I walk in the door and Brandon runs down the stairs. "Okay my mom said yes and we can have 5 people over."
"Okay. What time?" I was actually kind of happy to be hanging out with Brandon and his friends.
"She doesn't care. I say 4." His head is staring at his phone and he is vigorously pounding on the keyboard. "Hey, how about I show you the basics of basketball and when they get here we can have a game?"
"Okay. Fine with me. Although I may not be good."
"Don't worry about it."
Finally, I get to learn how to play. I was thinking about it all last night and even watched a game on TV this morning. We headed outside and Brandon got two balls out of the garage. He hands me one.
"Okay, I'm gonna teach you how to pass. It's the easiest and you don't have to move." He puts his ball down and stands about 4 feet way from me. "Okay, now hold the ball at you're chest. Aim for my chest and push your arms out." I do as I am instructed and actually make it to him.
"Wow. That was easy, now how do I catch it if its coming at me?" I want to be prepared for anything.
"Thats easy. I'll aim it at your chest and hold your hands out. When it comes at you just close your hands." He throws it at me; well I am a little late and the ball nails my chest. "Okay, don't worry you will get better. Now lets dribble." He picks up his ball and stands about a foot to my right. "Are you right handed or left?"
"Right. Why?"
"Because that is the hand that you will dribble better with. Now push the ball down with your finger tips straight towards the ground." He says emphasizing the straight part. I do as he says and it comes back up. "Good now just keep pushing it down. And if you want to move you have to dribble. So, to get it to move, you just push down at an angle instead of straight." He dribbles up to the garage and back. "Now you try."
"Okay," I say without convidence. I take a step and immediately the ball runs away. I chase after it and try again.
"Nate, try to push it where you want to go, but not too hard."
"Okay thanks." I start and I kind of get the hang of it. Although I lose the ball about 5 steps away.
I practice dribbling for at least an hour before I could get the ball under control and by then it was 2:45.
"Well, you're not doing too bad. Lets shoot." He lines up about 5 feet back from the net. "Okay watch my hand and arm closely. You want to have your elbow at a 90 degree angle. Then you want to have your hand flat. Kind of like you're a waitress serving at a restaurant. Then you want to put the ball on your hand, like its the food. Now to shoot, you want to launch the ball with the palm of your hand and guide it with your fingers; all while extending your arm for power." He does this once in slow-motion and once in fast. He then steps aside to let me try.
I start setting my arm up while he is repeating all the directions. I shoot and I guess that it wasn't hard enough because it only went a few feet infront of me.
"Here, try extending your arm and pushing with your hand." I try again and still miss, only this time I hit the edge of the rim. I shoot for at least another hour.
"Okay Nate, they will be here any minute so one last drill. We are going to start on the walk way and I'm going to pass you the ball, you pass it back and then run about two feet, when you are running I will pass you the ball, you take it and dribble up to the net. Now don't worry, you can stop and shoot but if you miss or mess up anywhere we are starting over."
