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. 

【红霞译文】

        直到今天这个夏令营才够真格！并非把人圈在热气哄哄单调乏味的环境里学些一辈子难得使用的稀罕玩艺（除了中文以外），费城运动俱乐部举行的篮球夏令营妙趣横生，同时还让我有机会提高球技。

        是的，之前我从未参加过任何篮球联队，无论娱乐性的还是专业式的，并非说明我不擅长运动，但可以肯定地说我前路漫漫，无论如何有些事情不是说变就变的。每天开始都要进行很多带球练习，在这种情况下，所谓的“好玩”不是确切地指定现在，因为只要身体任何部位或篮球触及地界锥标，你必须把球扔下，在丹教练面前一连做上五个俯卧撑。

        球篮下，夏令营加快节奏，教练传过球让你跑动带球（明白吗？），传啊传，带啊带，一点休息时间也没有，如果有一位营员跟不上步伐，咣！全组成员都跟着遭殃，非得跑到死为止，好在接下来回报营员的是大家可以混战球场。真的，我有点高估了自己的实力，打了十分钟比赛，我得了秃头，其余只有两次助攻和抢了五个微不足道的篮板球，了不起的控球后卫，对吗？之所以出现这种状况是因为我攻击性不够，其实与本人的天性相关，这是无法改变的事实。每当我在禁区投篮不中，百分之九十的可能性因为被网下封篮。另一个原因归咎于缺乏攻击性的我每次带球到网前，第一：被防守队员拦住；第二：被对方高大球员盖帽；或者第三：自己丢球，所有这些基本概括了我整个上午的表现情况。

        现在我认清了自己的弱点，接下来到了该调整战略的时候。纵观面前摆出的几种对策：保持本人临场处理球的技术能力，必要时发挥中距离跳投特长，有效地利用个头比多数球员高大的优势。经过一番对所有可变因素深入细致的考量之后，结合本人在球场上的表现所统计而来的最佳数据，我得出这样的结论，要么多偷对方得球，要么造成对方犯规并组织快攻。假如跑不过在位的后卫，我可以传球给其他人，遇到对方倒着跑的球员很容易带球过人。所以在第二次混战比赛中，尽管开始打得仍不咋的，前十分钟没投中一篮，我只好离开赛场稍事休息；但终场前五分钟，当我重新上阵，双腿跑动如飞，最后三百秒钟表现甚佳，不仅拦截对方传球，在三分线外远距离投篮命中，而且只要对方稍有闪失，我立刻抓住机会。这回我投篮得了六分，快攻得了四分，还有几个助攻，从总体来看，打得相当成功。

        当做某事缺乏优势的时候，你应针对实际问题找出解决办法，也许答案就摆在面前，你需具有应变能力，勇于接受挑战。