Playing Basketball.

I had the chance to play basketball the other day--something I haven't done in over a year.  I am the athletic director at Danville Lutheran School (IL) and my friend Chad Cooper is the 7/8 grade coach.  Chad and I have been friends since kindergarten.   At his request some of us old-timers came out to practice so that the team had someone to scrimmage against.

The DLS team is a handful of young, skinny, energetic kids that have a ton of potential.  More potential than they know.  They are quick and do not quit.  And if they sharpened just a few fundamental problems they might just be a force to be reckoned with.  If they only new that determination was more important than all other basketball skill combined.

We practiced at Trinity Lutheran which is where I grew up, attended school, and still attend church today.  It is less than a 100 yards from my house.  For me stepping onto that court is like stepping back in time.  I can remember practice like it was yesterday--doing the three-man-weave, running lines, playing steal the bacon, shuffling my feet at different diagonals the length of the court for defensive work, and wondering at times if my short, chubby body would it make.  I remember at tournaments coming out of the locker room to our music and thinking that maybe that was the coolest thing I had ever experienced (even if it was to Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative").  I remember parents and teachers having to fill the stage with chairs because the bleachers were full from wall to wall with fans.  I remember crying when we won--and when we lost.

In high school a core group of us played for Trinity in what was known as church league basketball.  We hosted a league on Monday nights that local church teams and the boys and girls club played in.  In the winter we traveled to weekend tournaments in Central Illinois.  We won a good deal of those tournaments.  I'm not sure of the exact number but I don't remember finishing many times under second place.  In Chicago one time we beat a team 124-20.  The scoreboard was older and didn't have a hundreds column.  At the final buzzer new bystanders thought we won a low scoring slugfest by four points.  In Decatur, we broke almost every offensive tournament record they had.  Our senior year we finished second in the Illinois State Tournament and third at nationals.

Not one of us stood much over 6 feet tall.  We weren't the fastest or the strongest.  Although we could shoot the lights out the gym that's not what won for us.  We won because we believed that no one else could beat us.  We won because we went to the gym on our own day in and day out and played with and against each other.  We knew where everyone on the court was going to be before they were there.  We knew after grabbing defensive rebounds to look at the other end because Jace Manion or Jon Mourer would be waiting there for an open layup.  We knew that no matter how tall the other team's big man was he would never be able to stop George Rose in the paint.   We won because no one cared about individual stats.  They only thing we cared about was the W at the end of the buzzer.

This blog isn't about Trinity Church league conquests though.

The minute I got into my car and drove away from the gym there was a part of me already asking when do I get to go back.  In high school the answer would be tomorrow.  But now a days it might be a week.  Or a year.  I wish I could go back tomorrow and put on my basketball shoes and do it again.  I wish I could go back in time and talk to myself and tell him to cherish every minute of it.  I wish today's players would realize that once it ends there's no going back.

I've been in involved with some form athletics for 28 years.  I've played and coached at the high school and college level in baseball.  I've been a part of some teams with really talented people.  I've been a part of two championships as a coach.  But those three years of church league basketball are the fondest sports memories in my heart.  The best days of my life.  It may not have been the greatest group of talented individuals but it was the greatest team that I've been associated with. 

It was about friendship.  It was about leaving the outside world for a few hours.  It was about late night poker in hotel rooms.  It was about laughing at each other and with each other.  It was about hard work, swet, and tears.  It was about being a part of something bigger than yourself.  It was about arguing and fighting during practice--and shaking hands after.  I wouldn't trade any of it.  I count myself lucky to be a part of it.

After 15 years I still knew without looking where Chad Cooper was on that court.

Maybe it's time for a reunion.