Bola Basket Bonanza

After I started helping out with my high school's basketball team, I met a group of kids my age who also help out with the team. Bagus, my dearest of these homies, invited me to come play with his club basketball team called Punai. After my first practice, Coach Ardi was fond enough of my lank and my skills to invite me to be permanent member of the squad. After two practices with the team, we had a tournament at the Palembang Sports and Convention Center. The arena was originally constructed for the 2011 South East Asia games to which Palembang played host. My expectations of the magnitude of the arena or the legitimacy of the tournament were greatly exceeded upon my arrival at the stadium.

Some high school teams played before us and the fans came in great numbers, drums and endless chants included. Very reminiscent of European soccer games.

I knew we had a solid squad coming into the tourney. I rotated on center with two other tall humans. I have come to expect a reasonable level of attention anywhere that I go in Palembang, as it is not a tourist city and white guys are few and far between. In this case, the attention compounded with my pre-ballin' nerves, so my performance on the court was less than great. My teammates could sense my anxiety and continued to tell me to 'woles'- Indonesian for 'chill out'. Some of my students and friends came to watch the games, and it helped to have some familiar, friendly faces in the crowd. What did not help was the emcee, who felt it necessary to scream "AIRBALL!!" into the microphone after my attempted three-point shot. At least she knew some English...

Bagus and I post-game. Bagus is Indonesian
for 'good' so you can imagine the fun
I have with his name.

Minus and I. He is the star of the best
high school team in town- Xavierius 3,
and also the star of our team.

Girls game prior to our third match.

The whole gang. 'Keep Smile!'

We played four games, winning the first two by landslides and losing the second two in nail-biters against som more formidable opponents. I scored a whomping two points in four games, but I was actually pretty happy that I didn't play very well. I already felt kind of bogus walking on to the team and stealing playing time away from players who had been with the team all year. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I am an exotic foreigner, and maybe a little bit to my ferocious defensive playing style and god-given lank that was intended for the basketball court.  

Head Coach Ardi and Me.

Assistant Coach and Me.

After the last game, which ended at midnight on Saturday night, we headed to the nearest warung for a post-game munch. I feel so blessed to have found a team to belong to. It made me feel so comfortable, stretching in the locker room with my new team, warming up with serious faces and occasional jokes. I loved feeling nervous before going out onto the court. It is a feeling that I have experienced throughout my life, and it transcends time or place. There is a comradery that one builds with his teammates that cannot be recreated in any other social setting. Battling on the court for each other, supporting each other through thick and thin, sweating and laughing and celebrating together. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a team- a group of friends who you care for without question or explanation, but simply because they are your teammates. I have this team now in Palembang and it certainly helps to make my new home to feel a lot less foreign.