Page 23 - LIfesOuttakes1

“I’m positive it wouldn’t be a problem for someone of your athletic ability,” she quickly added. I looked down at my potbelly, and wondered how she knew inside that marshmallow body of mine was a former athlete screaming to get out - or perhaps just screaming. But she had me, and she knew it. I signed my name to the line that said “coach”, and she told me how I could get hold of a key to a gym where we could practice two days a week. Within two days, she had called me with the list of eight girls, all six to seven years old, that were to be on my team. My daughter was, of course, one of them. I decided to take her outside and get started before our first practice. I mean, the coach’s daughter should have every advantage. We went out and I showed her how to dribble and do a lay up. She started bouncing the ball and took off toward the basket. The ball continued bouncing where it was, and she ran to the basket, jumping into the air with no ball in hand. “Well, at least her form was good,” I thought. I decided I needed to just teach her how to dribble the ball. I dribbled the ball in place for a minute, and then told her to try. On the first bounce, it ricocheted off of her shoe and bounced down the driveway. We tried again, with her concentrating carefully. She got a few bounces out of it, but it got lower and lower, and she had to pick it up and start again. It reminded me of myself trying to do a yo-yo. Anyway, after about an hour of this, I decided she must have inherited her basketball skills from her mother, along with her beauty and musical talent, and I decided to call it a day. I felt it was my fault for not having worked with her sooner, but I was glad the other girls would have better skills. Practice finally came. I asked each girl a little about themselves. 18