So, Isa Town basketball, right? It wasn’t some big, organized league or anything fancy, at least not where I ended up. More like stumbling onto a hidden gem, if you can call a slightly worn-out court a gem. But that’s kinda the point, isn’t it?
I remember I was looking for a place to just shoot some hoops, clear my head. Heard through the grapevine, you know how it is, someone mentioned a court in Isa Town. Didn’t have much else to do one afternoon, so I figured, why not check it out. Got in the car, put on some tunes, and just drove. Finding it was a bit of an adventure, not gonna lie. No big signs, no flashing lights. Just had to ask a local guy who pointed me down a side street. And there it was, tucked away. Look, it wasn’t the Staples Center. The paint was peeling a bit on the backboards, nets were a bit frayed. But it had two hoops, and that’s all that really mattered to me at that point.
There were a few guys already there, running a pickup game. Looked like they knew each other, regulars probably. I’m not one to just jump in usually, so I grabbed my ball from the trunk and started shooting at an empty hoop on the side. Practiced my free throws, which, let’s be honest, always need work. After a bit, one of the guys from the game, during a water break, kinda gestured me over. ‘You wanna run?’ he asked. Simple as that. No big deal. So I joined in. It was fast, a bit rough around the edges, but real. No refs, just calling your own fouls, mostly. The kind of basketball I grew up playing. We played for a good hour or so, till the sun started to dip and everyone was pretty much gassed. Sweaty, tired, but good tired, you know? Exchanged a few nods, a ‘good game’, and that was that. No names, no numbers, just basketball.
Now, why was I even out there, so keen to find a random court? Well, that particular time in my life, things were a bit… hectic. I’d just started this new project at work, a real monster, demanding all sorts of hours. Plus, we were having some work done on the house, so home was chaos too – dust sheets everywhere, constant banging. My usual ways to unwind, they just weren’t cutting it. I needed something physical, something simple. And basketball, that’s always been my go-to. It’s like, once you’re on the court, everything else just fades away. It’s just you, the ball, the hoop, and the game. No space for spreadsheets or contractor quotes in your head when you’re trying to make a layup with someone guarding you.
So yeah, that Isa Town court, it became a bit of a sanctuary for me for a while. Didn’t go every day, but often enough. Sometimes I’d get a game, sometimes I’d just shoot around by myself. It wasn’t about becoming a star player or anything. It was just about having that space, that little ritual. It’s funny the things you find when you’re not really looking for them, or when you just need a break from the main road of life. That little court in Isa Town, it was just a basketball court. But for me, back then, it was a bit more than that. It was a good find, a proper good find.
