2015-07-22

【Aiden in English】

        Everyday it starts off simple and normal enough laps and stretches in the basketball camp of Philadelphia Sports Club or PSC. Yesterday was a real beating on my body. Going downstairs was hard, getting up was hard, and walking was hard. Heck, everything was hard. But today it got even worse because we began with yesterday’s injuries. You have no idea how painful squats were. 

        Yet each day is different, and today it’s time to go swimming. PSC has three pools: the camp pool, the outdoor pool, and the main pool. Apparently, the only good pool is the outdoor one and all the others are sucked. The outdoor one has a diving board and a slide. Neither is great but it is a blast. It’s really funny what miracles water to perform sometimes. The cramps I had in the morning vanished in an area where you didn’t need to use your walking muscles as much. Floating around made no constant pain of stepping too far or running. The cramps came right back in the afternoon though. That wasn’t the only problem that was presented to me after lunch. One kid literally fell down while standing still. He was holding his knee for the rest of the day. Shortly after, a 6-year-old camper got clobbered in the head by an air-ball from the 3-point line. I felt really bad for the kid. It’s not every day that you turn around and get bashed in the face with a flying basketball. Things, at that point, were hectic, but the situation quickly escalated to the point where basically nobody was in the mood to play basketball. 

        There was a two-vs.-two tournament and the coach Dan had to pair up with a little kid since there was an odd number of players. Obviously, the people who advanced were all the tall kids. And no, I was not tall. During the semi-finals, the coach and a tall teenager jumped for a rebound. Our coach came down with the ball, while the kid dropped with a twisted ankle. Like the saying, “don’t hate the player, and hate the game.” His foot kind of just flopped around. When he was asked to turn his ankle, the foot didn’t move. He left early, and so did two others, which left the group with nine people.

        To play basketball or any sport, it’s normal to get hurt (except for bowling and golf). If you want to play but try to avoid getting hurt, then you’re not doing it right. When it comes down to the wire, the game is really decided on who wants to be superior over the other person more. And the winner will be the one who is not afraid to put his personal health on the line. Today the coach said something I thought that was very, very true. It is all about the game. The game makes the players do what they have to do. The meaning kept ringing in my head when I got a poor, little wee six-year-old out in knockout. Hey, you know, it’s all about the game. I hope he wasn’t mad, though. 

        The game is the reason for the injuries. People get hurt, and people are crushed. But we’re doing it for fun and the satisfaction of winning as well.

【紅霞譯文】

        每次來到費城運動俱樂部籃球夏令營，大家開始先慢跑伸胳膊撂股腿做些極其簡單而常規的準備活動。昨天可把我累得夠嗆，連上下樓梯甚至走路頗覺吃力，太要命了，做什麼都非常困難；今天更加糟糕，因為疼痛是有累加效應的，你完全想象不出下蹲的時候該有多痛苦。

        然而每天的活動安排不盡相同，今天輪到大家去游泳。費城運動俱樂部設有三個游泳池：夏令營池、室外池以及主池，室外的那個最棒，其它兩個沒啥好說。室外游泳池有跳板和滑道，儘管這兩樣東西算不上什麼特別，但玩起來非常帶勁。有趣的是水有時怎麼那麼神奇，早晨我腰酸背痛，渾身上下不是滋味，現在一鑽進池裡，所有的不適全部煙消雲散，水面漂浮可以舒緩常常由大步行走和跑步帶來的疼痛，儘管到了下午筋骨之痛又再度重現，但這並不是吃罷午飯唯一出現的問題。有一朋友安靜地站在那裡，不知怎麼卻倒在地上，整個下午他一直蜷抱膝蓋休息。不一會兒，另一位六歲的營員被三分線上投來的三不粘砸到了腦袋，見狀我心裡十分難過，畢竟平日借轉身之際橫遭空中飛來的籃球打中事件並不多見，忙中出亂，這樣直接影響到大家打球的心情，後面沒人願意上場。

        接下來進行二對二對抗賽，因為營員總數為單數，丹教練跟一個小不點搭檔，看得出技術好的都是身材高大的，且慢，我可不算其中的高個。在半決賽中，教練和大個兒少年爭奪籃板，教練搶到了球，而那位少年落地時不慎崴了腳，俗話曾經說過：“千萬別嫉恨球員，要恨就恨比賽吧。” 他腳踝脫臼，當被要求轉動一下腳脖子時，那隻腳根本不聽使喚。他提前離去，外加其他兩位，剩下的只有我們九名營員。

        打籃球或搞其它運動，受傷在所難免（玩保齡球和高爾夫球例外）。如果你想打球但又害怕受傷，那麼你無法干好這項運動。競技運動激烈殘酷，比賽勝負真正取決於參與雙方誰更優秀，勝利一定屬於無所畏懼敢於置身度外的人。今天教練一席話引起我內心極大的共鳴，既然體育比賽就是較量競技水平，那麼賽場上的運動員必須勇往直前。這句話具體落實到我所經歷的場面就是，我一舉淘汰了年僅六歲的隊友，嘿夥計，要知道這不過是場比賽，但願別太往心裡去。

        比賽帶來受傷，人們因此而遭受痛苦，甚至無法重返運動場上。不過我們來夏令營打球都是為了追求快樂這個共同目標的，當然贏球的感覺也相當不錯。