Shootin' Hoops With Dad Read online

  “Maybe you should try something else this time.” He suggest like I was even thinking about doing that routine again. So more thinking about a way not to think. This is hard.

  “You’re off to a good start with the dribbling but you can’t just throw the ball at the basket.” He says. “You gotta get yourself in a rhythm first.”

  Rhythm? It’s not like I can dance. Wait, maybe I can flip the ball after I dribble it and then go up to shoot it?

  I take three dribbles, do a little toss and flip the ball and immediately shoot. And it rims in and out for another miss. But it was closer to going in so that’s good right?

  “That’s better but you need one more thing.” My dad says.

  “What’s that?” I ask hoping he has the answer.

  “A saying.”

  “A saying?” Huh?

  “Yeah something to focus on making the shot instead of worrying about missing it.”

  Hmmm that actually sounds like a good idea.

  “So what should I say?” I ask.

  “You gotta come up with that. I can’t think of everything for you.” He responds with a half joking but half serious laugh.

  Ugh fine. Ok, ok, let me think…I got it!

  I take my position at the line. I look down, dribble three times then I look up at the basket. I flip the ball.

  “The…” I bend my knees.

  “Ball…” I raise my arms up.

  “Goes…” I release the ball.

  “Swish.” Right through the hoop!

  “That was perfect!” My dad says. “Now do it again.”

  Ok I got this. I go through my routine again, same dribble, same ball flip.

  The…Ball…Goes…Swish again! I’m heating up!

  “Again!” My dad says again full of excitement.

  No problem. I do my thing and the ball goes in once again. I’m on fire!

  “Wanna go for four?” He asks.

  Why not? Another shot, another swish! And the next shot goes in, and the next one, and the one after that. I get to ten in a row! I think that’s a good way to end the day.

  I’m almost ready for tryouts. I think then say out loud which catches my dad’s attention.

  “What tryouts?”

  “For the b-ball team at school.”

  He’s surprised.

  “Ohhh okay. I didn’t know you wanted to play basketball for the scho…” He pauses mid-sentence like a light bulb just went off.

  “Are Billie and Adrian trying out?”

  He totally figured it out and I nod my head yes.

  “We do everything else together, might as well hoop together too.” I tell him.

  “You know it’s gonna be a lot of hard work so I hope you’re doing this for yourself too.”

  Whoa that was deep. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it like that yet. I do like playing basketball and I wanna play well, if nothing else, to not embarrass myself so I’m down to work hard.

  “I wanna do this!” I tell him.

  He stops, looks at me for a minute and thinks.

  “Okay let’s do it.” He finally replies and gives me a high-five.

  “We’ll start for real tomorrow.”

  “Start what?” I ask.

  “You’ll see.” He says with a smile and wink.

  What did I just get myself into?

  I wake up ready for day two of school (one down, a million to go). When I get there I gotta get more info about this basketball stuff. I avoid TK and make the long walk from my locker to Billie and Adrian’s (this is gonna get old). I finally make it to them with plenty of time before class starts. Time to get the scoop!

  But right before I can open my mouth to even say hi here comes TK barreling around the corner dribbling a ball (quite badly I might add) down the hallway.

  “Coming through!” He yells as he’s heading right towards us.

  And by us I mean me! I gotta get out the way! But I’m frozen like a deer in the headlights my dad would say. But seriously I gotta move! Like right now…BAM! TK runs right over me like I was trying to take a charge in a basketball game.

  “I said coming through. Sheesh!” He says laughing as he goes down the hall still dribbling (still badly too I might add).

  Billie and Adrian run over to me, helping me up and asking me if I’m ok. Physically I’m fine but as I look around and see some kids laughing and some pointing and staring, I’m a mess on the inside. I play it cool and try to brush it off. Next thing I know the bell is going off and it’s time to go to class and I didn’t even get a chance to ask them about the team, great (and by great I mean not great at all). At least there’s lunch.

  I get through my classes and it’s lunchtime. Now it’s time for the scoop! And when I sit down with Billie and Adrian I get straight to it.

  “So what’s up with the team you guys?” I ask trying to play it cool even though I’m super anxious.

  “Not really much to tell.” Adrian comes back with.

  Not much to tell? What kinda answer is that? I need all the info I can get since I just started practicing. Maybe Billie can help. I turn and start staring at her…and staring…and staring some more until she finally notices. She pretends to think for a minute, I know she’s messing with me.

  “Well there is this one thing.” She says finally.

  Yes! What is it? I’ll take whatever I can get!

  “Actually it’s two things.”

  Two things? Even better!

  “The twins.”

  Twins? I don’t get it.

  “Twins?” I ask since well…I don’t get it.

  “The Zayn twins.” She says but I still don’t get it.

  “Zayn but more like insane.” Adrian adds.

  Ugh. That doesn’t sound good. Do I even wanna know any more about them?

  “Coming through!”

  I’ve heard that before, it’s TK again. But wait, he’s got a different shirt on again…I think. When he ran me over this morning he was wearing an orange shirt but now he has on a white one. This can’t be right. Am I going crazy here?

  “Coming through!”

