the best thing I'll ever learn in basketball.

This is my basketball team. We were formed to represent FACE, the Filipino club we have in William Paterson University. I have never played at a competitive level of basketball. I've played on the team in 4th - 6th grade but that'll never really count. I recently just closed up a season in Willy P's intramural league. And what a terrible, yet encouraging experience it was.

We were at a great disadvantage. Most of us haven't played competitive basketball or lacked some experience. The worst disadvantage was our height. We're all just a bunch of short Filipino guys with an average height of probably 5' 8". We played against teams who had an average height that was taller than our big man. We lacked team experience and chemistry: passes were't going where they should've, some of us didn't even want to pass the ball, there were moments of no communication, we tried to out-fancy each other with our play styles, we didn't know how to control the pace effectively, we couldn't execute the zone defense, we couldn't box out for rebounds, and we couldn't make the right passes consistently. I can admit that we weren't the best team....honestly....far from it. We ended with a 2-7 record with a number of blowout losses. The part that doesn't seem any more impressive is that those two wins were by "default." If a team managed to receive two technical foul calls, then they would lose the game. And, of course, our two wins came from those two impatient teams. So what would've happened if they didn't get those techs? Who knows what our record would've been... At least we had the largest fan base.

I'm not writing to make excuses for my team. I believe we could've had real wins if we really pushed ourselves, but I'm not writing to create some sort of typical motivational speech.

It was tough dealing with our first blowout loss. We started to give up at the last 2-5 minutes of the game, and we lost by 30+ points. After that embarrassing loss, we decided that it was time to meet up early Wednesday mornings to have team practices. We wanted to work on the things that we struggled with during that blowout game, so we did some drills that included running, passing, and even both at the same time. In another morning practice, we learned the "flex play." These practices brought us together for one cause, and that was to win our games. Sadly enough, we didn't win much of our games; however, not a single mouth can say we didn't improve. These practices changed our attitudes and mindset on the court...I could see it in all of our eyes. Even for those who didn't make it to practices on those early Wednesday mornings, they managed to feed off of the hype of those who did. There was something happening within the team...we were growing.

Learning the flex was a strenuous, yet enjoyable day. We made mistakes while trying to execute the play by ourselves and got confused once we reached a certain position. But, how can anyone truly learn without making any mistakes along their way? We worked hard at what we struggled in during our games. As soon as we got the play down and practiced, we started giving it a name to mask the play so the opposing team wouldn't figure out what we were up to. We were reliving our childhood through Dragonball Z references. As we ran up and down the court, we would yell Kakarot, Senzu Beans, Frieza, Spirit Bomb, Goku, and whatever Dragonball Z thing came to our heads. I'm very impressed by these guys. At certain point, I was starting to believe that a majority of us just didn't know how to play, but we learned. And we didn't just learn how to play with each other and create better team chemistry on the court.

During practices and our games, there was nothing but encouragement. I think that growing with each other, whoever it may be that you are growing with, encouragement is a necessity. Advice, wisdom, help, direction....all are just important necessities to simply grow as brothers. There were no more pointing fingers, no more blaming. On the court, our attitudes changed. When we were down 30 in the last 2-5 minutes, we didn't give up. We kept on playing. The game isn't over until the time runs out. Since we started the practices, the team became flooded with encouragement, excitement, joy, and support. I was not all that impressed by everyone's play on the court (frankly, my performance wasn't all that impressive either), but I was impressed at how we managed to keep each other in check when we practiced and when we played. We helped each other to make better decisions on the court, pushed each other, communicated better, and pushed ourselves to get those rebounds we struggled so badly to get.

I'll say it again....I'm very impressed by these guys. I'm impressed at how much we all contributed in helping the team get better and to improve. All the practices, the encouragement, the support....it all worked out in the end. It's disappointing that we never managed to secure an official win. However, maybe this wasn't supposed to an underdog or Cinderella type of story. In the end, we realized the amount of fun we had and the amount of improvement we showed in our games. To me, that's all that matters the most. You can't expect to win in the end if you don't even bother to develop. These guys have inspired me to constantly encourage those around me: the ones I love, the ones I grew up with, and the ones I may feel disconnected with. This was a story about how a bunch guys became a team at the beginning of February but grew and became a brotherhood in the end.



(photo taken by Clarissa Dimarucut)