tinynotebook

Free-throw wizard

Posted by Aaron - 23/02/09 at 10:02:00 pm

Top-ranked Paw Paw shooter, 13, aims for national tourney
BY AARON AUPPERLEE
Special to Hometown Gazette

PAW PAW – He started close to the hoop, easily banking two- and three-footers off the backboard and through the net. Then Tanner Eubank backed up, launching five-, six- and seven footers toward the rim, some sliding through, some rimming out. His father and coach, Scott, rebounded the basketball and fed it back to him. Tanner worked his legs, bending deep before each shot.

“Now shoot some free throws,” his father called out.

Tanner stepped behind the black line painted on the floor of the Trinity Lutheran School gym in Paw Paw. The gym was empty, an entire court behind him and only 15 feet to the basket in front of him. He set his feet, dribbled three times. Cradling the ball in his right hand, he brought it just below his chin.

He bends his knees, stares at the front of the rim, stands and with his hand guides the ball toward the basket.

He missed his first free throw. His father sent the rebound back to him. He missed the second and the third. By the fourth, he warmed up and drilled it. The 13 year old did not smile. He grabbed the ball and shot again, and again, and again. By this time, Tanner started making more free throws than he missed.

He hits 20 in a row, misses one, and then sinks four more, 24 out of 25.

Twenty-four out of 25, last year that sent Tanner and his family to Springfield, Mass., where Tanner competed in the Elks National Hoop Shoot. This year, Tanner is gunning for nationals again.

Tanner is one of the best free throw shooters in Michigan, and for his age, in the United States. He competes in the Hoop Shoot free throw competition sponsored by Elks clubs across the country. This year, Tanner sunk 21 out of 25 at the district tournament in Dowagiac. Then he made 23 out of 25 in the regional tournament at Hope College in Holland and at the state tournament in Midland.

He is shooting at nearly a 90 percent clip as he prepares to compete against the top shooters from Ohio and Indiana at the Great Lakes tournament in Angola, Ind., on March 12.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Tanner said.

Tanner started competing in the Elks’ free throw shooting competition at 8 years old. Shooting from a 12-foot line, he made 22 out of 25 shots in first competition, surprising his father and himself.

“We really didn’t practice much,” Scott said about the first year. “It’s just something to do go… and it’s taken off from there.”

He has competed each year since, either under the Kalamazoo Elks or the Dowagiac Elks. Craig Gould, the Michigan Southwest district director of the Hoop Shoot, has seen Tanner grow through the competitions. He remembered when Tanner was 10 and had a disappointing competition. Tanner went to Gould to say thank you and looked as if he wanted to cry, Gould said.

“I’ve seen him progress,” Gould said. “He’s grown up enough… Tanner, I think, mentally, is a strong kid.”

Tanner shoots 50 to 100 free throws a day in preparation and usually makes more than 90 percent of them. Practice is one thing, but pressures rise during the competition. At the Great Lakes competition in March, Tanner will face off against the best shooter from Indiana and Ohio. The three will sit in chairs around the 3-point line while a gym full of 500 pairs of eyes watching them shoot. Miss one or two and it is over, Scott said.

“I trend to think he does a little better in competition,” Scott said, noting that Tanner made 76 out of 80 free throws during competitions last year. “That’s phenomenal in a pressure situation.”

Tanner admitted he aims for perfection each time he steps to the line, 25 out of 25. His routine is the same—three dribbles, concentrate on the front of the rim, bend the knees, shoot. He keeps his mind blank when he shoots, he said, and focuses on the ball going through the hoop.

“I just try and relax,” he said.

Tanner’s family lives in Mattawan, but Scott decided to send him to Trinity Lutheran School in Paw Paw so he could start playing organized ball early. As a 5th grader, and now as a 6th grader, Tanner plays on the 8th grade team. The team is 11-5 for the season. Recently, Tanner scored 30 points, including a perfect three for three from the line. Scott is also the coach of the Trinity Lutheran team.

Tanner has bigger dreams. The 6th grader is quiet and calm, a trait that helps him during the high stress moments of free throw shooting but under-sells him as a star. His father wants him to develop more of a swagger, a sign of confidence, but knows that it will come with time. For now, both Tanner and Scott know he needs to work on his quickness and strength.

