justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Size 15 Shoes

What’s a size 15 basketball shoe doing in my closet? Especially since I wear a size 7 1/2 shoe?

You can probably surmise that with my shoe size, my accompanying small stature would not lend itself to being a talented basketball player. Even more, I lacked the extreme coordination or dribbling skills required to overcompensate for my vertical challenges.  

I’m not really sure why I thought those shoes would be a good investment, although in spite of my small stature and a general lack of coordination, I do love basketball. I see it as one of the most graceful, yet physically demanding games one might play. Speed, agility, jumping ability, intelligence, and strength all play a part in doing well in the sport.

So whose shoes were the ones I decided to bid on (and win) at a local school fundraiser? They belonged to Lisa Leslie, a star in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the first WNBA player to dunk a basketball in a professional game.

I occasionally tease myself by asking – “Self? If I was 6 feet 5 inches tall instead of barely 5 feet 6 inches tall, might I have been able to at least “fit” into Lisa’s shoes?”

Fortunately, I found that I could excel in other sports “more my size”. My skills in college wrestling and gymnastics tumbling allowed me to feel both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

I’ve heard it said that the only true defeat is to not have competed at all. I can feel satisfaction as a sports nut to have “put it all out there” on all fields of competition.