We had won third place. We weren't that ecstatic about it because our team was bigger than most teams in the tournament. The pizza place was the kind I loved so much. The smell was so rich, ceiling was low, and those red and blue neon signs were everywhere. The table was big, our team was like 10 people including myself and some of the parents. Tyler, that chubby kid that was pretty good but was always slow. Jordan was the point guard, passing type that got most of the assists. Andrew played football at catholic so he was more of the muscle type of play, he always powered his way to the basket. Jared, that blonde kid that always came across to me like a thug with his deep voice and muscles and his vulgar tongue. I was more of the shooting type. I had pretty good range outside and inside the arch, and also made some good assists. They called me air Egypt. I think the place were we sat was Little Caesar's. I enjoyed the pizza and the Pepsi refills so much, one thing among many things I still miss about America, good pizza and unlimited soda. At times like these I always wondered, what brought me here? What's a tradition-loving Egyptian Muslim 15-year old doing at a pizza place in Little Rock, Arkansas with his Presbyterian Church basketball team? And how exactly can he get along with them when they are so different that pretty much all that's about them is different from each other. How could all that be possible. Is it Globalization that made people around the world,especially young people, able to communicate very easily by having basically the same teen culture? Or does it have to do with that after all we are all humans and life can't be too different, only we name stuff differently from others.
We chit-chatted waiting for the order to come. I think we just ordered a bunch of large pizzas from every type for the sake of variety. I had gotten my Pepsi even before food came, which is normal in America. We talked about the other teams and how close we had been to beat them. We talked about the state basketball tournament now, and how good everyone's school team was. Catholic High Basketball team had never won a state championship, but I was a manager with the team, and the coach always said they could really win it this year. Other boys were from Lutheran High, another religiously-based school not even half as strict or hard as Catholic, but they had the most beautiful campus, or from Central High, the biggest public school in Little Rock and one of the strongest competing basketball teams. Pulaski High , Parkview, episcopal( another Christian school) all competed and all were compared at our table.
It all started because a friend of Linda's, my awesome host mother who was actually atheist and believed God can be a woman, was going to the Presbyterian church that was very close to our house . My host mom's friend's name was Linda also, and she was the nicest lady. Short, with short straight hair and a pretty face. Her son goes to the church and was going to play with the Church's basketball team, and her husband was coach. Madison , Linda's boy, went to Pulaski High and played soccer there. I couldn't get in the Catholic High Basketball team because the try-outs were in Ramadan and I was fasting then, an incident I will talk about later. So Linda introduced me to the coach and we chatted a little. He asked me where I am from and where I had played basketball before and all that. He was pretty mesmerized that I was Egyptian, he probably hadn't seen too many people of my kind before. It surprised him too because my English didn't have much of an accent. Later the other boys started coming in and we started chatting about the different schools we were from and all that. They were all in awe that I was Egyptian, that I had a pyramid for a house and rode my camel to school and had slaves, they thought. Many people had that stereotype about me. At the beginning I used to correct them very strongly or with a smile. Later I just had fun with it and went along with all the excruciatingly funny stuff they came up with, they always cracked me up, but I would correct them in the end.
We all gathered around the coach, and he introduced himself and started knowing each one of us. He told us a bit about church league. It was a tournament that was a bit less competitive than the state championship of schools, and that it was a lot of fun, we played two, sometimes three times a week. Fantastic, I thought, I get to play three times a week with a team, that's competitive enough for me. He started asking each one of us how we played. Tyler, he liked to dash in to the basket. Cory said the outside shot was his game. I answered that I am not much into scoring as much as I like making assists. It was a sly answer on my part, and he caught me. Coach laughed and went like " yeah that's the answer you tell a coach so he can let you play all the time" we all laughed.
I loved it so much being part of a team and practicing with them , and playing games with them as often as two and three times a week. I always waited for game days impatiently and was always happy to go and see my teammates then we shoot around before the games. I felt such gratitude for them of how open-mindedly they accepted someone as foreign as I am into their little circle, not just the players, but also the parents. They were very nice to me and they would come up and say hi and ask me about Egypt and Islam, compliment me for my behavior and basketball skills.
One time, we were down by three, with four seconds on the clock and I was on the bench. I had shot many three pointers throughout the season. So coach comes up to me and goes like" Mauumoon, you are going in, SHOOT THE BALL" he emphasized. I had never been under such pressure in a game. It all counted on me. I go in, they pass me the ball, and I just shoot the ball with the guy's hand from the other team in my face, from almost half court. Swoosh, the ball goes in. Whistle! The ref says I travelled! OMG ref they all travel I don't get the stupid traveling violation here, I thought. I wanted to scream" O Allah" in Arabic , but the other team only knew I was Muslim and didn't know me personally. I was afraid they freak out or something. On my way out everyone hi-fives me and is complimenting my shot. It was a good game.
Worthy of mentioning, all the games were played in the Pulaski Heights Church. As much as they accepted a Muslim to play on the Presbyterian church team, I was grateful and accepting of playing on their team, and also proud of that.
Acceptance of people is a soft, sweet deed. It softens the hearts of people around you towards you no matter how different you are from them. Acceptance takes you by the hand and let's you really know the treasures inside of people, that without accepting them, you would have never been able to see and experience. Acceptance tunes out all the superficial traits, all the stereotypes, all the prejudice , that's keeping you from loving your fellow man unconditionally.
