Never had this one before

[Mark Padgett]

In working rec games, I take the opportunity to kid around with the players sometimes (OK, all the time). One thing I like to do happens when a player makes the first of a one-in-one and some kid on the lane starts to run down court. As he realizes what happened and comes back, I say to him in front of all the others, "See, one-in-one means that if he makes the first shot, he gets another shot - get it?" I usually get about halfway through the sentence when they laugh kind of sheepishly and the others realize I'm just teasing the kid.

However, yesterday I had an 8th grade boys competitive level game in which I did that and the kid nodded and said, "Oh, I see. Thanks." At first I thought he was trying to tease me back, and I was going to tell him "good job", but then I realized he really didn't know! A few minutes later, during a break, his coach came over and thanked me for explaining it to him He said the kid really didn't know the rule as this was his first season of basketball. I wonder what rock this kid was hiding under up until now because he's about 6'2" and a pretty decent player, especially in the post.