My little man and I played ball in the park today for a while by ourselves. I was showing him how to keep moving on the court, how to cut to the basket and a few more basketball fundamentals. I’m not a coach and never played past the 8th grade but I’ve played a few pick up games in my 53 years on this planet.

I was giving him advice just in case Team Crad had to play two-on-two.

A half hour later, two kids, probably about 15 or 16 years old, came on the court. They were watching me miss all kinds of easy baskets and saw my 13 year old son sink several shots.

I asked if they wanted to play against us, and they said yes. When I asked if they play on their school basketball team, one kid said, “‘Maybe.” 

I’m thinking, “Good. This old man and my son are gonna show y’all a few thangs.”

They went up 3-0. I was huffing and puffing until I sent a bounce pass to my son who cut to the basket. Awww yeah. Then, I drove to the basket and kicked it out to my little man. He swished it. They scored a few more, then I showed them a few of my moves that I remembered from 8th grade.

I wound up scoring 4, my son scored 4…they scored 11. It’s all good. We gave them a little trouble. I could tell they played on their school team.

They were getting nervous about us beating them but it was fun. I was talking trash about me being old and beating up on such young kids. They made jokes about hurting the knees of a senior citizen like myself. It’s all fun to me. 

It was kinda cool to show my son some fundamentals of the game and then actually use it on other players.

I love basketball.

Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He has written about fatherhood, societal change and parenting over many years and is currently finishing a memoir. Clayton is also the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University’s School of Business and is a 25 year veteran of the fast paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in a number of hit broadway and off-broadway musicals including “Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical and Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar and Grill. In addition, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.