The Sweetest Thing

UNDER A BLISTERING hot morning sun, the green five basked in the lime light yet again on their next ASSignment.

Finally, we were able to wear the much anticipated jerseys that were tailored in the city of angels, and it really stood out.

One friend even commented as the best uniform ever! But I guess I leave the conclusion to spectators. Anyway, it’s not the uniform that wins games but determination and spirit.

And that’s how I thought I saw ourselves performed. We didn’t lack with persistent reminders like confetti of Post-its strewn all over an office table. Written on them were tiny messages such as guard the zone, box-out, focus on defense and most importantly, rotate the ball and find the open man.

Two of our guys were even cut off with their playing time because their shoes gave up on them. Jammy first lost the sole of his shoe and minutes later, Noel’s snickers followed suit. I guess that alone measures up their priceless contribution for the team. They went on to cheer for the warriors of Kickyo’ass basketball whose faces were toasted while enduring the heat. Good thing there are trees just beneath the baselines for a cool summer shade.

Nobody was fouled out, only a couple of foul troubles. It was a clean game of basketball and we led the score the entire game since the first shot was drilled into the hoop.

It was the sweetest thing to see a couple of guys who are very unfamiliar with each other but were bound together for a common and unifying goal.

It ended on a high note by winning it.

Losing

I RESENT it when I lose.
I dread the feeling of succumbing to my worst fears.
I can't stomach being beaten and eat somebody's dust in a friendly competition.

I simply hate it.

Losing is part of anybody's game or life. It is a dismal word that describes a separation of two members, or an event that portrays suffering or defeat.

The rain kept on pouring since sunday until tuesday, but not yesterday. Instead, it was shots that poured in during Kickyo'ass first outing last night. I never took notice of the final score since it was a lopsided victory for the winning team. We are the losing team.

It was not a simple loss where you can bounce back and put together the pieces where we left. It's an opportunity to gauge how fragile the team is. A window that will let us see how determined we are in building our team.

So where did we do wrong?

Practice. In preparation for this once-a-year and during-rainy-days league, we manage to bring the team to practice only once. We played freely for one hour hoping to build the chemistry we hope we could establish. The rain came and took us out of the court right after everyone sweated like a pig. No wonder our dribble + shoot formula didn't work.

Defense. The enemy is a collection of tall and well built guys, so they guarded the score zone very well. We were unable to penetrate and drive into the hole, letting most of our guys shoot from the outside. It was lesson and points taken.

Alternately, we didn't guard well. The painted area was a loose and hollow ground for guys in red jerseys. We'd let slashers found their way on a rebound and followed up on a miss with less resistance. We didn't boxed them out, letting them take the game away.

Rotation. One thing I kept pointing out is rotate the ball and find the open man. We failed the test, thus earning us a 0-1 standing. We were in search for a point man on the court but I guess we're still in search mode.

Intensity. I tripped, fell and got bruised when somebody pushed me on a futile attempt to steal the ball. We finally found our rhythm during the last period when we outran the reds and scored in succession. The lead gradually decreased until it was too late to hustle. Time was no longer on our side and the referees called it a night as soon as the buzzer sounded.

I asked coach his assessment of the game. He remarked that it was the kind of game where we begin to feel each other and learn the individual capabilities. It was indeed a chemistry hunting stage.

Or maybe because we didn't have yet our uniforms!