NBA OBSESSED!

Imagine going to play basketball at the park with a few friends and showing up to find hundreds of people swarming the courts like mad bees?  You look around for a free hoop to shoot on but every single one of them is snatched up by a group of teenage boys.  This is the story of my life every time I walk to the basketball courts here on campus.  Oh and did I mention there are two locations of courts on campus with each one having at least a hundred boys playing at each one every single day?  Can you say OBSESSED!

I have only been here 4 weeks but from what I have seen, I would say basketball is the number one sport here.  It’s the number one sport that is watched on television, it’s the number one sport that boys play for recreation and it’s the number one sport that people talk about.  KOBE, KOBE, KOBE!  I have never seen a collective group of people more stoked about basketball then at an NBA championship game!  The catch though is that since the Chinese watch so much NBA, (I was told every single game is televised here) they tend to play like the NBA players, selfish.  One-on-one, all day everyday.  They have poor fundamentals of the game because of two reasons: 1. Too much Kobe!  2.  They have never been coached or taught the game the proper way.

The interesting part of it is that even if some of them have poor skill levels, they still go out and play.  They don’t have the mentality that if they are not very good they sit out.  NO, they ALL play!  As I should also mention, I received quite a few stares the first time I came to the courts… actually every time I go to the courts.  I am the ONLY girl playing basketball out of the hundred or so guys on the court.  Before I came to the courts I mentioned to my students that I played basketball and I think they thought I was lying because they would look at me in disbelief, like I told them I was a man or something.  But when I showed up on the courts a few weeks ago I realized, “Damn I really am the only girl out here!” it definitely registered.

So for the last two weeks I have held a clinic to teach girls how to play basketball.  I really feel like I am coaching 5 or 6 grade girls.  Many have only shot a basket or two with a friend or watched it on TV.  None have ever been taught or even encouraged to play.  It was really fun and we went through the basics of shooting, dribbling and passing.  They tried so hard and many seemed to be improving.  As for the boys, I held a clinic for them last Friday with the other teaching assistant, Jimmy.  We taught them layup lines, 3 man weave and many of the basics.  None had ever done any drills like this before and it really amazed me that they didn’t know how to do these things.  I think it’s interesting basketball is such a popular sport here yet few have had any training in it.  They just pick up a ball and impersonate what they see on TV.  Humm sounds very familiar, I guess some things are similar across cultures.