Basketball with Maxi, or When I Pretend to be a Teenage boy from Boulogne

Those of you who know me well know that I tend to avoid sports that involve balls.  I generally don’t have the coordination necessary to throw and catch with any consistency, and moreover, these sports simply don’t interest me.  Here in Argentina, however, playing basketball has become a weekly activity that has really strengthened the bond between Maxi and me. 

Every Monday we go to Campo 2, a municipal park located about ten blocks from the El Arca home.  If we’re lucky, there will be a group of boys (ages ten to twenty, roughly) there and we’ll all play a game together.  Maxi always feels much more motivated and has much more fun if there are enough people to play a game.  Maxi’s “don” (talent/gift) for being friendly and sociable really shines in this context.  He loves hanging out with the other guys, and whenever we walk around the neighborhood together to run errands, he greets almost everyone we see.  He knows the whole neighborhood!  And he always asks each person how they’re doing and how their family is doing.  There’s usually also a brief mention of soccer because Maxi is a die-hard fan of River. 

At first I felt uncomfortable playing basketball with a bunch of boys I didn’t know.  I felt really self-conscious about being a blonde girl in the midst of a bunch of Argentine boys.  But in reality they have never questioned or protested my presence, nor have they been rude to me in any way.  If anything, I feel like Maxi’s shadow, because it’s Maxi who does the real socializing!  His self-confidence and bravery in asking people he doesn’t know if they want to play a game has inspired me, and in turn I have become more confident in my interactions with people.  I think spending so much time with Maxi has helped me to worry less about what others think of me and simply talk to people, even if they give me weird looks. 

To my surprise, I have really started to enjoy these basketball games!  It’s such good exercise, and we all get really enthusiastic about it.  It’s fun to pretend that I’m just another local boy hanging out at the park.  It also makes me happy to see how good it is for Maxi.  He often gets in trouble for being antsy and disruptive in the home, and sports are a great outlet for his energy.  Plus, it makes him happy, and that alone should make it worth it.  When we return, Maxi always proudly reports how many baskets he shot, and although he almost always overestimates, I just go with it and let him have his moment of glory.