The New Student

Basketball

His car was nice, sleek, black, and cool. I got in the passenger's seat, admiring the car. "Hey, I'm in love with your car."

"Sorry, it's already taken by me." He laughed and revved the engine. "Are you sure about this?" He looked at me, his eyes full of concern. 

"Of course. It's just a basketball game." 

He shrugged. "Okay, lets go." He pulled out of the parking lot and I prayed that he would be a safe driver.

"So will you be warming up until six?" I asked, wanting to get my mind off of the cars driving by.

"No. We'll eat first and then warm up until 5:45-ish and we have around ten minutes to do whatever we want. Then the game will start."

"So what's the game like?"

"You've never seen basketball right?"

I shook my head. "No."

"So basically you have the two teams and from each team there are five players standing on the court. Hold on." He paused to veer left after looking at both sides of the road. I smiled, happy to learn that he was a safe driver. "Okay. So five people from each team. In the beginning, the referee tosses the ball up into the air and one player from each team tries to swat it to their other team members. Then the game starts." His eyes were constantly on the road and he used his right hand to describe what he was saying. "So the hoop where you're trying to score is on the opposite side of where you first started. You know what a basketball court looks like, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. So the person who usually dribbles the ball is the guard. Those people are kind of short. Then the centers are the normally the tallest players and they try to block the ball if it's shot at their hoop and can also catch re-bounds. A re-bound is when a ball bounces off of the hoop or the back board instead of entering the net and scoring. Then your forwards are the ones who try to shoot and remain open so that the other players can pass them the ball. I'm not going into as much detail because I think it'll confuse you, but that's the general idea. Do you understand it so far?"

"Yes." I was recording him with my phone, not wanting to miss a single detail. 

"Okay. There are four quarters. The first, second, third, and fourth. After the second quarter, you have half-time, which is basically a slight break. Normally the players will make a strategy with the coach. Whenever the halftime ends, the hoop that the players try to shoot at switches sides. Understand?"

"Yes." The rules were actually pretty simple.

"There are some things called fouls. This happens when a player breaks the rules. For example, one huge foul is called traveling. Traveling is when you move with the ball, but you don't dribble. You know what dribbling is right?" He made an up and down motion with his hands.

"No."

"Oh...it's basically when you...ah it's difficult to describe. It's walking or running with the ball, but the ball bounces on the ground and when it bounces back up, you bounce it down and it's a repeated action."

"I think I get the general idea." I honestly didn't, but I would see at the game.

"Okay. So traveling is when you just hold the ball and move without bouncing it on the ground. That's a foul. Another foul is harming another person like grabbing their sides and other things. Another foul can be the player running outside the court. Whenever the referee blows his whistle it's probably because of foul, unless the coach calls for a time-out. So then there are these things called free throws, which happen after a severe foul occurs. What happens then is that the player who was injured or fouled is allowed to shoot a free basket from a specific distance. That's why it's called a free throw."

"Oh, so he just makes it?"

"Yes, but sometimes, the player will miss the free throw and have to try again. You get two tries for a free throw and if the player misses the second one, then the game just progresses. You'll see."

"Alright."

"Now for the scoring system. A free throw is worth one point. A normal shot is worth two points. Then there is this huge line that curves around one side of the court. It looks like half the circumference of a circle. If the players shoot from outside of that line and make it, then it's worth three points."

"Wow."

"Yeah. So at the end, if both teams are tied, they go into overtime, which is basically more basketball. The two teams will just play against each other until there's a winner. Overtime rarely happens. It probably won't happen today. Are you comprehending this well?"

"Yeah, I think it's pretty simple."

"It is an easy concept. I'm glad you find it that way."

"Hansol, what position do you play?"

"Oh me? I'm a forward. I shoot." He smiled, quickly glancing at me. 

"How do I know which player is which?"

"Thanks for reminding me. We each have jerseys with numbers and our last names. So mine says Ji and 12."

"At least I'll be able to know who you are. Who's on your team?"

"Yuta, Ten, and Taeyong. There are some other guys but I think those three are the only ones you know."

"Probably." I agreed.

"We're here."