Ming had arrived from China and started studying in semester one 2016. He is completely shy and hardly talks, he’s embarrassed about this English. In the middle of his computer science class, he went to shoot some hoops. He’s got skills. Mad. Dribble; double dribble. It seemed pretty effortless to Ming. Shooting from the three-point line. Dunk. Dunk, dunk, dunk. Ming scored almost every time he took a shot. I was playing there, Ming joined. We didn’t talk much, well hardly at all. He threw the ball to me when it went in his direction. I watched as he ran up from the sideline and shot hitting the backboard and then in.
Ming’s wrist had that technique. It just seemed to flick-and-pop each shot he took. He’d been playing since primary school, everyday he’d practiced. It was all evident in the effortless of his technique. Shot after shot. Basket after basket. He was taking a study break, to work a different part of his brain. Running in from the baseline, dribble, little jump, flick-pop of the wrist slammed straight through the basket. The exercise worked. He seemed to master the court, which was different to the way he felt about being at school and living in a new culture.
Ming’s technique on the basketball court seemed like it just came to him effortlessly. His technique was the result of years of practice and getting out onto the court everyday.
MJ Wilson 