He looks up to two rather quiet yet extremely successful basketball players as well. Kurt Hinrich, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, and J.J. Redick, the stand-out shooting guard of recent Duke University fame. Tanner wants to go to Duke. It’s his only choice right now, and he knows it will take hard work to get there. Both his idols, Hinrich and Redick, have told him so during brief encounters with the stars.

Scott is not afraid to push his son. He admitted that it is basketball 24/7 with Tanner. During summer vacations, Tanner and Scott travel around the country playing Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball and attending camps, including a week with Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Even during a casual shoot-around one morning before school, Scott harped on Tanner for not bending his knees enough, for not using his legs. He jokes that Tanner is weak and lazy, but said that “too many pats on the back will only get you a seat in the back of the bus.”

Other parents have been critical of the Scott and Tanner’s heavy involvement with basketball, Scott said. They worry Tanner is going to burn out or crack under the pressure and not be able to recover. They worry that Tanner is not having any fun. Both disagree.

“If he wasn’t liking it, it would be something different,” Scott said. “I think it’s better for them. I think it’s better to keep them busy.”

Tanner does not mind. He likes it; he likes the competition. And in between shoots, he still finds time to do well in school, play golf and go snowmobiling.

After about a half hour of shooting, probably 50 to 60 shots, Tanner sink his last one. He went over to the bleachers and changed out of his court shoes, slung a backpack on his back and headed to class. The competition is not until March, and he’s got other things to think about for awhile.

Free throw shooting is a mental game
BY AARON AUPPERLEE

Shooting free throws is part muscle memory — arms remembering with how much force to lift the ball, wrists remembering how much arch and spin to put on it — and part mental, staying focused and positive under extreme pressure.

The first part can be practiced; the second takes mettle.

Last year at the Great Lakes Hoop Shoot competition, against the best shooter from Ohio and the best shooter from Indiana, Tanner Eubank, of Mattawan, proved he had both parts of the game.

Tanner likes to shoot first during competitions, he said, setting the bar and putting the pressure on the other shooters to match him. However, at last year’s Great Lakes competition in Angola, Ind., Tanner shot last.

The format for each tournament is the same. Each shooter takes 10 shots in round one and then 15 shots in round two. The best out of 25 wins, and if there is a tie, then the tying shooters go to a best-of-five shoot-off.

The first shooter, from Ohio, made all 10.

“Then there’s this little left-hander from Indiana, and all he is doing is netting them,” said Craig Gould, who traveled to watch Tanner shoot. “And you like, ‘This kid will never miss.’ ”

The kid from Indiana made all 10 too. Tanner missed one, 9 out of 10.

His father, Scott, suggested that Tanner not even watch round two. It will lessen the pressure, he said, keeping Tanner in the dark about how many he needs to make in order to win. Tanner listened and spent round two twisted in his chair, stretching and not looking at the other shooters.

The kid from Ohio hit 11 in a row, then missed two and ended the competition at 23 for 25. The kid from Indiana nailed his first 13, missed his 14th shot and buried the 15th. He ended the competition at 24 of 25. Tanner needed to be perfect to force a shoot-off.

Tanner swore he didn’t watch any of the shots. He stepped to the line and maded it rain, hitting all 15 shots and forcing the shoot-off.

Indiana had no chance in the shoot-off. He missed his first two. Tanner stepped up and continued his hot hand, sinking all five, to win with an impressive 29 for 30 and ending on a 20 in a row streak.

I hate the gym

Posted by Aaron - 19/02/09 at 11:02:00 am

I hate the gym.

About a year and a half ago, I signed up for a three-year membership with a nationwide chain of gyms to make some real changes in my life. I wanted to be healthy, get fit and lose a little weight. Picking the three-year option, I said, “If I am going to do this, I am really going to do this.”

That was stupid. I cannot back out of the contract unless I move somewhere that doesn’t have one of these gyms. Damn things keep following me wherever I move; I’m stuck. Each day I am reminded that if I do not go to the gym not only am I not treating my body right, but I am also wasting money. Great motivation.

So I go. I try to go four times a week, and I hate it. I am not sure if I hate working out, being active, that sort of stuff, but I am pretty sure I hate the gym.

The other night, at the very beginning of my workout – I hadn’t even broken a true sweat yet – I got up and left the gym, disgusted, my hatred of the place seething.

Just before I walked out, three people walked in that affirmed everything I hate about the gym.

