Step, shuffle, bounce

I got to practice early and started the boys on some light stretching.  Betsy’s son Chad seemed more relaxed than he had the week before.  I thought it no coincidence he was less tense after his mother won at the casino. 

They formed two lines facing the hoop for a shooting drill.  After they made a shot, almost all of them took a triumphant half step, or hesitated a millisecond, or shuffled a little. Most of them probably weren’t even aware they were doing it.   I recorded Chad swishing a short jump shot.  He bounced on the balls of his feet for a second before jogging over to the rebounding line.  I called him over.

“What’s wrong with my form?” he asked. Chad had made every one of his shots, and still he expected me to criticize his shooting.

“You don’t do enough of this,” I said as we stared at my phone.

“I don’t hold the follow-through long enough?”

“You don’t bounce enough after you make it,” I said.  “You have a little bounce today, but the last two practices you didn’t celebrate at all.”  He looked at me as if I had two heads, but he was smiling, just a little.

Today, if only in my mind, I will celebrate small victories

with a half-step, a bounce, a slide, or a shuffle.

Life on Life’s Terms II © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: LOLT II is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)