Lessons

I learned something very significant today.

Someone who is well over thirty and doesn't exercise regularly should NOT, I repeat, NOT play basketball with junior high kids.

Today was the seasonal class matches for our 7th graders. Basketball was one of the games the girls were playing. I was sent there to supervise, but I took pity on the girls of my own class, who only had four members available. That meant they could neither field a full, five-person team nor replace members midcourse. They wound up getting soundly stomped during their first game, so I took pity on them and joined in the second. In doing so, I discovered several things:

• Contrary to popular belief, 7th grade girls in Japan definitely know how to play basketball.
  
• Some of them are damned good shooters even though they are less than 5' tall.
  
• However, the average height of 7th grade girls in Japan is now considerably higher than it was ten years ago, and they can be pretty tall.
  
• The spirit of Bushido (the way of the warrior) is apparently very much alive and well in them, and they can be quite aggressive, even brutal, when the game gets going.
  
• Playing cautiously on account of your larger bulk and delusions of superior physical prowess can put you in serious danger.
  
• On the other hand, playing full out means you're liable to knock over if not plow through somebody, which will earn you a sound, feminine scolding at best and those insidious, feminine tears at worst.
  
• The girls do not suffer the same limitation; they can crash and plow into each other...and into you...with impunity.
  
• There is a very big difference between hauling heavy loads and running around at a full sprint for seven straight minutes trying to guard five much more maneuverable kids.
  
• The gym floor is harder than you probably remember.
  
• Muscles that haven't really been used much in ages like to complain.
  
• Lungs that haven't really been used much in ages like to make you miserable.
  
• Aerobic overload can and will make you dizzy.
  
• Unlike you, 7th graders don't get tired.
  
• Sweat-soaked clothing, particularly a dress shirt and slacks, does not dry very quickly in a humid environment, and it continues to smell bad for an extended period.
  
• It's damned fun!
  

We wound up losing 14-16, but that was still better than my girls' 0-16 stomping in the first round. I think I got rid of a centimeter of waistline, too. Maybe I should do something like that more often.