Hoop Fanatics: (Dropping Some Unknown Knowledge on You)

By E. D. Shorts (Big-E)

It was the summer after the 2016-2017 school years in Alexandria, Virginia. Coach-E, a well-known coach in the city, decided to start a summer basketball camp for the first time. Coach-E's military style of coaching and his choice of words were not always appropriate for young, sensitive kids or kids with low self-esteem. So he made sure only ninth graders and up could attend his camp. The day came when the camp was to open, and Coach-E was shocked at the number of kids who had signed up for the camp. He just knew there had to be more than just four kids who wanted to come out and improve their B-ball game. However, Coach-E had no clue what he was getting himself into with this group of four just as they really didn't know what was coming their way dealing with Coach-E's unique style of coaching.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648017698

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Hoop Fanatics

(Dropping Some Unknown Knowledge on You)

E. D. Shorts, (Big-E)

Copyright © 2021 E. D. Shorts, (Big-E)

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-64801-768-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64801-769-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

The Beginning

James Naismith, a Canadian, invented the game of basketball in 1891. Naismith was a physical education instructor at the international YMCA training school (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts. Luther H. Gulick, head of the school’s physical education department, asked Naismith to create a team sport that could be played indoors during the winter. Naismith decided to use a soccer ball because it was large enough to catch easily.

He asked the building superintendent for two boxes to use as goals. The superintendent didn’t have boxes, but he provided two wooden peach baskets. The baskets were then attached to the gymnasium balcony railing, ten feet (three meters) above the floor.

In December 1891, members of Naismith’s physical education class played the first game of basketball. After the first game, Naismith drafted the original thirteen rules of the sport. The rules appeared in the school newspaper on January 15, 1892. Soon thereafter, basketball was being played by the YMCA, in high school, in college, and by professional teams in the United States and Canada.

Changes to the Game

In 1893, metal hoops with net bags attached replaced the wooden baskets. Officials pulled a cord attached to the net to let the ball drop out. Baskets with bottomless nets came into general use around 1913. The backboard was introduced in 1894. That year, larger balls replaced soccer balls.

Just Basketball

Basketball is a fast, exciting, and entertaining sport played between two teams, each consisting of five players. A team wins the game by scoring more points than the opposing team. Players score by shooting a large, inflated ball into the raised goal, called a basket, at the end of the basketball court. A player can advance the ball toward the basket only by dribbling (bouncing the ball) or by passing it to a teammate. Each team also tries to prevent the other team from scoring without major physical contact. Basketball requires teamwork, quick reactions, and endurance. Tall players have an advantage because they can reach closer to the basket or above other players to shoot and rebound. However, smaller players also make contributions to their teams as shooters and ball handlers.

As mentioned before, basketball was invented in the United States in 1891. By the mid-1900s, it had become the world’s most popular indoor sport. Today, millions of fans crowd into gymnasiums and arenas to watch their favorite teams. Millions more watch games on television. The finest male players in the world compete as professionals in the National Basketball Association (NBA); the finest female players on the world compete as professionals in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Fun Facts

A basketball is round and made of leather or synthetic material with a pebble grain. The ball for boys and men’s games weighs between twenty and twenty-two ounces (567 to 624 grams) and is about thirty inches (seventy-four centimeters) in circumference. Girls and women use a ball which weighs between eighteen and twenty ounces (510 to 567 grams) and is about thirty-nine inches (seventy-four centimeters) in circumference. A basketball court is a rectangle, divided into halves by a division line. Other lines further divide the court into sections with most courts made of wood. A backboard and basket hang over each end. High school teams use fan-shaped or rectangular backboards. College and professional teams use rectangular ones. A regulation basketball court measures ninety-four feet (twenty-nine meters) in length and fifty feet (fifteen meters) wide. Courts for high school games may be eighty-four feet (twenty-six meters) in length.

A basket and backboard hang over each end of the court and must be four feet (122 centimeters) inside the end line. The basket consists of a rim, net, and backboard support. The rim is a cast-iron hoop, eighteen inches (46 centimeters) in diameter and must not exceed 5/8 inch (sixteen millimeters) in thickness. The rim is attached to a metal plate shaped like an upside down L that is bolted to the backboard so it is parallel to the floor and ten feet (three meters) above it. And finally, backboards are made of fiberglass or metal.

(Knowledge dropped!)

