A Girl On The Court !

A faded memory recalls my old - best day, as a kid, 14 years, I was standing alone in a corner of a big poll headed up with a basket, no! Not a fruit basket! Though it had a net!! I looked up saw a big ball bouncing over my head and stared back to the rectangular cemented court.

Basketball courts come has different shapes and sizes and colors. In the NBA, the court is 94 feet by 50 ft (28.65m by 15.24m). UNDER INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL FEDERATION (FIBA) rules, the court is minutely smaller, measuring exactly 28 m by 15 m (91'10.4" by 49'2.6"). A high school court is slightly smaller, at 84' by 50' and some elementary schools have courts measuring 74' x 42'.It is a tough game of rules and minimum players required is 10.

 I was a girl, a small town girl, brought up in a city which was in Bihar, till 14th November 2000 and suddenly grew up as a capital, on 15th November 2000, of Jharkhand- Ranchi. I love my city; it is the most amazing I have ever been into. But as a girl for a game like Basketball - very difficult to
1. Find another girl companion who wants to learn Basketball
2. 10 girls!!! An aspiration
3.girls DO NOT play masculine games in small cities
4.being a girl in India, you actually CAN NOT play with a bunch of boys!! (Duh)
 Yes, watching the game from a regular distance was allowed, and so was I watching. I hardly knew about the game, the rules but what I knew was I loved watching it! It fascinated me. That night I couldn't sleep as I was planning how to find girls in my colony and at last found few. We were ready to play and learn, but again I forgot GIRLS DO NOT PLAY!
It was a disaster, and even I skipped my till now unknown- passion.
2 years later, cycling getting back to my home, I saw a bunch of known boys playing the same bouncy net ball game. This time I was a, so called grown-up (though the definition varied from situation to situation!). As a lady I decided to walk into the court of 84' by 50' and LEARN and PLAY!
I did so (LOL) started eventually punching the 22 ounce ball with my palm on the cemented ground. I would laugh now on it! I didn't knew how to dribble also ...
A boy (a little known, as we were in the same tuition)   asked "no sports shoes?"
I looked down and smile "was not prepared to play"
he: "you will hurt yourself"
I removed my chappal (slippers), bare foot ran to the other half of the court , my foot almost tore its first layer of delicate skin but nothing was supposed to stop me. I begged them to make me play. They allowed.... (Shit!!!) I was a beginner and my foot was hurting! That day what I could learn was running from one side of the court to another. I continued going and did learn the rule and the tactics of the game.
A small city is a tough place to do odds; people find it out of the books of moral, ethics! (Grins)
It became the talk of the town! One girl playing with ten boys (OUCH!)... aahh !! Don’t worries I don't lose hopes easily!
My first task for now was not to learn game but to find GIRLS WHO PLAY... In a week’s time I did find 3 and they are the best ever know buddies to me. I always used to reckon WHY??!! And now I know how... getting into the same team made our trust, bond, likes, and tolerance better!!!(Wink)
As for now, it was a common episode "my parents were not happy by society talks and my game" and I had a passion to learn (though they never stopped me)! And I knew that they loved my game but Indian society is a curse on young generation THEY DO NO LET YOU GROW. I can actually fill pages on this right now, as my emotions are back to form!
Apart! We girls started to learn (PS: the school coach was against girl - boy mixed team or girl playing perhaps)
I often had to tolerate humiliations as I was not trained neither did I have a trainer. Hence I decided to go to BBC (as we all named it Basket Ball Court) an hour early and come back an hour late. I had started observing good players and when the court had only bats to accompany I used to practice!!! It took me 14 days, when team mates started acting different, by poking me up in their teams and I was not left as the last, the only option on the court, it was an achievement in itself!!We played at BBC for 4 long years... had wonderful friends (mixed both boys and girls and it was STILL the talk of the town!!) WHO CARES!! 

BBC

I found changes, in the society, in the ladies, in the GIRLS! They wanted to PLAY!!
Gradually girls or I would say kids started joining the game a bit younger... but from the only to a bunch of girls was a breath taking moment! Some where I give myself A little credit for it ... just a little but yeah I was bagged by a start in the journey of learning
School days passed ... I was my institute ( BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MESRA) Basketball team caption and a was considered as best team player. I experienced two things

1 You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water

2 To bring change you have to dirty your own hands, then you may have followers
My game is still my passion and my love and for a change now the same couch has opened an academy where BOTH girls and boys (of all ages) learn the brilliant game at BBC

LET THE GAME BEGIN!!!

(THIS WAS SPECIALLY DEDICATED TO ALL GIRLS WHO WANTS TO LEARN NEW)

PS: I MISS YOU ALL!! THEY WERE MY BEST DAYS