  I hear again but TK is sitting right across from me and it wasn’t him even though it sounded exactly like him. Yeah I’m going crazy here.

  I look over and in walks…TK?!? No, not TK. Wait and then it hits me…

  “The Zayn Twins.” Billie says.

  No way! The kid that’s been messing with me these two days is actually two kids?!? On the bright side at least I’m officially not crazy.

  Zayn #2 sits next to Zayn #1 and both give me a funny look. I wonder if #2 told #1 about running me over already? With my luck, definitely.

  “Hey Derrick, wanna hear something funny?” Zayn #2 says to #1.

  “Yes Derrick, I love hearing funny stuff.” He replies.

  Why did they just call each other by the same name? Wait, do they have the same name? Billie sees the confused look on my face and leans in and whispers in my ear.

  “Both their name’s are Derrick by the way.”

  Wow they really have the same name? Awesome (and by awesome I mean totally weird and not awesome). How am I even gonna be able to tell them apart now? Same name, same goggles, same bad attitude…

  Wait ok only Zayn #1 has a little mustache action going on. I’ll have to remember that. And thankfully they don’t stay long, probably have some other kids to terrorize. But as soon as they leave I turn back to Billie and Adrian. Now I have even more questions.

  “Why do they have the same name?” I gotta ask because it’s gonna forever bother me if I don’t find out.

  “It’s a mystery.” Adrian answers.

  Of course it is! But I gotta find out I just gotta. It’s too weird to not know.

  “How do you talk to them?”

  “We just yell out Derrick and they both answer so it doesn’t really matter.” Billie explains.

  That’s crazy.
But at least I can tell them apart.

  “Where was the other one yesterday during lunch?” I ask.

  “Detention.” Answers Adrian.

  Already? It was the first day of school! Whoa. Time for the last and most important question.

  “Are they any good?”

  I saw how bad #2 was dribbling down the hallway so they can’t be that great right?

  “They’re kinda awesome.” Billie answers.

  Wrong.

  “Oh and their dad is the coach of the A-Team.” Adrian casually throws out there.

  Whaaat?!? No way!!! This can’t be happening. Not again. Okay maybe I should explain.

  Last year when I first moved here to Texas I played on the neighborhood little league team, that’s where I met Billie and Adrian and we all became best friends. But that’s also where I met Calvin aka Coach’s Kid. His dad was our coach and let Calvin do whatever he wanted. And the thing he wanted to do most was mess with me…a lot. It wasn’t fun and now I have to go through it all over again? No fair!

  “Oh ok cool.” I say out loud while I’m freaking out on the inside. I definitely need to talk to my dad.

  I avoid the Zayns for the rest of the day (but can’t avoid more homework ugh) and my dad is out front to pick me up.

  “Are you ready?” He asks as soon as I get in the car.

  “Ready for what?”

  “To work?” He replies with a very serious look on his face. Uh-oh. But then he breaks out into a wide smile and we drive off. We pass the house up so I guess he wasn’t kidding about work, but where are we going exactly?

  After a couple more minutes we pull up to the park by our house. This is where we would practice baseball sometimes. Next to the diamond they have a basketball court which is cool and all but we have a sweet hoop in the backyard now so I don’t know why we had to come over here. I take the ball and we head straight to the court. I’m about to put up a quick warm-up shot when my dad stops me.

  “Let’s start running, full court.” He says.

  Oh that’s why we’re here. More room to run. Did I mention I hate running?

  Maybe I can talk him out of it. I mean seriously, who likes running right? And besides…

  “It’s our first practice shouldn’t I start working on my skills first, like shooting?”

  Yeah good one Ronnie, this should totally work.

  “Nope.” My dad immediately comes back with.

  Nope? But…But…

  “But why?”

  “Gotta start with conditioning. Basketball is 50% skills, 50% running so we gotta get your endurance up.” He says and then smiles. “You’ll thank me later.”

  I doubt it but I already know I won’t be winning this argument so running it is (I really hate running by the way).

  “Let’s run some suicides, and by we I mean you.” He says with a chuckle.

  My dad is always cracking himself up but I don’t see anything funny here. I don’t know what a suicide is but it doesn’t sound good and I’m kinda afraid to even ask. I’m sure he’s gonna tell me anyway.

  “Here’s the deal. You start here at the baseline and run to the free throw line and back. Then run to half court and back…”

  Ok sounds easy enough. I give him a thumbs up and step to the baseline but my dad stops me.

  Wait there’s more?

  “Then you run down to the other free throw line and back…”

  I’m not really feeling that but okay.

  “Then you run down to the other baseline and back…”

  Ah come on! That’s too much running! Wait, is that even it?

  “And that’s it.” He says like it’s just that easy.

  This is not gonna be fun but let’s get it over with. I line up at the base line and take off. I get to the free throw line, bend and touch it and run back to the baseline with no problem. I run to half-court, hit the line and run back to the baseline a little tired but still feeling good. I make it to the other free throw line a little tired but I think I got this. By the time I get back to my base line I’m more than a little tired but I’m almost done I still got this.

