For the past couple of years, I have been playing basketball many Tuesday nights at the American school. The peope that play on Tuesdays are about 75% ex-pats and 25% Chinese. There are some (not many) Americans; Russians (hoo boy, that's fun), Filipinos, Africans, and Hong Kong-ese. The basketball there is fairly recognizable to any American....
However, I'm about to enter another adventure. The different functions at work (engineering, IT, line businesses, etc) have started a basketball round robin tournament. The engineering group have asked me to play on their team. These guys are all in their mid- to late-20s, and - well, they are fairly small. About 5 people have come up to me - seperately - and have said "oh great, we need a center. You can play center, right?" Um, I'm barely 6 feet and 41 years old, trying to run with 27 year olds. A center? Sure - you realize I can't move well, right?
We had the first practice tonight in a university gym - with no air conditioning. Holy crap, it was hot. Some random notes:
- It's the first pick up game - ever - where everyone on the team says "ok, we are slow, so we are not going to play man-to-man." Zone? Really? In a pick up game? I haven't played a zone defense since 1989.
- We were shooting around to begin with; I hit a jumper. I stayed in my spot, expecting the rebounder to pass me the ball back.....uh, no. None of that courtesy.
- There is no "checking" when playing a half court pick up game. You get the ball at the top of the key, and go..... no chekcing to see if the opponent is ready.
- Rules will be obeyed! A team voluntarily called a half-court violation on themselves. They actually inbound the ball when it goes out on the sidelines (vs. just checking at the top).
- Not a lot of jumpers are taken. The offense is either drive into the lane and get fouled (a la LeBron) or pass to try to get someone a layup. Many are reluctant to take the 10, 12 footer. I hit one near the start - that elicited a lot of ooohs and aaaaahs.
- Terminology: someone passed to me when I was open, but I wasn't looking.....I apologized; he said that I was "empty" and that's why he passed it. Empty? Oh, you mean I was open..... I guess it could mean the same thing.....unless I was insulted and don't know it.
Our first game is Sunday morning - and I've been told (by another American) that we are playing in a school gym that resembles the Thunderdome. I'll try to take more pictures.
However, I'm about to enter another adventure. The different functions at work (engineering, IT, line businesses, etc) have started a basketball round robin tournament. The engineering group have asked me to play on their team. These guys are all in their mid- to late-20s, and - well, they are fairly small. About 5 people have come up to me - seperately - and have said "oh great, we need a center. You can play center, right?" Um, I'm barely 6 feet and 41 years old, trying to run with 27 year olds. A center? Sure - you realize I can't move well, right?
We had the first practice tonight in a university gym - with no air conditioning. Holy crap, it was hot. Some random notes:
- It's the first pick up game - ever - where everyone on the team says "ok, we are slow, so we are not going to play man-to-man." Zone? Really? In a pick up game? I haven't played a zone defense since 1989.
- We were shooting around to begin with; I hit a jumper. I stayed in my spot, expecting the rebounder to pass me the ball back.....uh, no. None of that courtesy.
- There is no "checking" when playing a half court pick up game. You get the ball at the top of the key, and go..... no chekcing to see if the opponent is ready.
- Rules will be obeyed! A team voluntarily called a half-court violation on themselves. They actually inbound the ball when it goes out on the sidelines (vs. just checking at the top).
- Not a lot of jumpers are taken. The offense is either drive into the lane and get fouled (a la LeBron) or pass to try to get someone a layup. Many are reluctant to take the 10, 12 footer. I hit one near the start - that elicited a lot of ooohs and aaaaahs.
- Terminology: someone passed to me when I was open, but I wasn't looking.....I apologized; he said that I was "empty" and that's why he passed it. Empty? Oh, you mean I was open..... I guess it could mean the same thing.....unless I was insulted and don't know it.
Our first game is Sunday morning - and I've been told (by another American) that we are playing in a school gym that resembles the Thunderdome. I'll try to take more pictures.
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