3. FIRST STEP(3)

March 14, 2012. Ogden, Utah. Central Campus Dr. Weber State University, Stewart Library.

I'm now saying this, but WSU's library was nothing like I had ever seen before.

But Anna told me ["This is quite normal here. I bet there are a lot of bigger ones?"], but this completely changed my view on things. As big as the land was, the scale was much larger than what I was used to.

I used to doubt my father, but now that I saw it myself, there was really no way to explain how big this place is.

"Hmm… let's see…"

Amongst the aisles containing hundreds of books, I've found what I was looking for.

"Found it."

It was [The Change in Modern Basketball].

Rather than it being a book designed to capture interest, it concentrated on the changes in various roles of the NBA and CBA. But the reason I got this book was to read on the material about the NCAA.

Anna came back from getting some fresh air and saw the book I got.

"What did you choose?"

"Huh?"

From the smell of smoke, it seemed she took a cigarette break. I wonder how many she smokes a day? Half the time she was at home seemed to be spent on smoking cigarettes.

"Hmm... so, studying these sorts of books will it help you?"

"It probably won't affect my play."

But studying these books will help me understand the playstyle of Americans more accurately.

"Well, I'm just glad that I made a study partner!"

Anna suddenly pushed me, headed to the hallway and hugged a girl that I was not familiar with. What do you call that? Insensitive?

Her thick lips, that sat below neatly tied blonde hair, stood out the most to me.

She was wearing a light gray blouse with blue jeans. As I "examined" her, she looked towards my direction.

"…"

Her face looked different than when I saw her from the front.

No lies. She was really pretty. I've seen a lot of pretty girls during my stay in the States, but she was definitely one of the best.

As Anna gestured me to come over, I slowly walked toward them.

"Say hi. This is Heather Jones. She's my closest friend."

"Erm, hi. I'm-"

"I know. You're the kid that was recruited to play for our basketball team next year, right? I watched you play at the Liberty Park."

"Oh! You came to watch?"

"Well, to be exact, I was selling stuff. My mother is a vendor at the flea market."

As Heather walked off to get to her class, I stared at her as she walked away.

"Hey, hey!"

"H-huh?"

"What are you doing? Let's head back."

"Oh. Oh, yeah."

While walking up the stairs on the way back, my head kept turning back to where Heather was standing. Although there was no sign of makeup on her face, I wanted to talk to her just a little bit more.

Did I fall for her at first sight?

For the first time ever, I thought I may be a person who would fall in love quickly.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ogden, Utah. Kingston Road.

"Whew, my legs are falling asleep! I think I have to go for a walk. Do you want more popcorn?"

"Of course."

Just as Stanley had told me, I've been watching the NCAA DVD's that he left for me. Next to me was Sally.

As Sally came back with some popcorn that was in the kettle, she handed me a drink.

"But."

"Hmm?"

"Don't you have to go back to school?"

Sally was a UNC student, not WSU.

North Carolina, the State where UNC was located, the east-most state in America. On top of that, she drove all the way here in her green pick-up truck, which took her about 60 hours.

Of course, she made stops here and there, but it was an extremely long trip nonetheless.

"I haven't decided yet what I am going to do. I'd rather be a student on vacation than a graduate that's unemployed."

"What is it you want to do?"

"What?"

"Well, there has to be something you're good at."

"Hmm, I'm not sure."

We've watched 2 wholes games now, so I picked up the remote and pause the video.

I sat in a more comfortable position on the couch and gave my full attention to Sally. She put a pillow between her legs and warmed them with her arms.

"At first I wanted to be a lawyer. Before I left, I even got a proposition from a law firm."

"Wait, hold up. A lawyer?"

"Yeah. Why, is there a problem?"

"…"

I thought about it for a moment.

I imagined Sally Heyburgh working as a lawyer in a law firm.

"I can't picture it."

"Can't picture what?"

"You just seem so free right now. I don't feel like a lawyer would suit you."

"Hahaha. Well, everyone seems to think that. I'm a bit more calm and quiet when I'm at school."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Want to see pictures?"

Sally reached over to the table and grabbed her cellphone. She scrolled through her albums and showed me a picture.

Wait, who is this person?

"Hahahaha. Unbelievable, right? If I put my heart to it, I can be pretty good at whatever I want."

Sally seemed to be all humor and smiles, but I couldn't believe the girl in the picture was Sally.

