Bought this for my son and somehow ended up using it more…
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Bought this for my son and somehow ended up using it more than he does
A few months ago, I bought a portable basketball shooting machine for my 14-year-old son
Like a lot of parents these days, I was looking for anything that might compete with the endless gravitational pull of YouTube, TikTok, gaming, and whatever else teenagers spend six hours a day staring at
He'd been getting into basketball, so I figured it was worth trying. At worst, I assumed it would become another one of those "great ideas" that gets used twice before collecting dust in the garage
To be fair, he actually does use it quite a bit
What I didn't expect was that I'd become the one who couldn't stay away from it
At first I'd just go outside with him for a few minutes after work. Maybe rebound a few shots, pass him the ball, give some completely unqualified coaching advice that he definitely didn't ask for
Normal dad stuff
Then one evening he went inside for dinner, and I stayed out there
Just for a few more shots
Then a few more
Then somehow it was almost dark and my wife was standing at the back door asking if I planned on eating that night
Since then, it has sort of become a routine
I come home from work, tell myself that I am just going to be out for ten minutes, and suddenly it is already ten o’clock at night and I am in my driveway shooting basketballs under a porch light
The funniest part is that I haven't played basketball consistently in years
Back in high school and college, I played all the time
Pickup games at the park
Church leagues
Random runs at the local gym
If somebody texted and said they needed one more player, I was usually there
And then life just happened…
Work became more hectic
Weekend schedules became jam-packed
Home maintenance was required
The children grew up
With each passing year, I found myself spending less time on my hobbies and more time attending to things that had to be done
I don't think there was one specific moment when I stopped playing basketball
It just slowly disappeared from my routine
One year became three
Three became five
Eventually I got to the point where I'd see a basketball sitting in the garage and think I should get back into that someday
That’s how the story goes
And someday never comes around
What shocked me wasn’t the fact that I missed basketball
But rather how fast all those emotions came flooding back
The routine of shooting a ball
The sound of it hitting the concrete
Trying to make five shots in a row and then refusing to quit until you do
There's something oddly relaxing about it
No emails
No meetings
No notifications
Just focusing on one thing for a little while
But I guess that isn’t entirely wasted, since my purchase is far from being totally misguided. However, to be fair, I must admit that I seem to have purchased a new pastime
My neighbors could certainly see that. I am sure they witnessed a middle-aged man standing in his driveway late at night, wearing his dirty work clothes, and telling himself “just one more time” twenty times in a row
There could be a lot worse midlife crises
People get sports cars
It seems mine revolves around dribbling basketballs under a driveway lamp as though I had the knees of a teenager
#toys
source
A few months ago, I bought a portable basketball shooting machine for my 14-year-old son
Like a lot of parents these days, I was looking for anything that might compete with the endless gravitational pull of YouTube, TikTok, gaming, and whatever else teenagers spend six hours a day staring at
He'd been getting into basketball, so I figured it was worth trying. At worst, I assumed it would become another one of those "great ideas" that gets used twice before collecting dust in the garage
To be fair, he actually does use it quite a bit
What I didn't expect was that I'd become the one who couldn't stay away from it
At first I'd just go outside with him for a few minutes after work. Maybe rebound a few shots, pass him the ball, give some completely unqualified coaching advice that he definitely didn't ask for
Normal dad stuff
Then one evening he went inside for dinner, and I stayed out there
Just for a few more shots
Then a few more
Then somehow it was almost dark and my wife was standing at the back door asking if I planned on eating that night
Since then, it has sort of become a routine
I come home from work, tell myself that I am just going to be out for ten minutes, and suddenly it is already ten o’clock at night and I am in my driveway shooting basketballs under a porch light
The funniest part is that I haven't played basketball consistently in years
Back in high school and college, I played all the time
Pickup games at the park
Church leagues
Random runs at the local gym
If somebody texted and said they needed one more player, I was usually there
And then life just happened…
Work became more hectic
Weekend schedules became jam-packed
Home maintenance was required
The children grew up
With each passing year, I found myself spending less time on my hobbies and more time attending to things that had to be done
I don't think there was one specific moment when I stopped playing basketball
It just slowly disappeared from my routine
One year became three
Three became five
Eventually I got to the point where I'd see a basketball sitting in the garage and think I should get back into that someday
That’s how the story goes
And someday never comes around
What shocked me wasn’t the fact that I missed basketball
But rather how fast all those emotions came flooding back
The routine of shooting a ball
The sound of it hitting the concrete
Trying to make five shots in a row and then refusing to quit until you do
There's something oddly relaxing about it
No emails
No meetings
No notifications
Just focusing on one thing for a little while
But I guess that isn’t entirely wasted, since my purchase is far from being totally misguided. However, to be fair, I must admit that I seem to have purchased a new pastime
My neighbors could certainly see that. I am sure they witnessed a middle-aged man standing in his driveway late at night, wearing his dirty work clothes, and telling himself “just one more time” twenty times in a row
There could be a lot worse midlife crises
People get sports cars
It seems mine revolves around dribbling basketballs under a driveway lamp as though I had the knees of a teenager
#toys
source
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