Is the King Too Small to Play Ball?

A young boy named Arthur growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, loves the many sports he’s tried, but especially basketball. He plays every day, anytime and anywhere he can, with his friends in the neighborhood and with his dad. His parents say this is okay as long as he also continues to do well in school, and he keeps on playing despite a teacher’s comment that he’s too small to play with the older boys. By the time he gets to middle school, he’s dreaming of playing high school basketball, even though both children and adults tell him he’s too small. But he doesn’t let that stop him and decides that no matter what people say, he will prove them wrong.

At the end of middle school, Arthur tells all his classmates that he’ll be playing on the junior varsity basketball team in high school next fall. Over the summer, he and his friends talk about playing on the junior varsity team and practice when they can. When tryouts start in the fall, Arthur feels very confident, even though he hasn’t worked as hard as he could to get ready for the season. He does well and makes it to the final day of tryouts but isn’t chosen for the team. Arthur is devastated. Then an older friend offers some good advice, based on his own experience: work hard until next year’s tryouts and he can make the team. Arthur takes this to heart and practices and plays with a recreation team, watches and learns from older players at all levels, and gets tips from coaches. Seeing his game improve, he understands how important it is to play hard and give all his effort, concentration, and dedication. When tryouts come around again, he makes the team.

The epilogue to this autobiographical story describes how Arthur continued to play basketball throughout high school and college, then played professionally in the American Basketball Association and International Basketball League. Ultimately he signed with the Harlem Wizards, the second oldest professional show basketball team in the world, which combines hard-driving basketball with entertaining children and adults to raise funds for good causes.