I haven’t played basketball in years, four years to be precise. But a few weeks ago, I decided I would go and play with the LASA girl’s basketball team. Despite being confident that my skills from middle school were long gone, I decided that playing a sport I had experience in was still better than being thrown into something I had never done before. It turns out that I was right, and although I was nervous, I never needed to be. 

On Friday afternoon, Nov. 5, I walked into the big gym, almost completely unsure of what I would be doing. The gym seemed to be more massive than I remembered, and every noise reverberated off the walls, making me even more jittery. The girls were gathered at one end of the gym warming up. Once I joined them, the girls basketball coach, Coach Tarter, directed me to find a partner to practice with. My partner taught me how to shoot hoops and how to throw the ball in a high curve so the opponent can’t block it. I made a grand total of three in the basket. It was much harder than I remembered.

While regaining some distant memory of my basketball glory days, I was brought further back in time by 2010s hits, including some of my old Swiftie favorites, blasting from the speakers. I was already applauding my decision to play basketball for the week. 

The practice on Friday was structured very differently than the others. Friday was a “Shoot-A-Thon,” a day filled with only practicing shooting, which was great for me, someone who is essentially a beginner. We never stood still throughout the entire practice (Coach Tartar made us run in place even when we weren’t doing anything), but despite that I still enjoyed myself and would definitely play again. I was expecting it to be more hardcore but I ended up having a great time. Luckily for me, most of the drills were incredibly intuitive and I didn’t embarrass myself much. 

My favorite part of practice was definitely near the end when we did some impossible—but undeniably fun—shots. We laid on the ground and attempted to get the ball in the hoop. Although it looked like it wouldn’t be difficult, as soon as I laid down I lost all the power from my legs (which plays a much bigger part in shooting than I thought) and I was forced to awkwardly lift my head to see the basket. It wasn’t surprising that I didn’t make any. The gym was filled with screams and hands were flailing to protect heads from flying basketballs. 

After the light and informal practice, the intense training the following Monday made me realize how easy I had it on Friday. I walked into the gym with more confidence than I did at the previous practice, and was immediately paired up to start our warm-ups. When we did a bunch of dribbling and running drills the ball always seemed to escape my grip and roll away from me no matter what I did. This practice left me with sore hips and legs and the realization that these basic techniques require much more dexterity than I have with a basketball. 

With blood pumping quickly through my veins and my heartbeat loud in my ears, I was ready for our next drills. We were on to practicing defensive and offensive plays. These were confusing to me, but thankfully the players were there to guide me through it. If not, I would have probably just stood in the middle of the court, completely lost. For some of the more complicated drills, I stayed to the side and watched as they ran from sideline to sideline in patterns I could barely comprehend. 

Despite being thrown into this very new experience filled with unfamiliar drills that had even stranger names, I adjusted surprisingly quickly. I owe all of this to the players on the team. They led me through all the drills when I was visibly lost, and made me feel like I belonged at their practice. Although I loved playing basketball and rekindling my interest in the sport, interacting with the players was the best part of the experience.