own net, thought to myself 'What was it he does in teenwolf? Throw it the length of the court to win the game in the dying seconds? Yeh, that's what i've gotta do!!'. Well i threw it and sure enouph, it went in!! For a whole 5 minutes i was convinced i was the next Michael Jordan, till i realized i was two feet too small and it was a simple case of beginners luck. For the whole rest of the game i (to the great frustration of my team mates) continued to try and get three pointers from deep in our own half. Sigh, them were the days 😏😛