Calvin had beautiful long hair, but hair in the eyes and basketball didn’t mix.
We went to watch him play and after that first game is when we declared that the hair had to go. He played OK, but he looked sluggish and for the first time ever he didn’t score a single basket.
We were cheering when he missed the shot because it was the closest he came all day to scoring. He wasn’t shooting — probably because he couldn’t see the basket.
The first game after his locks were shorn I walked into the gym and I could see the difference right from his warm-up. He was sinking baskets, moving more fluidly, and keeping his head up (since he wasn’t having to look under his bangs to see). Hallelujah!
The funny thing is that his first day at school with short hair 7 or 8 people said, “Why did you cut your hair? I liked it better longer.” It turned out that all of the haters were girls. Of course they liked the long hair. They probably also liked how he would toss his head to flick the hair out of his eyes. When he explained that his mom made him cut it for basketball some of them said, “Why don’t you just quit basketball?” I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or roll my eyes.
Part of the fan club — our next door neighbor who Camille loves to play with.
My boy can see!
This game was a scrimmage among the TAISM 7th & 8th graders. They divided into 4 teams (blue/red/white/gray) and played 20 minute games Round Robin style.
Calvin played awesome. A few swishes, one almost-3 pointer (feet on the line), some slick passing, and several assists. I would have taken some video, but my camera battery died (and I was too busy jumping and cheering to hold a camera steady).
Watching him play well was almost as great as having him come off the court with a sheepish grin to say, “You were right.”