Basketball and Dungeons

1. The Beginning o' The End

Last night was the first night of basketball games at school. That means that Fridaynight=Basketballnight for the next couple of terms. It's like my weekend doesn't start til 9pm on a Friday, when the last game finishes.

But as much as I dread going BACK to school on a Friday night, it's always fun once I'm there. The kids are all positive and into it.

Game 1 was our Senior B team. I think none of them had ever played a game (beyond a couple of 3rd formers who had played mini-ball). So it was ..... a learning process. I think by the end they looked a little less scared. I wanted to somehow subtly drop in the fact that half the team were 3rd formers and one of them was a partially special-needs student in case the other school got cocky about beating them 7-57.

I was telling the special-needs girl that all she had to do on defence was stick with #6. I was actually reffing at the same time, but when the scoreline's that one-sided I think impartiality matters less. She said to me, 'But I don't want to get that close to her.' There could be defensive problems if she has personal space issues....... Her dad came up and thanked me for letting her join in afterwards. Odd thing was that rather than watching the game, he'd sat there doing something on his laptop the whole time.

The best thing was that one of the girls came up afterwards and said her dad was happy to take over coaching them. It was like christmas! I suddenly saw a light at the end of the tunnel....... perhaps some Friday nights will be for 'socialising' and going to 'work drinks' (strange events I forget about until about September). I remember him yelling out a few things during the game, and he seemed to know what he was talking about. And another partent came up and offered to help out with transport. Parents rule!

Then the Senior A redeemed our pride by romping over the other school's A team. We have one player who's just poetry in motion. She has played NZ rep basketball and soccer for years. I think she got about 10 steals and about 30 points. We had a few new players in the team, and all of them scored a few points and looked fairly chuffed. One of them did a little fist-pumping dance after making two free-throws. She's gonna be a crowd favourite. And one of their dads kept coming down between quarters and giving his daughter advice on being 'tougher'. I love it when dads get inolved in their daugher's sports. It's sweet.

Anyhow, that means Miss J doesn't have to coach! I can now focus on my favourite thing - running the score-bench. Score-bench is FUN! Last night I taught two of the 3rd formers how to do the score-sheet and part of the score-board. I ran the 24-second and game clock.... the two most visible jobs......... the clock went off a few times because I forgot to reset it........... always embarrassing. But one of the girls said, 'Miss, can I do this EVERY week?' So yay! Another job Miss J doesn't have to do.......

2. D 'n' D

I found this shirt. It's wicked with its multi-sided di and whatnot. If I had to buy a present for Richard, Morgue or 'John'* (or anyone else who's a closet Dungeons and Dragons player) I'd be ordering it right now!

Then I read the comments about it. Turns out lots of people bought it thinking it was referring to some rap song, not an exhibition about role playing. Haha! That's a funny thought that they're going around wearing a tshirt they think is totally gangsta, but it's totally white-and-nerdy (according to my man Al).

Here are some of the comments made about it:

We’re Rollin’ They’re Hatin’ is a large-scale contemporary art show that examines the role of Dungeons and Dragons, Escapism and Fantasy in contemporary art and culture. How many people who ordered this are groaning right now?
I thought it was just a weird design with that chamillionair song on it...
* Name changed to protect public image and avoid law suit