One was a pretty boy, toned, tanned and looking spiffy in his matching work-out clothes and bright new white tennis shoes. He talked a lot about his workout and carried around a gallon jug of water as if to say, “I am going to work out so hard, I need this much water.”

I kept shooting glances over to him as he paced around the weight area, and I never saw him pick up a barbell for more than a few seconds. He didn’t really need to work out anyway. He already looked good. He probably goes for maintenance and to show off. Good for him. I can’t say that if I had a body like his I wouldn’t buy cool workout clothes and strut around like I own the place. He may just.

A father/son duo also came into the gym. Unlike pretty boy in the matching gym clothes, they wore blank colored t-shirts and sweat pants. Their shoes were so unnoticeable that I did not notice them. They were not fat but needed to work out. As a point of honesty, I probably look much like them.

The noticeable thing about the two, who often come into the gym while I am there, is how they take over the entire area. Not with attitude or noise, but with stink and sweat. They look horrible as they work out, and, as another point of honesty, I probably do too.

I work out in ratty sweatshirts and old soccer shorts. I’m a big believer of the beautiful on the inside concept taught whenever you learn to be nice to unattractive people because I know it is the best thing I got going for me. Maybe a few more sit-ups will change all that, but for now, I’m really OK with it.

But that is my point, no one, at least not anyone who is really working out, looks good while they do it. Most of work out because we need to; we’ve got bellies, love-handles, man-boobs or flabby thighs. We grunt, breath heavy and in funny rhythms, contort our faces in painful grimaces, stink and sweat. I know I do and silently apologize to everyone else in the gym while I am there. Only people who don’t really need to work out look good while they sort of do it, and in the meantime, they just piss everyone else off in the gym.

Whoever dreamt up this idea of a public place where people can work out together is a moron, probably a wealthy moron, but a moron nonetheless. Working out is gross, so why do it we do it in a public place. Like eating and sex, both also gross, working out is better done alone, in the privacy of your own home.

Yet, me, and millions of other people, trudge off to gyms in the morning, during lunch hours and at night, to either strut their pretty boy or girl figures or embarrass themselves in front of others. Something tells us that the gym is an authentic experience, a place to really get the exercise we need. Perhaps running through the park is more in tune with nature, but this is Michigan, and you can really only run through the park a handful of times during the year.

Sure, there are hundreds of infomercials on television for home exercise machines and aerobic routines that promise amazing results for only minutes a day. I recently saw one for a belt you wear that eliminates the need to do hated abdominal work outs. But like most things I see on TV, I can’t help but worry that they are all scams. The commercials come complete with testimonials and before and after photos, but give me a video camera, Photoshop and few cups of coffee and I can make the same thing.

When I last transferred my membership to the new gym I go to now, the guy working said that a majority of the members at the gym were women.

“I don’t why man,” he said as I walked out of his office, “but watch out.”

Yeah, watch out, like midway through the simulated hill-climb on the elliptical machine, hunched over as if I have bowel problems, I am going to look over and start up a conversation with the next Mrs. Aupperlee.

The American Sentence: A Ginsberg Creation

Posted by Aaron - 09/02/09 at 10:02:00 pm

Two weeks ago I discovered The American Sentence, a poetry form created by Allen Ginsberg.

The American Sentence is a horizontal haiku. A true haiku, written in 17 Japanese characters, reads vertically down the page. An American Sentence reads horizontally across the page in 17 syllables. Despite a break in directional deference, Ginsberg wanted the tone of the American Sentence to mimic a haiku. He used them as a tool to record life around him, simply, quickly and naked.

“Four skinheads stand in the streetlight rain chatting under an umbrella.” Allen Ginsberg, 1987

“Rainy night on Union square, full moon. Want more poems? Wait till
I’m dead.” Allen Ginsberg, 1990

I read one or two by Ginsberg and then started playing with my own. Here’s a sampling.

Only in their mid-20s, they shared coffee and messy stories of divorce.

Two women fold pastel-hued shirts with cartoon drawings regret their kids.

Workers in the towering office building answered phones at midnight.

Three men smoked on the sidewalk, and a woman asked for directions.

Shoveling snow that afternoon irritated the punk dressed in black.

Thick men in heavy coats finished a new roof on an old fire station.

I’m going to keep writing these and periodically update this post with new sentences. I want you all to take a go at them too and post your American Sentences as comments to this post.

Enjoy.

Search