2015-07-21

【Aiden in English】

        Today this is what I call a summer camp! Not a room in a hot boring atmosphere where you are being taught about the stuff that will barely get you through life (other than Chinese). Basketball camp in Philadelphia Sports Club or PSC is where the fun happens. At the same time, I can up my skills.

        Okay, I’ve never participated in any basketball leagues, rec. or travel, before. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m bad at the sport. But it certainly tells that I’ve got a long way to go. Yet some things can’t change, no matter what. The day begins with a ton of dribbling drills. When I mean “fun” that isn’t exactly the time in this case because if a body part or the ball touches the cones, and then you have to drop and owe the coach Dan five push-ups. 

        Right off the basket, the camp was picking up pace. The coach drilled (get it?) with drill after drill after drill. Barely any time was given to us to rest. One stopped out of line, and bang! The coach made the group run a suicide. However, the reward was a scrimmage, and really I kind of overestimated my own skill. In the 10 minutes I played, I got no points, two assists, and five tiny rebounds. Great point guard, don’t you think? The reason was because that I wasn’t aggressive enough, and that was simply my nature, and it wouldn’t change. When a shot missed the mark on the basket, 90% of the time I got boxed out from underneath the net. Another example of a not-aggressive-me was the fact that everytime I drove to the net, I’d either A) get stuffed by the defender, B) get rejected by a tall kid, or C) lose the ball on my own. That was basically how the morning went. 

        Now that I knew my weaknesses, it was time to change my strategy. Looking at what the options were on the table: I had decent ball-handling sills, I could hit a mid-range jump shot if I had to, and I was taller than most of the younger kids. After a deep, thoughtful formula that combined all the variables, I drew a conclusion that the best way I could get some stats on the court for me was to steal the ball more or force turnovers, and laid it up on fast breaks. If I can’t run past a ready defender, I would just run past a surprised one. It’s much easier to cross a person up while they’re back-tracking on their heels. So in the second scrimmage, I started out ice-cold, getting no buckets for the first 10 minutes. I was subbed out for a bit, and with fresh legs, I came back in for the final 5 minutes. These 300 seconds felt really, really good. I intercepted bad passes, pressed my man all the way up to the three-point line, and beyond like an idiot, and whenever this was a loose ball, I would be right on it. The game ended for with me at six points, four off of fast breaks, and a few assists on turnovers. Overall, I did it decently.

        When you don’t make the cut for something, look at the option you have on the table. Maybe the answer is already there. You just need to change and tackle the challenge. 

【紅霞譯文】

        直到今天這個夏令營才夠真格！並非把人圈在熱氣哄哄單調乏味的環境裡學些一輩子難得使用的稀罕玩藝（除了中文以外），費城運動俱樂部舉行的籃球夏令營妙趣橫生，同時還讓我有機會提高球技。

        是的，之前我從未參加過任何籃球聯隊，無論娛樂性的還是專業式的，並非說明我不擅長運動，但可以肯定地說我前路漫漫，無論如何有些事情不是說變就變的。每天開始都要進行很多帶球練習，在這種情況下，所謂的“好玩”不是確切地指定現在，因為只要身體任何部位或籃球觸及地界錐標，你必須把球扔下，在丹教練面前一連做上五個俯臥撐。

        球籃下，夏令營加快節奏，教練傳過球讓你跑動帶球（明白嗎？），傳啊傳，帶啊帶，一點休息時間也沒有，如果有一位營員跟不上步伐，咣！全組成員都跟着遭殃，非得跑到死為止，好在接下來回報營員的是大家可以混戰球場。真的，我有點高估了自己的實力，打了十分鐘比賽，我得了禿頭，其餘只有兩次助攻和搶了五個微不足道的籃板球，了不起的控球後衛，對嗎？之所以出現這種狀況是因為我攻擊性不夠，其實與本人的天性相關，這是無法改變的事實。每當我在禁區投籃不中，百分之九十的可能性因為被網下封籃。另一個原因歸咎於缺乏攻擊性的我每次帶球到網前，第一：被防守隊員攔住；第二：被對方高大球員蓋帽；或者第三：自己丟球，所有這些基本概括了我整個上午的表現情況。

        現在我認清了自己的弱點，接下來到了該調整戰略的時候。縱觀面前擺出的幾種對策：保持本人臨場處理球的技術能力，必要時發揮中距離跳投特長，有效地利用個頭比多數球員高大的優勢。經過一番對所有可變因素深入細緻的考量之後，結合本人在球場上的表現所統計而來的最佳數據，我得出這樣的結論，要麼多偷對方得球，要麼造成對方犯規並組織快攻。假如跑不過在位的後衛，我可以傳球給其他人，遇到對方倒着跑的球員很容易帶球過人。所以在第二次混戰比賽中，儘管開始打得仍不咋的，前十分鐘沒投中一籃，我只好離開賽場稍事休息；但終場前五分鐘，當我重新上陣，雙腿跑動如飛，最後三百秒鐘表現甚佳，不僅攔截對方傳球，在三分線外遠距離投籃命中，而且只要對方稍有閃失，我立刻抓住機會。這回我投籃得了六分，快攻得了四分，還有幾個助攻，從總體來看，打得相當成功。

        當做某事缺乏優勢的時候，你應針對實際問題找出解決辦法，也許答案就擺在面前，你需具有應變能力，勇於接受挑戰。