Reporter imitates the NBA skills challenge

Every year around the middle of February, I sit down and watch the NBA All-Star weekend. Out of all the events during the weekend, my favorite is the skills challenge where players have to shoot layups, dribble past obstacles, make difficult passes and make a 3-pointer. 

As a result, when I was offered the chance to to participate in a replica of the NBA skills challenge for newspaper (with alterations in equipment, of course, because we can’t afford all the fancy stuff), I immediately agreed. 

The plan was that I would go through the challenge once and see how I did. Then Michael Cole, a star junior on the varsity basketball team, would mentor me and I would try to improve my time on the course the second time.

To complete the course, I first had to make a lay-up; dribble around three cones; make a bounce pass, a chest pass, a 3-pointer and a long-pass; dribble around three cones; and then finally make another lay-up. To modify the equipment from the real NBA skills challenge, we used cones instead of life-size player obstacles for the zigzag dribbling portion, and we had one person simulate a pass-basket by making a circle with his/her arms. 

Even though the course didn’t sound too challenging, I wasn’t very confident of my basketball abilities. You see, I am a water polo player, and the last time I played basketball for fun was in in middle school.

The first time I went through the course, I’ll be honest, I was not bad. Although I missed simple lay-ups, it took me only around three tries to make each of the passes. I made the 3-point shot on my second attempt, which came as a total shock to me, considering that I haven’t shot a basketball in around two years. I finished with a decent time of 2:02, but there was definitely room for improvement.

Now it was time for Michael to share his secrets and tricks with me to cut my time. My technique and fundamentals were decent, but Michael helped me refine them a little. He told me, among other things, to keep my elbow in when I shot, and step into my passes. I practiced those skills a few times, and then I was ready for my final go at the course.

With all these new skills acquired, I was pumped to have a second shot at the course and I liked my chances of improving my time. The moment the timer said start, I was off to the races. I made the layup on the first try and my passes were on point. Sadly, it took me five tries to make the a 3-pointer this time; ironically, worse than before. But I still finished with a respectable time of 1:13.

I’ve got to say, I was really proud of myself afterwards. I improved by almost 50 whole seconds and felt like I could go pro. 

Then Michael tried the challenge and finished it in under a minute without even breaking a sweat. What a show-off. 

In all seriousness, I gained a lot of respect for basketball players and land sport athletes in general. Before this experience, I believed water polo was the hardest sport to play by far. But I was reminded how every sport is demanding in its own way.

Now that I’ve conquered the skills challenge, does anyone want to play one-on-one?

 

 

my time: 2:02, 1:13 Cole: 57