~source: my DeviantArt gallery, my photo
Dunking the past!
Background thoughts:
I was in the '90s.
In a post-communist country at the time.
The world was quite narrow-minded, as a cultural, social, economic background. And greed and snobbery were just blooming from an aligned social status of each person somehow.
We were purer, more candid and more innocent then. People used to offer their help, people kept their promises to each other, life was rosy and full of optimism from that point on. At least, that's how we wanted to believe and hope.
Foreign trade developed at that time in the way that we received many imported products, from Turkey, China, Japan, Germany.
The only sneakers I could find were Adidas brand and some Chinese ones. The cigarettes that could be found were Assos and Kent, in addition to the local ones.
Mercedes cars were a luxury and so rare on our highways!
This was the only type of foreign car in my country in the beginning of the '90, the only model.
source
So how about BASKETBALL?
I was in primary school. 4 or 5th grade.
During the sports education classes, we practice a lot of gymnastics, running, but also volleyball.
I hated volleyball with all my being.
I was looking at the boys in my class who were playing basketball and I thought it was amazing what they were doing! They tried all sorts of strategies and schemes seen on TV.
I was 12 at the time.
I was a girl.
source
LOL!
NO!
Not that type of girl.
Just a grrrrl!
Maybe a Guerilla Girl!
BACK ON TRACK!
I asked the Sports teacher to allow me to play basketball with the boys or to make a group of girls.
source
!askig for permission to get the ball and play with it
He said no. "Girls don't play basketball!"
(FK OFF!)
I asked "Why?"
He sent me back to play volleyball.
There I felt so clumsy and I had no pleasure in playing or watching that sport, practiced by my classmates, the girls.
KEEP ASKING!
Every day, when I had Sports class, I asked the teacher to give me at least one basketball to throw in the basket.
In the end he accepted. After I cried and screamed that I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY I AM NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY IT!
He gave me a ball. He sent two groups of boys to play with me. They chose me in one of the groups. And I started playing basketball.
I was so happy.
They were so amused by me and I swallowed a lot of bulling, even from the sports teacher. To them, I was a different kind of fun.
The girls in my class said I was stupid and crazy because I play basketball, which is a boys game.
This is what happened in 1994.
From that moment and from that year, the small town where they come from accepted that the girls play basketball. It has even become a trend for girls to play street basketball.
Everybody knew me and wanted to play with me. Smaller kids, girls with their brothers of 5-6 that they were supposed to take care of were coming with them on the yard and asking to play. Others were watching and supporting new comers. We were a small community on that field. Never meet too much outside of the field.
I played every day. Many years.
Never managed to do a dunk by myself being so little, but:
friends lift me up on their shoulders so I could experience a "copycat" move of the slamdunk...yeah..it's funny, but I was so excited back then that I felt like crying of happiness.
source and a kind of picture that I had about me in that moment, lol!!!
A special relationship
I was an introvert, but basketball took me out of the comfort zone entirely, while not asking me to open-up more than I would have liked it to.
A clean and neat setting for me to manifest myself freely.
I had a very tough life back then.
Violence, trauma, unsecurity...lack of self-trust and communicating with people.
Going through seconday, high-school, university, MBA and after, I kept playing basketball.
I made many friends.
Funny fact: I treated my first disappointment in love by playing basketball.
I had the courage for new life projects and for the profession, playing basketball.
FREESTYLE STREET BASKETBALL that was.
Everyone who played with me was an amateur, a basketball enthusiast.
Don't imagine now that I played professional basketball.
I'm only 1.55 cm.
I promise that I will attach pictures from my external hard drive, in which you can see some periods of my life in which I played basketball!
To me, basketball is freedom: of movement, expression, being, creating, unsteaming, collaborations, alignment and calibration with yourself and with your team. Focus, strategy, approach...and much more.
Now that my spine kept me in bed so many months, I won't give up!
First I want to be able to walk properly again and move, then swim, free dive and I HOPE that one day I will be able to play basketball again.
If you reached to this point, I want to thank you for reading these pieces from my life.
Yeah but White Men Can't Jump! Haha Isn't that the most racist title for a movie ever? I don't see one Larry Bird lookin dude in your memes either, omg you have a white chick playing basketball, and she's even painted black? I dunno... reminds me of Painting the roses red lol jk To top it all off you have a very nerdy white chick wearing glasses meme, kinda racist post if u ask me!
O.K. I read it, the girl with glasses was supposed to be you, I get it wow!!!
I
=
glad
u
like
it!
