We had 7th and 8th grade boys tryouts last night for our local kids rec league. Actually, "tryouts" is a misnomer, since every kid who signs up on time gets on a team. It's actually a skills drill so coaches can take notes for the team draft.
Anyway, I was running the free throw station. As I lined the first group up, I told them that if a kid makes a free throw, everybody was to yell "NICE SHOT", but on every miss, they were to yell "YOU SUCK". Quite a few of them laughed before I told them I was just kidding. However, one kid came over to me and said, "Actually, I really do suck, so if they yell it I won't mind". At first I thought he was putting me on, but the more I looked at his demeanor, the more I was convinced he was serious.
BTW - he got to shoot nine free throws during the drills and he did make one, however, it wouldn't have counted in a game because he went way over the line. I noticed him in the layup drill and he missed quite a few of those too. Fortunately, this is a purely recreational league and he'll still have a lot of fun and, I hope, improve his skills. That's the point.
Oh yeah, one kid who moved here from Europe over the summer brought a soccer ball instead of a basketball. He was sufficiently laughed at by the other kids. I made sure he attempted all his shots from the metric line.
