KIM didn’t have to persuade his father to take him to the clinic. Mr. O’Connor had read about it in the paper, and agreed at once that it might be good for Kim. Jimmie Burdette went with them.
The clinic was held in the school where most of the Small Fry Basketball games were played. About a thousand boys from seven to high school age attended it. Most of the smaller boys were with their parents. All the Lion players were there, dressed in their regular uniforms.
Kim sat in the middle row of seats halfway up one side. He thought he would like to be on the court with the ten or twelve boys who were receiving personal instruction from the Lion players. But soon he found that he could learn as much just sitting and watching. Maybe more. For he could look from one small group to another.
The way it was done was simple. Two or three Lion players worked with two or three boys who volunteered from the crowd. The boys were mostly Small Fry Basketball size. Kim recognized some of them.
Wally Goodrich, Dick Wynn, and Stretch Thompson were showing a group how to make layup shots. It was easy for the Lions, since the baskets were lower than the height at which they played.
First the Lions would show how to make the shots, then the boys would try to do the same. At the other basket three other Lion players were showing boys the drive-in play. Kim enjoyed that. It was a hard one. You had to rush in under the basket, raise your shoulders way up, then your arms, and shoot. In a game a player might easily foul you. If you made the basket you would be allowed one free throw. If you missed the basket, two free throws.
Many other plays were shown: set shots; hook shots; free throws; how to keep the ball close to the floor when you dribble; the different ways of passing a ball; how to guard your man; how not to “walk” with the ball.
The Lions seemed to be explaining and showing everything about how to play basketball. Kim was sorry the clinic had to end.
“Boy! That was wonderful!” he said to his father as they walked out of the gym with the crowd of boys and parents.
His father grinned. “Did you. like it, Jimmie?”
“Did I? I learned something about dribbling. I always bounced the ball too high. I’m going to practice to keep it down.”
“Thataboy!” said Mr. O’Connor.