Blog Post #55, May 3, 2009

Joseph and Me

Category: Teaching

One week ago, I played tennis at a public park for an hour and one-half. While playing, I noticed a dark-haired boy, with a basketball tucked under his arm, walking along the outside of the fence and toward the basketball court. When I finished playing tennis, I walked over and just stood, watching the young man shoot. He didn’t pay much attention to me.

He was shooting fifteen-foot set shots and he wasn’t bad. I analyzed his shot and, in my mind, came up with a ton of things he could have done better, but I didn’t say a word; I just watched. After a few minutes, I walked onto the court and asked him, “Do you mind if I shoot around with you?” He held the ball, strained his neck to look up at me, and shyly nodded. I said, “My name is Swen. What’s yours?”

“Joseph,” I could barely hear him.

“How old are you, Joseph?”

“Eight.”

Joseph took about ten shots; made three of them. Then I took ten and made seven. No reaction from the kid.

“Wanna play one-on-one? I asked.

“OK,” he answered with a forced smile that said, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

I gave Joseph the ball first and backed away a little. He took an outside shot and barely missed. I got the ball, shot, and missed. His turn again. This time, I moved in close to see if he knew to drive around me to the basket. But he took the outside shot anyway and I blocked it. [Now don’t get mad at me. I knew what I was doing. Read the rest of the story.] All Joseph knew about basketball was outside shooting. He needed the” drive and lay-up.”

“Do you know how to make a lay-up?” With no eye contact, he shook his head.  [I didn’t destroy his confidence. You’ll see. Read on.] But I wasn’t sure if he knew what a “lay-up” was.

I took the ball to a position about ten feet from the basket, on the right side of the half-court, at a forty-five degree angle to the board. “Joseph, I’m going to show you how to make a lay-up. I’m going to do it three times. Watch what hand I shoot with and what foot I leave the ground with because, after I show you, you’re going to do it, OK?” He nodded. I made three right-handed lay-ups and gave him the ball in the same spot.

Lay-ups are more difficult to learn than outside shots because of the footwork. But, to my surprise, Joseph did pretty well and made three out of six. “Good,” I said. “Now let’s go back to where we played one-on-one.” I took the ball and Joseph was on defense. “Back away from me about six feet.” He did. “When you’re that far away, I have the room to shoot the outside shot.” I shot it. Then, I got the ball back in the same position. “Now move in on me so I can’t shoot.” He did. I drove around him and, on the way to the basket, said, “When you’re that close, I’m going to drive around you and make that lay-up you learned. Got it?” He smiled just a little and nodded. [See, I told you there was a method to my madness.]

We played on-on-one for a while and, you know what? The kid read my defense perfectly and even scored a time or two. It was time for me to go, so I grabbed the ball, held it, and looked at Joseph.  

“Joseph, now, when you play basketball, you have two moves and you know what to do, right?” He nodded again and said, “Thanks.” We shook hands and I walked off the court. As I did, I could feel his eyes following me. I turned around, walked back to him, bent down to his level, and said, “Guess what team I played for?” He shrugged his shoulders. “The Lakers,” I said. [You didn’t think I was going to say, “Clippers,” did you? The kid wouldn’t have shot another lay-up the rest of his life.]

“Really? You played for the Lakers?”

“Yup. Take care, Joseph.”

“Bye,” he said, followed three seconds later by, “Thanks.” As I walked away, I heard the sound of a ball bouncing and a net popping.

One might say, “That’s really cool that you took the time to show him the lay-up.” But I ask, “When you see a kid that needs to learn the lay-up, and you have the ability to show him, do you have a choice?”