~keyboard's playin' tricks on me
I like it! Thanks!! My keyboard was just Fong the same thing, weird!!
dei r sinkin' lol
Yeah how'd you know, I be pressing that one all the time. Haha
Mine wants 2 sleep.
Be back later.
This is amazing, truly.
Young you focused on what you wanted, got it, and that paved the way for many others to enjoy basketball as well.
Wonderful, inspiring storytelling and delightful images, thanks for being you, @regenerette . This post brought a lot of joy to my evening. #KeepRyzing ! 🙏
(Also @cynshineonline you're a big basketball fan, so you'll probably enjoy this. Plus you introduced to that 'be yourself' song where the girl plays basketball with the boys at about 1m04s in: )
I LOVE that song and the video! The girl in that video looks like me as a kid and I love how she just doesn't care and is herself. That's still me lol. ❤️
Thank you for tagging me in this @ryzeonline! I cried reading this lol @regenerette and I have some similar things in common.
I too demanded to be allowed to play basketball in school. I went to a small Catholic school and for gym class, the girls also had to play volleyball (or tetherball or tee-ball, not even softball) and I LOATHE volleyball as well. At only 5'2" (157 centimeters) and with big boobs they didn't want me to play. I threw a fit and they let me play but I got bullied for it. The girls made fun of me, the boys checked me every time coach looked away. I didn't care. I kept playing. I tried out for the girl's team in high school 4 times but didn't make it because of my height. I still love it.
Basketball (swimming and softball too) brought me so much joy. I LOVE your story @regenerette it made me so happy reading it. I love when someone (male or female) does what they love and doesn't let anyone stand in their way. That's so powerful and beautiful. Thank you for sharing it here.
You can do it. Jay and I believe in you!
~much love,
Cyn
My pleasure, glad you resonated with it. Me and my sibs had the whole neighborhood at our house playing ball on our net most of my teenage years.
And yes, we do believe in @regenerette ! Woo! 🙏
❤️❤️❤️
Hugs and appreciation!
I wish us 3 could play a fun game one day! Hehe!
That'd be great! A quick game of 21, or we can find a fourth and do some 2 on 2 street-ball :) 🙏
Yes, and have some music on the background, while we play!
😁
Thank you for sharing your story, Cyn. It felt so good reading it.
Somehow, acceptance is still a big humanity issue. But I do hope that one day we will be more connected with others, allowing all to express themselves with imposing norms and launching depreciative beliefs.
Thank you so much for coming by! And for the reinforcement!
Thank you too for your lovely words. And I agree. I hope one day we can all be accepted for who we are and what we like. I feel like the world is slowly getting there. I intend for it to be faster though. And my pleasure. I look forward to reading about your progress ❤️
Let's shine our light and improve what we have already. I am grateful even if I know life can be much more rewarding to me. More and more will awake to their humanity.
Thank you again for stopping by and I hope to see you again and keep in touch.
“ To me, basketball is freedom: of movement, expression, being, creating, unsteaming, collaborations, alignment and calibration with yourself and with your team. Focus, strategy, approach...and much more.” This is what Dunk Social is all about. Incredible story, I respect the drive and persistence in accessing the game you love! I like how things are coming together currently for Women’s basketball, the marketing from the WNBA has been excellent and there are some real shooters in that league. Soon it’ll start getting the respect it deserves! I hope they follow your path of persistence!
I was re-editing it while you wrote this, adding some pics.
Thanks so much for reading it!
It is one of the personal stories I never shared with anybody but very strong and powerful for me.
Going to tweet it and shill Dunk now!
I played barn basketball. Probably not as cool as street ball, and it probably didn't require as many skills. ... I love it when your passion comes through so clear in your posts; it certainly did here. :)
Hehe! I wanted to dig in the old external hardware for some pic, but it's too late now. Need some sleep soon.
I am so happy each time you read these fragments of my....herstories hihi! and you know...they come from my genuine heart
Street basketball is, for sure, a different experience. Even while staying in France, I kept playing it and it was so empowering and different. The energy is different each time, it depends on the players, country, places...
Hugs!
Congratulations @regenerette! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 3000 comments.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPMy mother was a basketball player here in Mexico when the game was just being adopted to the women's leagues, she was a champion scorer for several seasons besides representing the state where she lived for several years, she was very happy playing basketball, but she did say that women who played basketball were not very well regarded.
Will is power, I'm sure you'll get that ball back on the court, cheer up!
Translated with DeepL.
Wow!
Seems like she's an amazing woman!
Yes...will and determination. Some have them and some gain them along the way.
Thank you so much for coming by and reading this article!
I am also crazy about sports even though I'm not particularly good at it
They are engaging and fun! Plus they give lots of adrenaline even just watching them!