Dribble Ripple

It’s amazing how a dribble can have such a ripple.

When we were on our camel riding adventure, we spent one day in the western city of Yinchuan. As we were walking back from a dinner of chuar, we saw three boys dribbling and passing an old worn basketball in an alley. I walked up to them and asked for the ball. I started to spin the ball on my finger and handed it off to a little boy with dimples and dark eyes.

I was accepted. We were in.

We started passing the ball around. Then more FOC friends joined in and pretty soon kids started coming out of the nearby stores and doorways. Within maybe 15 minutes our little Chinese friends multiplied by five, and after 25 minutes of playing there were 30 people gathered in this little garbage-strewn alley. A band of boys and American icons were playing ball while I was leading a rather intense game of rock, paper, scissors. Little boy warriors throwing the ball, little girl princesses giggling and hiding from the camera, mom’s holding their babies, Grandma’s clutching their grandson’s hand, stag males smoking cigarettes and pretending like they don’t want to join in the fun.

It is truly amazing how a few dribbles can create such a ripple.