Best game in Guatemala

Oh the basketball game…

Well, as I was writing my last blog entry my friend and fellow volunteer Mary was also in the computer lab. She lives with a family right by the basketball court so I invited her to come watch me play. It was neat as I looked up and saw her and her family there to watch me. It reminded me so much of High School days of my family coming to watch me play.

I better give you a setting.

The basketball court is a cement area with puddles all over it because we are in the middle of the Rain season. There are two small lights equivalent to flashlights that light the court at night. In one of the corners there is a stair case, which dangerously enough a chapine (a chapine is a Guatemalan) went flying down during the game. And to top everything off there is a decent sized crowd there. Wasn’t sure what I got myself into.

When I got there I learned that Rocael doesn’t play, but he is the director and ref of the basketball league. He introduced me to my teammates and I was ecstatic to learn there was another gringo on the team. Seth is a missionary who has lived in Guatemala for 3 years. He could possibly be the whitest man in the entire country; it was fun to visit with him because he is from Minnesota and knows pretty much exactly how I feel here. We are practically neighbors in the US!!! He told me our team started with 15 guys and last night I made five. ¨”Lots of people have quit” he told me. ¨”Oh and by the way tonight we play the toughest team in the league.”

I looked to the other side of the court to find a group of 12 chapines that were around 20 years old. The team was extremely athletic and had a very serious coach. Our team had myself, Seth, and three chapines that looked as if the should be playing soccer instead. Right away I knew that this was going to be difficult and I wanted so badly for all my boys from our intramural basketball team there.

To start off the game I had a couple of steals and a three pointer with several cheers from Mary and her family. I was really having fun. We were down one point at half time. The game stayed really close the entire way, and I must say that I handled myself fairly well with my teammates who had no background in basketball besides watching it on TV. The other team was really cocky and so it was fun to be in a game so close with them.

Devastation sets in…

With 30 seconds left we were down by one point. I got a rebound and passed the ball the entire court to Seth who was wide open for a lay-up. Sadly he missed it and the other team got the ball. As they brought the ball up one of my chapine teammates stole the ball and went the entire length of the court. As he shot it the buzzer rang and he missed the shot… but he got fouled!!!!!! All he had to do was make one of the two free throws and we went into overtime. This was maybe the most exciting thing I have been involved with for quite a while. As my teammate took aim he was shaking he was so nervous. He missed the first free throw to the right so bad he didn’t even hit the backboard. OH MY I THOUGHT. So what does he do??? He moved all the way over to the left side of the free throw line, sadly he missed the second free throw even worse.

So the other team won. I wasn’t really mad because I had so much fun. More importantly then winning I made a new friend in Seth. He said he could help get a cell phone or anything I needed. He also said any time I wanted to go to Antigua and visit I was very welcome. After the game Mary and I visited with her family for about 2 hours telling jokes and sharing laughs. All in all it was a great night.

Take care,

Drewski