Basketball on Saturday

I played basketball yesterday at the old NIE (Evans Road). I was nostalgic for gravity-defying and acrobatic leaps into the air; pin-point passes bouncing off the length of the court and good old-fashion pain.

There was pain indeed; injuries to my knee and back had taken away most of my game – I could barely get off the ground or match sprints on the court. I am stronger than most of them and shoved them out of the way. But they always shoved back.

A little nostalgia of a different sort was thrown in for good measure. Two players disputed a foul call and became lawyers on court.

“You can’t do that!”

“Why not! I just took two steps!”

Blah blah blah. The game went on and someone lost.

The loser pleaded his case to others.

“It’s not like that when I played in competition! The referees won’t let you do that! Kan Ni Na. Chow Chee Bye.” Those on the sidelines commiserated and nodded. He kept cursing and illustrating his point with extravagant, sweaty body motions. His eyes widened a little more with each demonstration.

Learn from ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy’ page one: Don’t panic. Take a deep breath.

It’s not a competition. It’s just a game. It has no bearing on the other things that we do. It is, as much as I hate to admit it, inconsequential. I would have never realized that fact, not until I was injured and injured badly. Then, I got into other things – this posturing and debate turned meaningless.

I look back now and wonder how I could have wasted so much time.
No more wasted time for me.