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Basketball is played around
the world, from the fancy
arenas in the United States
and Europe, to places where
the sport isn’t even called
basketball. If you have a ball
and a hoop, you can play. You
can play by yourself or with a
group. There are many ways to
enjoy basketball. 
Basketball doesn’t always have to be organized with two opposing teams. My first experience with basketball was playing with
my cousins, Jake and Ian. They are excellent players,
and I learned a lot playing against them, especially how
to avoid a pass getting picked off or the ball taken from
me. Throughout the summer my sisters, my dad and I
play COW (after our Angus cattle) when my dad gets
done with his chores. We decided that HORSE was too
long a game with four players.
Last January I got my first chance to play basketball
for school. I played point guard. One of the things I
liked most about that position was running the plays
and making steals and assists. Originally I thought
that shooting and scoring points were all that mattered
in basketball. At the end of the season, I realized
that every position contributes to winning games in
its own way.
Last summer, my sisters and I attended a three-day
basketball camp at UNI. We enjoyed working with
the UNI women’s basketball players and doing the
drills. The camp had a really fun
environment. The UNI players and
coaches taught us several new drills
to help us with our fundamentals.
We did rebounding, boxing out,
stealing, dribbling and passing. My
favorite parts were the ball handling
and defensive exercises because
these are important parts of playing
point guard.
When it’s too cold to go outside
and play I like to read about basketball.
I especially like to read Mike
Lupica’s Travel Team and Summer
Ball. Both books are about Danny
Walker from Middletown. He is a
point guard on his middle school
team and travel team that his dad, ex-
NBA player Richie Walker, coaches.
In Travel Team, he leads his team to a national title for 12- and 13- year olds. In Summer Ball,
he attends an elite camp in Maine where he deals with
bullying because of his height and a cranky NBA coach
who loves to make his players run.
If you don’t really enjoy reading, there are several
great basketball movies. My personal favorite is Glory
Road. It isn’t just about basketball; it contains a lot of
information about integration in collegiate basketball
during the 1960s. The movie is about the Texas
Western College basketball program in which Coach
Don Haskin shocks the college basketball world by
having seven African Americans on his roster. And
finally, they shock us again by winning the national
championship against Kentucky. I’d never thought
or known much about the burdens and afflictions of
African American basketball players in the ‘50s and
‘60s until I watched this movie. Today, it doesn’t matter
if you are black, white or purple. If you are good
enough, you make the team.
Needless to say, basketball is my favorite sport. It has it all — running, jumping, passing, throwing, defense, scoring and teamwork. At times it doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short. Both boys and girls can play. Also, basketball is popular around the United States and the world. Most importantly, everyone remembers their first basket or their teammates’ reactions when they score their first points.
Abby Schaefer, 12, is a seventh-grader at Immaculate Conception and was the winner of the Cedar Valley Athlete magazine’s first short story writing contest (see Cedar Valley Athlete, Spring 2009).
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