hoopin'

Been spending the night watching basketball with the guys - it's NCAAs you know. Or maybe you're blissfully ignorant. Watching wall-to-wall basketball takes me back to the days when I lived hardwood and the round ball.

Oh not that I was ever good. We didn't even get girls basketball until I was a sophomore in high school. The little schools around us had girls hoops way before we did - places like Audubon and Elk Horn. But we could only be cheerleader - and I struck out on that accord in 7th grade, failing to be selected after trying out in front of a panel of teachers.

The only basketball skill I acquired before fall of 10th grade were from playing in the driveway and at the YMCA where Harl Holt organized us and actually let us play 5 on 5. Yeah, Iowa Girls Basketball back in 1973 was 6 on 6 - 2 half courts with guards and forwards. I was a forward though I wasn't much of a shooter.

I'm sure Coach Dale Allen was astonished when something like 70 girls showed up for the first practice - it took him like two weeks to weed out the looky lu's - the girls who just wanted to see what it was like. And once the uniforms were handed out, a bunch more quit. We had to share practice space with boys basketball and wrestlers.

In our athletic conference, the Hawkeye 8 - predecessor to the Hawkeye 10, most schools had girls basketball a year or two before we did. So they were light years ahead of our team. We were still learning how to play organized ball - how to check into a game, and where to stand. How to shoot a layup and set a screen. (I thought Coach Allen was a genius who invented screens - I'd never heard of them before).

I was thrilled to get a silver bullet - one of the uniforms, for the JV squad. Our colors were Black and gold, but since they decided to add girls hoops late, they didn't get the order in soon enough to choose uniform colors. Even so, I loved putting it on along with my Chuck Taylor high tops - until I got shin splints. Then I got Adidas Superstars, with thicker soles.

I'm not sure if we won a game that first year. Yet I loved every minute of it! I ate, breathed and slept hoops! The next year, my junior year I again dressed JV but also for varsity - but didn't get to play much. My senior year we got a new woman coach - we were slowly improving, and I played my role as practice player and all around cheerleader. My best game ever I scored 7 points including one reverse layup!

The best memories are of riding on the bus and hanging out with the girls after practice and games. We had to dress up for games and had polyester hounds tooth pants made and wore gold cardigans. On Fridays we'd go to Pizza Hut after we got back to town. It was a great way for a teenager to burn up time and energy. Come state tourney time our school took 2 busloads to shop and watch the finals - I idolized those players like rock stars today. Those were the good old days!