Not only did she neatly comb her hair, but she was wearing a headband. She was wearing a burgundy blouse and black pants with a matching black suit jacket. However, for some reason, seeing her dressed neatly suited her better.

"Really? I just don't want to stand out at school."

Sally snatched the phone away and started snacking on the popcorn while she played the video again.

"…"

They say a girl's transformation was innocent, but Sally was on a whole other level.

We started to play the video and picked up on a Duke game from 2002. Stanley told me it would be good to follow the footsteps of Shane Battier, so the best way to do that, in my opinion, was to copy him.

Out of the many college games, there were many games from 2002. But I've only been watching games with Duke.

Duke was truly magnificent during the 2000-2001 season.

On top of Shane Battier, one of the major players was Jay Williams.

Even players who were playing up to this day, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Carlos Boozer, Chris Duhon, and Dahntay Jones were all running for this team.

They were 6 NBA-level players, so they were able to bask in their success and glory.

To make it even better, Duke's coach was the famous "Coach K".

He was one of American amateur basketball's greatest coaches, even to the point where everyone thought he wouldn't be topped by anyone else, Mike Krzyzewski. In 2006, he coached the North American representative team and won a gold medal.

During this year's London Olympics again, Krzyzewski and the team were shooting for the gold. Even if it took a miracle, the North American team was going to take the gold.

"…"

It was really incredible.

If I recalled the research I already did, during the 2000-2001 season, Shane Battier had the 2nd highest successful shooting rate. But when you watch the games, you could tell that he possessed the ball a lot in offensive plays.

He had a 53.6% field goal rate and 42% 3-point success rate. On top of that, he had an 80% penalty shooting success rate.

A player's offensive-play efficiency was extremely important to their success rate.

However, there was a different area that Battier stood out the most. Just as Stanley has said, no matter who he was playing with, he'd play the role that was most needed to suit the team overall.

Whenever Jay Williams wasn't playing, he'd be the leading scorer. If Carlos Boozer was on the bench, he'd be the one driving the ball to the rim and getting rebounds.

When Jay Williams and Chris Duhon weren't on the court, he'd be leading the team. When Mike Dunleavy was absent, he'd be in the wing position and corners making 3-pointers.

His best playstyle came from his defensive side.

Even when he was in college, Carlos Boozer was an incredible defender. Although he was a 6'8" undersized big-man, he was put into the lineup alongside Jay Williams, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy and Shane Battier.

Therefore, their lineup didn't have a proper big-man.

But this was only possible because of Battier's presence.

'I can't believe it.'

Even now in the video, Battier stretched his arms out blocking the ball. He then successfully stole an attempted pass from the opponents and passed it to Jay Williams, who was already running toward their side of the court.

Within just 20 seconds, Battier was able to block, steal and assist.

"…"

I've never given much thought on what it meant to be an outstanding defense player.

By the time I was in 8th grade, I was already 6'2". Thanks to the genetics that my dad passed down to me, being strong-boned helped when I was under the rim. So, I never felt that it was hard to play basketball.

Even as I entered high school, I believed I was a pretty good basketball player.

Since it was fairly easy for me to accumulate points and catch rebounds, I never had to give any thought on how to be a good defensive player. That's because most people weren't as good as me on the court.

But then I thought about that time when Artemis made a fool of me at the Liberty Park. If it weren't for Leon or Davion's help in the defense, it would've been an even more embarrassing scene.

"We'll have to start from your defense."

Dennis Rodman once made that statement. You can improve your defense and rebounds by watching videos over and over again. Although I don't like this method of making improvements, this was the best I could do in my present situation.

So, what could I do?

"Hmm?"

"…"

As I turned my head, Sally seemed to have fallen asleep.

I carefully got up from my seat and slowly put a blanket over her. Afterward, I sat back down and focused back onto the TV. As Claire came home from work, she went to the kitchen and prepared dinner. This was my queue to leave.

"Why don't you stay for dinner tonight too?"

"No, it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

Since I've had so much popcorn, I didn't have an appetite. I wanted to go on a walk anyway.

I started to walk a road that I've become very familiar with.

All the houses by the roads had their lights on and I smelled different food from people preparing dinner. Smelling the different foods was alike, both here and Korea.

A woman who looked like a mother called in two children playing outside.

"Whewwww."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. Wait, what time was it in Korea right now?

"Eh, forget it. No news is good news."

As I put back the phone after saying my useless thought, I walked the streets of Ogden by my lonesome self.

It was a night where I missed my family.