Jump Shot and a Lay-up---KJ

“Take another shot,” he prompted as he flipped the ball back to me.

I was tired and annoyed and he wouldn’t let it go. I stopped the ball with the sole of my foot, then took the front of my shirt and wiped the sweat dripping from my eyebrow. I leaned forward and wiped the dirt of the ball off my hands, mashing it into my thighs against the same cotton of my t-shirt which now smelled like asphalt and hot sun. I looked up at him half squinting, half begging him with my whining face to just let us go inside already.

“We’re not leaving ‘til you make both,” he laughed simply.

And so I set my feet apart, took two dribbles, spun the ball and dribbled a third time, gripped the ball, lined up my forearm, elevated my elbow as I rose off the ground, flicked my wrist, and missed. For the sixth time. And he rebounded and tossed it back out to me. For the millionth time. I stayed there on the court for another ten minutes shooting the same shot from various locations I liked to think were my 'sweet spot'. Finally I made my jump shot and headed in for the lay-up which ironically went in on the first attempt.

Jeremy grabbed the rebound and shot his own, (both went in on the first try) and we raced back in the house shoving one another the whole way until the one who lost got locked out for a brief minute.

And that’s how it happened everyday when I was in fourth grade. I carried on at my own basketball practice the same way when I got older and would take the jumper and the lay-up before I left the court. And it comes second nature to me now when I’m shooting around to perform the routine before I leave the court. And that’s still how it happens these days when we both get a chance to go home and play our favorite game of one-on-one. We both end with a win.

My brother taught me how to play basketball, mainly I think, so that he could have someone from whom he could steal the ball. I'm a girl, two years younger; easy target--that's what I know he was thinking. Our two older brothers were never much into basketball except on Thanksgiving and during a few pick-up games in the summer when either team was short. They played football and enjoyed friends and other things. Jeremy, on the other hand loves it all. And he excels at it all. When it comes to sports and competition, my brother is the most natural athlete I know.

He’ll play any type of ball, but basketball is his passion. He’ll spend hours outside shooting around and faking himself out before I even lace up my sneakers. He loves to play alone, but just as much, he loves when I come outside and play one-on-one with him.

He practiced Jordan’s fade away jumper and Iverson’s crossover on me before anyone. He had to perfect his moves before he used them in a game against his friends, and once he brought it to the next level with them, he’d attempt it in practice during a scrimmage with his high school coach watching. Often his coach would shake his head as the other guys gave him props, and then smile, but there was no way he would allow it in a game.

Jeremy didn’t like that. He doesn’t like the conformity of the game of basketball and the set plays which most coaches swear by. He enjoys the freedom of basketball. And that’s why I like watching him move across the cracked asphalt in the hot sun much more than in any gym.

When I watch him, I can see his love of the game in his quick feet and his sweat-drenched t-shirts. He’s one of those fun-loving passionate guys who could do something so taboo as blocking a 4-year-old kid’s shot repeatedly and bragging about it, and still get everyone who was watching to laugh and smile. When he gets excited about something, I get excited about it too. He has an aura about him that draws people in and his aura is that much stronger when he’s on the court playing ball.

We don’t get together to play that often anymore because we’re both living our own lives and don’t make it home much. But when we do, we make sure to play our game of one-on-one. We make sure we complete a jumper and immediately after, a lay-up. And we make sure we both end on a win.