Hoop it up!

In the past week, I played in my first “official” basketball games since college intramurals. The school Athletic Director organized a Mami/ Papi Sports Tournament. The Mamis played basketball and the Papis played indoor soccer. The women Docentes (teachers) were invited to put together a basketball team. There aren’t enough men working in the school, so Ben was off the hook. Fortunately our team consisted of about 15 teachers, so no one had to run up and down the court too much. Just like back in middle school, my face was beet red after about 15 minutes in the game. I expected to be in better shape since Ben and I run regularly, but it didn’t prepare me for sprinting up and down a basketball court.

Maybe to your surprise, I wasn’t even the shortest woman on the team. While my basketball career ended quickly in the United States when most others outgrew me in middle school, the possibilities are better here for a girl my size. Ecuadorians are small in stature, so maybe I am considered “average” here in Ecuador. It was nice looking my opponent directly in the eyes. In each game, I only got about 10 minutes or less of playtime in order to share the time with my 15 player team. In the first game, I put up 2 points. We won the first game 25-4. The following games were closer matches, but we ended up losing in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, I scored no further points in the game, but I certainly scored some points with my fellow teachers who were surprised when I joined the team.

                                                         Our Cheering Section- My Students!