I’m down at the local high school (my favorite haunt for shooting some baskets) and as I stomp around shooting and rebounding I realize I have seen the first sign of full-summer. Not regular-summer...regular-summer is all but a few months out of the year. Only the December to February sector gets to be something other than summer...it is non-summer.
But full-summer - now that’s a real summer that can burn the hide off a basketball and evaporate the water right out of your pores while you’re standing motionless in the shade. It is inescapable and all-encompassing, and now I know it is upon us.
I know it is upon us because the wasp-nest in the basketball goal has come to life.
The basketball goals here are metal. A hollow tube of rough, yellow-painted metal comes up from the court; another metal tube is attached to this at a right angle and is then crudely welded to the actual goal frame and backboard. The precision balance of this 10 ft high regulation basketball goal is great for the player; but the opening into the tube as the crosspiece meets the goal is the perfect haven for wasps, and provides a fabulous place for them to build their dream home.
This creates an interesting dynamic, and a valuable tutoring device for improving your shots. As long as you ease the ball gently through the net without hitting the backboard or even grazing the rim, you are good as gold and can continue normally.
But as soon as you bang that rim, or god forbid hit the backboard, a horde of angry wasps comes streaming out of the hole and starts darting and stabbing at the basketball (and you, if you’re not quick enough or smart enough to get 30 ft away as soon as you touch anything other than net).
There is significant motivation to have a very clean and precise shot on this court, and to move quickly into defense when you don’t. You will soon find that your game rapidly improves for the better.
