No Me Duele

On 06 May, Cristian and I missed the debut of Dario against Medicine Valley. The Wahluke Eagles got the better of our opponents and the final score was 47-10.

The biggest news of the game was Dario's 2 points in the paint. We need Dario to be another Lebron making his points in the paint and off the glass.

Cristian and I missed the game because he made his First Communion and I was his Padrino. After Church, we went to his house for tacos and soda. Then, he wanted to play some ball. I went up to court with him and watched him play. And although I am biased the kid looked good.

When Cristian began playing for us in December, he was a definite diamond in the rough. His shoes were too big and fell a lot in practice. When I say fell a lot, I mean he fell playing offense, then get up run to play defense, and the fall again. So after 5 minutes of this he signaled that he wanted to sit. Holding his wrist he exclaimed, "Me duele."

Then in January he disappeared. He is student in Juan's class and I am in and out of his classroom at least twice a day so it wasn't like Cristian couldn't find his coaches. We all thought he was off the team and then one day in mid February he returns with new shoes and a vengeance.

Slowly his awkwardness disappears and his shots begin to fall. We joked it was the shoes and he smiled and kept on working. He still fell a little and sometimes hard. We asked him if he wanted to sit, we joked and called him Me Duele but he smiled and said he wanted to stay.

And then it hit me watching him go against Tony (Macaroni, My Little Pony, etc), Cristian is his twin. He dribbles, jukes, and shoots with the same intensity. Also he resembles him quite a bit. Both boys are slender and wear the hair the same way. Lest one think I'm dreaming when Cristian and I were at Church for his fist confession we saw Tony's Aunt. I greeted her and she kept on saying Tony's name. Then she asked Cristian why don't you respond to your Aunt. Only when Cristian turned did she realize her mistake and remark how much the boy's look alike.

So next year our bench looks stronger with addition with another shooter. And let's hope he doesn't start chewing his nails like Tony.