Me and Basketball.

I started playing basket ball in the second year of my engineering life. The game also goes by the name of "B-Ball" and "hoops"

I had once attempted to play basketball in my 11^th standard and still remember people laughing at me for carrying the ball all the way across the court. I had decided not to play any more basketball after that and none of my friends really encouraged/guided me during that time.

However in the second year of my engineering life, I found that we had lots of free time during the semester. I used to play a lot of football and cricket during my school days, in fact I used to play whatever I came across. I was first in all my school running races. I had won many prizes in short-put, long jump, high jump, relay, throw ball... back then (school days) and since we did not have a basketball over there (school ground), the game did not really reach out to me.

Second year of engineering made me consider the game because, not many student played anything apart from basketball during that time. The sport was in fact so famous, that the ground used to never be free. When i asked my friend Abhilash to teach me, he agreed and thus i began with the game of basketball.

I started with close range baskets, board shots, however it took me an year to learn the lay-up (lol). This game has helped me in a lot of ways during engineering. I was not tall enough for a dunk though, but i made up by practicing when ever i found time to shoot the basket from different distances. After several games of fouls and violations, i kind of got the hang of the game. Me and most of my friends used to practice different shots like the 3 point shot, the different shots at the different markings on the D of the court called 'around the world'.


The game has several activities but some of the major ones include blocking, passing, rebounding, ball-handling ... A good player must know all these thoroughly, I managed to learn a few by the end of engineering (^_^).

Unlike cricket where you score by either hitting close by and running, or hitting outside the boundary, in basketball, the only way of scoring is by shooting the ball right into the basket.

Basketball is a very dynamic game. You don’t stand around the court at one spot and wait, rather you move with the ball and change sides in mid of the game. Where as in cricket you wait at one spot for the ball to come in your direction. And there is no resting in this game like the 9 players who rest when 2 players bat on the field.

Basketball is a team game, at every point of the game, a player needs to put his effort in playing as a team. He as to continuously monitor his team mates to quickly decide who is free, and who can manage to score a basket. He has to look out for openings to snatch the ball and be ready to overcome who ever tries to block him.

I have played basket-ball almost every day just for the sake of the enjoyment the game has given me. It did not matter how well you had done your test that day, or what flavoured ice-cream you ate that day because it was worth the wait of the game of basket-ball every-day.

I bought my first basketball in the holidays after my 6^th semester. I tried my best to learn what-ever I could from the people I met while playing basket-ball.

I made lots of friends, known to me only by their face during basketball.

The game teacher you to be disciplined in a kind of way and be alert for what-ever turn the game might take.