The house lights are turned up as the chase begins. Thin stilt-like legs leap to swat air or brown leather. Giant sized feet race, tangle, and fall. Long gangly fingers reach for a white net. The dull thud of iron cries out in failure. Two well-suited men kneel as if in prayer; then curse in frustration.
Zebras with human faces run with the giants. Orange and white jerseys slide on wet skin. Red and white jerseys show the stain of water on color. Elbows and bellies punch and roll in a collision of flesh. An orange and white giant stands at the line squinting and sweating. His jaws puff with air as he tries to blow away the tension. He aims the brown leather at the woven white net. Swishing in, the sound breathes, “nothin’ but net.”
The giants in red and white jerseys take the brown leather to the side. It spirals high, but the orange and white giants capture it. Tiger stripes twist into a turn around jumper and Littlejohn Coliseum erupts in pandemonium.
The orange and white jerseys are the colors of my team of choice, Clemson University. But years ago, as a child, I sat next to a huge fan of North Carolina State, my dad, and learned the rules of the game watching the guys from Raleigh in red and white.
“Watch the little guy from Wake Forest dribble, he’s so low to the ground he can get underneath the big guys. His name is Billy, Billy Packer.”
“When a player gets fouled in the act of shooting, he gets two tries at the foul line. Watch for a foul and call it when you see it.”
Our den became a clinic for basketball, football, and baseball taught on an elementary school level. When I became bored with my Dick and Jane reader, my dad taught me how to read the standings of collegiate and professional sports teams in the newspaper.
These college giants were once young children with huge dreams. They studied and worked hard to enter a school that would allow them to open a textbook called student athlete. They’re all champions because they give their energy, on the court, in the classroom, and in their community.
Keep stretching, reaching for whatever your goal is and if you have a young person within your realm of influence cheer them on to stretch as far as they can for their dreams. Jimmy V said is so much better than me:
“How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal and you have to be willing to work for it. Don’t give up, don’t ever, ever, ever give up.” The late Jim Valvano (1946-1993)- former basketball coach – North Carolina State University.