Shoot Your Shot
There are moments in life where we think that we are on the same page as the person with whom we are talking with but in reality are not. Miscommunication and misunderstanding can make for some interesting interactions with people. The following story came to my mind after shooting some baskets one night. For me, an empty basketball court and a basketball are ways that I relax and at times get my creative juices going. Take a shot at reading the story for this post and see if it was worth it. You’ll never know unless you try.
Shoot Your Shot
By: Monica Tews
After a long day of work, the nearby basketball courts were the only reasonable next step for the day. Six friends met up to relax from the day to play some 3 on 3 basketball. After a quick discussion, the teams were split up into two teams. One team had Wayne, Parker, and Ray. The other team had Calvin, Manny, and Ricky.
Parker was the only girl out of the group but that did not matter. She was putting on a clinic out on the court. Wayne and the other players except for Calvin were also heating up with each shot going in after another. The game had gotten extremely close near the end of the game because of the shots going in throughout the entire game.
Calvin had possession of the ball at the top of the key surveying the court with Parker guarding him and the chance to hit the game winning shot.
“Come on. Shoot your shot.” Parker stated.
Calvin hesitated.
“Shoot your shot.” Parker repeated. This time she took a few steps back and stood straight up on defense.
“I don’t know about that.” Calvin replied thinking about everything which had led to this moment.
“Come on.” Parker continued. “You will never know until you try.”
Calvin stared back at Parker with fierce contemplation after seeing if everyone else was experiencing this exact same interaction.
Parker continued to challenge Calvin by remarking, “Come on, Calvin. Don’t you remember the quote about missing 100% of the shots you never take. It’s either by Wayne Gretzky, not our Wayne, or by Michael Scott. I can’t remember which one it is right now. Anyway, go for it.”
Calvin took this whole interaction as a sign which he had to follow. He brought the ball up preparing for his jump shot, but stopped before releasing the ball.
“Parker, would you be free this Saturday to go out for dinner?”
Everyone on the court froze. Half a minute later, Parker addressed Calvin, “Can I have the ball real quick?”
When Calvin passed her the ball, Parker immediately passed the ball to Wayne while stating the following, “Yeah, I gotta pass on that. The thing is that Wayne and I are actually kind of a thing for about a week now. My bad, man. I thought that you knew.”
“Oh.” Calvin replied standing with his hands in front of his face.
At that moment, Wayne drove into the lane for an easy lay-up to end the game.
The End
