6
As the bus halted near what looked like
an abandoned school gymnasium, somewhere inside the old town, the coach
instructedthe boys to do some warm up drills inside the gym.
“I will go and talk with your opponents
for today, who should be on the other side of the building.” The coach left
before the boys could ask anything.
“Thank god, we are not here to clean or
repair these worn out buildings.” Dawa sighed.
“Well boys, you heard the coach. Looks
like we will be playing ball today. Let’s warm up.” Penjor, the team captain
from the previous seemed like the right person for the job that year as well.
He lead the warm up exercises and drills very efficiently.
Fifteen minutes into the warm up drills,
the coach walked in. He didn’t look like he was there to coach the team,
instead he looked like he was there to play against them. He was followed by a
group of middle aged men, all wearing the same uniform. And at the end of the
line Chophel and Dawa saw an undeniably familiar face.
“Phew! Looks like we’ll be screwed bro.”
Dawa said as he nudged Chophel with his elbow.
“Learn to lose before you learn to win.”
Chophel thought out loud.
The other boys looked confused.
“The man at the end of the line is
Chophel’s father. He was our first basketball coach and in fact the one who got
us into basketball in the first place,” Dawa explained, “And what Chophel said
right now is what uncle told us after he thrashed us in our first ever
basketball match.”
“How old were you guys?”
“Five.” Chophel and Dawa said in unison.
“Don’t worry boys, we are younger,
quicker and even taller than most of them.” Penjor said as he observed the men
warming up at the other end of the court.
“I just hope the others are not as good
as uncle Sonam.”
“Hey Dawa, you saw my dad’s team photo
at my house, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, take a closer look at our
opponents.”
“No way!!!! They are still playing?
“Guys, guys,” Penjor interrupted, “don’t
get worked up over some have beens. You two can sit out today if you are that
sacred.”
“Happily!” in unison which made the
other boys laugh.
“So that’s what ‘learn to lose before
you learn to win’ means, huh?” Penjor half said and half asked as he and the
rest of the team sat down after the game.
The boys were out scored 73 to 10 at the
end of the match.
On the way back the coach told the boys
that practice timings might change every day and that they should keep an eye
on the notice board.
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