Introduction

Hoop Fanatics

It was the summer after the 2016-2017 school years in Alexandria, Virginia. Coach-E, a well-known coach in the city, decided to start a summer basketball camp for the first time. Coach-E’s military style of coaching and his choice of words were not always appropriate for young, sensitive kids or kids with low self-esteem. So he made sure only ninth graders and up could attend his camp. The day came when the camp was to open, and Coach-E was shocked at the number of kids who had signed up for the camp. He just knew there had to be more than just four kids who wanted to come out and improve their B-ball game. However, Coach-E had no clue what he was getting himself into with this group of four just as they really didn’t know what was coming their way dealing with Coach-E’s unique style of coaching.

Coach-E was able to rent out a gym in the middle of the city; therefore, no matter what the distance of travel was for each kid, it was equal. The gym was the same gym Coach-E played in growing up, located behind Mount Vernon Elementary School. The gym looked remodeled from the outside, but inside it looked just like it did in 1990. It had the same dark wooden floors that somehow always seemed to shine—the same blue mats hanging on the wall underneath the goals in the event someone ran into the wall after a layup, which always happened. There were the same cloudy glass backboards along with those bright orange basketball rims. And let’s not forget about one of the most memorable features of the gym: the basketball nets! I don’t know what those nets were made of, but out of all the recreational centers in the city, Mount Vernon had the best-sounding nets ever heard when a shot was made—a sound no kid would forget.

The fact that these young hoop stars knew the history of this gym and the legends who played there made them superexcited about starting camp! There’s nothing that gets the blood pumping more than the excitement of not knowing what’s to come. So let’s take a look and see what the outcome of this peculiar adventure will be.

Chapter 1

8:00 a.m.

Coach-E. Good morning, my name is Coach-E, and I will be your skills instructor for the next three weeks.

Chub. Excuse me, sir.

Coach-E. What is it?

Chub. What’s a skills instructor?

Coach-E. You see we’re getting off on the wrong foot. Whatever your name is, kid, shut up until I’m finished.

Liz. Can he talk to us like that?

Coach-E. Like I was saying, these next three weeks, you will listen to me and do as I say if you plan to improve this game we call basketball.

Lee. Ummm, Coach, ummm, I need to find a water fountain or something so I can take my vitamins for the day. I got extra if you want some.

Ed. Ha! Ha! Stick-boy takes old people vitamins!

Chub. If you’d like, I could take your vitamins and bake them into cereal bars shaped like farm animals. Then they’ll be fun to eat.

Liz. Oh! Can you make them look like basketballs?

Coach-E. Hey! Shut your pieholes!

Chub. Oh, boy! Pie is my specialty.

Coach-E. Okay, I see what needs to happen. I should’ve done this from the beginning. We’re going to start with Liz and go down the line, and everyone is going to tell something about themselves.

Liz. We should have saved the best for last, but I guess I can go first.

Ed. You’re not God’s gift to the world, Pimple-face. Get over yourself.

Liz. Whatever! Like I was saying, my name is Lindsay Valentine aka Ma-Ma. They call me that because I treat everybody on the court like I’m their momma. Girls rule! Girls get the best grades, girls are more coachable, and it looks worse when a girl bust your ass in basketball, LOL!

Coach-E. Hey! What I say about the language? Next!

Ed. Well, you know people call me Ed, but my full name is Edward Valentine aka Frog. I’m fifteen years old, and Pimple-face and I are stepbrother and sister.

Liz. Thank God!

Ed. They call me Frog because of my frog-like defense. I’m better looking, I smell better, and I play better than all y’all. Just ask my girlfriend. I’m the man!

Coach-E. Boy, if you got a girlfriend, that poor girl must be desperate, LOL! Next!

Lee. Hello, everybody, my name is Leonard Davis, and I’m fourteen years old. Some people call me Stick-boy. I really don’t like that. But I guess it fits because I’m somewhat skinny.

Chub, Ed. Stick-boy! Ha! Ha! Ha! You’re skinny as hell, son!

Coach-E. Quiet, you two!

Lee. I have a 4.0 grade point average, I have very bad allergies, and I have bad coordination. My dream is to play basketball like Stephen Curry.

Coach-E. You got a long way to go, kid. Next!

Chub. Hey guys, I’m Cordell Creditt Jr. aka Cupcake. They call me Cupcake because I love my oven, and I’m going to be a master baker one day. I’m sixteen years old, I love my mom, I love my dog, and I love pastries. Oh yeah! I love basketball.