  I touch the base line and look across the court. My dad looks like he’s about a mile away! Did I mention my chest is starting to burn and my mouth is open sucking in all the oxygen I can get? I’m not sure if I can make it.

  I can hear my dad yelling “You can do it” from across the court. I’m glad he thinks I can because my body is saying no way as I’m huffing and puffing and barely moving. Each step I take, the more pain I’m in. This is totally why I play baseball and I’m a pitcher! I just gotta make it someway somehow. Come on Ronnie just hold it together for a few more steps!

  I make it even though I almost collapse at the line. I told you I hated running.

  “Breathe through your nose next time.” He says laughing. He’s enjoying this way too much.

  “Ready to do it again?” He asks.

  My eyes start bulging out of my face and my heart starts beating like crazy. Again? He has to be…

  “Just kidding.”

  I almost had a heart attack! Not cool dad!

  “Let’s work on you free throws.”

  Yes! Something I like to do, and bonus, there’s absolutely no running involved!

  I go to the line (after I catch my breath of course) and go through my ball goes swish routine. And the first one does go swish, nice. And then the second one, and then the third.

  “Look like you got this. Maybe we should do something else.” My dad says kinda jokingly but personally it feels good to be kinda good at least at one thing.

  I shoot a couple more free throws then we move on to taking jump shots. My dad goes to the hoop to pass me the ball and chase down my rebounds. Unfortunately he’s doing a lot of chasing. I’m not hitting my jumpers like I was hitting my free throws. I wish I had the time to do my free throw routine, that would totally help.

  I finish up hitting like only seven of my twenty shots. I got a long way to go to earn that kid James Harden nickname Adrian gave me. After that miserable performance I need something easy to do so we work on my dribbling. It is the most basic thing to do in basketball right?

  But here’s the thing, I’m not too good at dribbling. Why? Because it gives me too much time to think, and like shooting free throws was before I got my routine, and even pitching in baseball, too much thinking is bad for me. So I do my dribble thing for a while, and by thing I mean go up and down the court very slowly trying not to bounce the ball off my foot. I succeed with that most of the time so I won’t complain but I won’t be starting at point guard that’s for sure. That will probably be Billie’s job. Number one pitcher, number one point guard, makes sense to me.

  I wonder what position I will play though. Not tall or wide enough to be a power forward or center, can’t dribble good enough to play point, and my jump shot is a little iffy to be a shooting guard or even small forward. Is there a position for some one who’s just good at shooting free throws? I’ll have to figure that out. But for right now I think we’re finished working out and honestly, it wasn’t that bad…

  “Time to run again.” My dad announces stopping me in mid-happy thought with some very non-happy news.

  “Again?” I ask in my embarrassing whiny voice.

  “Seriously, you’ll thank me later.” He says again…and again I doubt it.

  This time it’s cross-court suicides. It sounds bad but my dad swears it’s easier.

  “All you have to do is start on the sideline and sprint to the edge of the key and then sprint back to the sideline. Sprint across to the other side of the key and sprint back to the sideline. Finally, sprint across to the far sideline and sprint back.”

  Oh yeah waaay easier. Not. I frown.

  “It beats doing it the full court way.” He comes back at me with.

  That’s true I guess but I still hate running though!

  I do it, hitting one line th
en back, then to the next line and back. When I finish I’m tired but not super tired like I was on the full court ones so that’s good right?

  “That wasn’t too bad. Getting better already.” He tells me.

  I tell him thanks but still not thanking him for actually making me run just yet. But overall, it’s was good day.

  Back to school for another exciting day. And by exciting I mean not exciting at all. The only thing I’m looking forward to is hanging out with Billie and Adrian and telling them how I’m officially getting ready for tryouts. I just gotta make sure I avoid the Zayns. I skip going to my locker to avoid Zayn #1 and head straight to Billie and Adrian’s lockers.

  “Totally working on my skills.” Are the first words out of my mouth as soon as I see them. Might as well get straight to the point right?

  They look at each other kinda confused then look at me confused.

  “My b-ball skills, for tryouts. Duh!” I say spelling it out for them.

  They look at each other again still confused…and then break out laughing.

  “ Just playin’ we knew what you meant.” Billie informs me between laughs.

  They love messing with me almost as much as my dad. I only tell them about my free throw shooting. We can skip the running and the not-so great jump shooting obviously. They give me props which makes me feel good. The feeling doesn’t last long because here comes Zayn #2. What does he want?

  “Sup losers.” He says and keeps on walking.

  That’s it? That was bad but at least it was quick. I guess I’ll take it.

  “Don’t worry about them.” Billie says.

  Easier said than done.

  “We’re clearly winners.” She adds. She’s always so confident.

  Then out of nowhere Adrian gets hyped up like a great idea just popped into his head.

  “There’s a 3-on-3 tournament up at the park on Saturday. We should totally do that!”

  “Yeah totally! It’s the perfect chance for all three of us to practice together.” Billie responds.

  Totally? Perfect? Um how about no?!? I’ve only had one practice and that didn’t go all that great. I’m nowhere near ready to play in front of them let alone with them against other kids.

  Oh great now they’re both staring at me waiting on my answer. How am I gonna get out of this? Think fast Ronnie!