Adjustment to life as a thirteen year old boy in a new environment doesn't come easy. It was a new school, new teachers, new rules and new classmates. One of those classmates was Tammy who was the girl of any young boy's dreams with movie star looks – she had it all! Did I talk to her or ask her to be my girlfriend or "go steady"? Are you kidding? Did you not catch the part about me being a thirteen year old boy at a new school and in a new environment and all? Besides, my elementary school girlfriend, Wanda, had shattered my heart a couple of years before and I don't think the effects of that experience ever really faded. As far as the teachers were concerned, we had one young woman who taught science who was one of those people you just want to ask, "Who are you mad at"?
One of the great things about my new school was the chance to play basketball which was very near the first love of my life at that time. It was really disappointing to learn that state rules would not allow me to play that year because my transfer had taken place between the seventh and eighth grades. In spite of that disappointment, I practiced hard all season long with the rest of the team. One of the drawbacks for my aspirations to play basketball was the fact that I was only five feet and two inches tall upon entering the eighth grade. That changed dramatically as my young body had grown a total of six inches by the time our ninth grade year rolled around and it didn't stop there. My life pretty much revolved around basketball for the next four years.
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