Swoosh!

A girl under the sun, while the rays of sunlight turns her hair into golden. While drops of sweat are dripping from her head, she is still smiling while talking to me, without saying even a word of TIRED.

I had met lots of girls that play basketball and, ball. The difference between these two is the latter take it seriously. I met a girl that told me, basketball to her was a dream. And I girl I played against in a pick-up game score in front of me not only once.  But this girl right here ain't the same. She is never a baller, she doesn't know how to play basketball at all! She doesn't love basketball as much as I do( I can't live without the ball.). What she only knows is, to score 2 points, you have to get that damn ball into the rim. 

So what's special about her?  There was one day, we play together, and I hit a jumper, like usual. But this was a Nothing-but-net, and she went excited and asked me: Hey, teach me how to shoot with the swoosh sound of the net. And that time I was like, wow, she actually loves that sound! 

The swish of the net, a sound so pure that only pure shooters can make it every time they shoot. And of course I'm not one of them. It's like a prize to me. Whenever I'm in a good shooting form, the swoosh is my prize. Belive me, it's addictive, once you hit one, you crave for the next and the next and the next one.

So, I taught her how to shoot it from the line before the free throw line. You can hit shots, but to get the swoosh, it's all about coordination of body and hand. She kept on shooting the ball, and I'm the one who was feeding her the ball. Shots after shots, she didn't make a basket. After half an hour, she got one basket, but it isn't what she wants. I thought she will just gives up like that, but she went on shooting the ball. Larry Bird, a great shooter from the NBA once said, If you put your heart to do it, good things will happen. He is right. The swoosh appear. Before it came, the ball she shot was making revolutions in the air, like a baby rainbow, the ball made a nice parabola and dropped into the rim. Nothing but net. Swoosh. The purest sound of a shot would ever make. " yes! It's the sound! I did it!" She said it loudly in excitement as though she had accomplished a mission impossible. She smiled. And, I looked. Her smile looks so innocent, so pure, like the shot she made. The sweetest smile I guess. A girl doesn't know anything about basketball, appreciate the purest shot of the game. I must teach her more, I told myself. 

Today, we went for basketball shooting again. Just shooting the ball, and of course, I'm still the one who is feeding the ball. She told me, she felt nice while chatting and shooting the ball at the same time. We chat a lot. I wonder, when will be the next time, we shoot balls like this again? 

I like that moment. Basketball ain't all about winning and hustling though.

Girl, when you hit the shot, it's beautiful, just like you.

Ball4Life. Friends4Ever.