Bristol Central basketball team

BRISTOL — It was an eerily quiet evening at the Middle Street playground Friday when my friend Brian and I decided to meet up to go play some pick-up basketball.


Usually bustling with athletes young and old from all over town looking to run some full five-on-five, the basketball courts were completely dead, except for one lone shooter.


As I passed through the entrance gate and stepped foot on the court, I reminisced, as I always do when I play, of my four years on the basketball team at Bristol Central High School.


I have fond memories of the time I spent playing on the team, and some not so fond. I’ll never get over the potential my coaches first saw in me as a sophomore that I never lived up to.


As I passed the hoop closest to the parking lot, I asked the lone player on the court "was anyone here before."


"Nope," he said.


Unusually empty for such a pleasant day I thought to myself. I was already there though, and Brian was on his way, so I decided to shoot around with Chad Dard, the previously lonesome shooter.


We got to talking, and I figured out that Chad, 16, of Bristol, lives right behind the park, and plays at the court every day.


"What makes you want to play basketball here everyday?" I asked.


"I don’t like Lake Compounce," he replied. Apparently, Chad’s friends all enjoy the amusement park more then basketball, but he still shows up, even by himself.


"I like the competition and the exercise," he said. "There’s usually a bunch of people here."


From personal experience, I know Chad is not lying. I’ve been to that same court many times and had to wait three games before I could even shoot around.


Chad said he attends to Bristol Central, and though he hasn’t played on the school team, he wants to try out next year. At the time he told me this, I didn’t really put much thought into it. In high school, there were handfuls of kids trying out for the team that had nowhere near the talent to compete.


My friend Brian showed up shortly and we decide to play "21." Not what I came for, but again, you have to make due.


With nowhere near my full effort, we played a lazy game, and Brian ended up getting the victory.


We all shook hands after the game, and I took off. I didn’t really want to hang around for another game as it was Friday evening. Maybe that’s why the courts were so empty in the first place.


After I got home, my thoughts wandered. I thought back to my competitive playing days in high school, and the countless hours I spent practicing at courts just like Chad. I remember being a child playing basketball in the snow in the driveway with gloves on. Whatever the weather was, I was always outside shooting hoops.


This made me think back to what Chad had told me earlier. He wants to try out and play for Bristol Central. This didn’t seem significant at the time, but looking back at the way I was at his age, I gained some perspective.


I hope Chad makes the basketball team this winter. He deserves to. He may not even be on the coaches’ radar, but this kid was at the basketball court practicing alone in oppressive heat while his friends were cooling off in the water park at Lake Compounce.


I hope to check the roster of the Bristol Central basketball team and see his name there.


We all have dreams. Chad wants to be on the team next winter. He’s working towards it, maybe even right now, and I’m rooting for him.