Favoured Hands

By Edjan Parreno

I was eight years old then, a small and a grade three pupil, coming home tired and very exhausted from school, when I saw my dad holding a rubber packed with yellow net and transparent cellophane. I never knew what it was until my father decided to get the pin inside the cellophane and injected it inside the rubber’s hole. He then took the air pump and put it on the other side of the pin. Slowly the rubber was formed into somewhat round until it became really round. It was a ball, a basketball.

Many have said that my father is a good basketball player, the time when his age and body was still capable of doing so. He was always winning championships in barrio basketball tournaments when he was still in high school and winning seven consecutive basketball championships during his working career. That is my father and he is a proof of a good basketball player.

Later that afternoon, my father approached me while holding the ball in his right hand saying, “be good” and left the ball in my hands. It was somewhat heavy at first but as my excitement increased, the more it became weightless. I tried to dribble it but the ball kept on going from left to right. Perhaps the ball was just too big for me but even though that’s the case, I never became discouraged; instead I kept on practicing and let everyone see what my hands can do.

I trained so hard practicing the basic skills of dribbling but whenever my father saw me, he always kept on saying to practice shooting because dribbling can’t earn a point. He talked a lot of plays and strategies for me to analyze and figure out but for me, it was just a waste of time. I don’t even know what was that for because for me, dribbling especially dribbling exhibitions is better to look at than shooting. Most of my practice is self-taught and sometimes with the aid of those sports clinic shown in television, I discovered some things and applied it to my training.



One early morning, I decided to go to our basketball court. There were no players then and I began to roam around the court while dribbling. I was amazed how vast the court was unlike my playing area in our house which is only 25 square meters. I started to go to our court from time to time until I decided to join a basketball game. It was my first time playing it and I started to realize how hard it is to win a game if you don’t know how to shoot the ball well. Then I began to remember what my father said while I’m still practicing at home but I could not remember a single thing because I never listened to him. In that game, I fully understand what my father was talking about. He didn’t only want me to just practice but he wanted me to practice the necessary things that is very applicable in a real game. It is like thinking first what will happen before starting to do a certain job or task.

When I was in grades five and six, I became a basketball varsity player. In there I was taught the basics, the basic warm-ups, the proper dribbling, the proper ball handling and et cetera. Making those practices maximizes the things that my hands can do.

Even though my hands were first trained to be a basketball player, it seemed that it became versatile in any sport that I joined. Even in taking responsibilities at home. My hands were trained to wash the dishes, wash the clothes, iron the clothes and cut the grasses that are growing around our house. Taking care of the responsibilities at home started to become part of my life when one day, I was told by my mother to buy some detergent powder at store. When I got to the store, old woman which is the owner approached me and I said “two packs of a detergent powder for me”. She then asked me, “Are you the one who will wash the clothes?”, then I said “Yes, definitely”, the old woman again replied, “That’s right! As a guy, you have the strength and the capability of doing household chores”. Then I said to myself, “Wow! My hands can do many things”.


Now that I am an adult who also works in a band and plays the bass guitar, I came to a point of realization where my hands don’t only teach me to be excellent in sports, in household chores or in becoming a musician, but also teaches me how to become mature enough to handle life’s challenges and circumstances. When my father gave that ball to me when I was a child and said “be good”, what he wanted to say to me was, “be good in everything that your hands can do. Explore the things that you want to explore and maximize the use of your hand to get enough of it”. Because of this, I just wanted to thank God that He has given me this set of hands normally and perfectly so that I can use it in my still continuing life.