On Shooting Hoops at the Park

I’ve written countless words over the last year plus on all the things I’ve picked up and learned to love during the pandemic. From golf, to building gunpla, to Dota 2, I’ve accumulated up countless new hobbies and ways to while away the hours. It’s been one of the silver linings of all this madness, a chance to reset how I spend my free time and branch out to new things. At the same time though, I find myself missing many of the things I took for granted in the times before 2020. Recently, I got the opportunity to enjoy one of those activities again…and man did I miss the simple pleasure of shooting hoops at the park.

In the before times, I was the 9th best basketball player on my co-ed after work intermural team. I was more of a “heart and hustle” guy than a “score points and do good stuff to help the team win” guy. Needless to say, I dislike being the worst at things so I would frequently grab my basketball and head down to the park to shoot hoops. It was almost always a great time (besides the time I exploded my ankle playing a “relaxed” game of one on one with my buddy). The chance to get outside, get some low-key exercise in, and get some shots up never failed to brighten my day. And that was when I was there alone, just a boy, a basketball, some headphones, and some music. Add in a friend or two and the fun grows exponentially. And, if by some miracle, you can scramble together a game? Hoo-boy count your lucky stars because that is real fun.

The last time I shot hoops at the park, though, was March of 2020. I remember it distinctly. Things were just starting to get weird and it felt like the tipping point was getting closer every day. I was the only one at the park besides a father and his teenage son. We gave each other space but inevitably, one of their errant shots came my way. The father yelled at me, a stranger, “Don’t touch our ball and we won’t touch yours.” I went home shortly after that and felt weird for the next two years.

But last week, after a day of writing, my buddy and I decided to head to the park to shoot some hoops, and it was like finding an oasis after years of wandering through the sports desert. Seeing kids chasing runaway balls, old men working on their herky-jerky post moves, and teens doing their best to emulate the “from-way-down-town-BANG” Steph Curry shots, only to retrieve their airballs in shame, made me feel like things might just be okay. At least I felt like that until it took 15 minutes of blood sweat and tears to make a single basket in one on one.

So, even if things aren’t back to normal, even if they won’t be for a while, even if that old normal is gone and we’re all adjusting to a new normal, you can always head to the park to shoot some hoops.

What’s your equivalent of shooting hoops? Something you did a lot pre-pandemic that you haven’t done in a while?