The Seven Dribblers
Back in the days... when I was in the 7th and 8th grades at St. Paul's School, seven of us girls were good friends. We were Helen Solari, Margarite Arrighi, Suzanne Caravati, Phyllis Bailey, Norma Halmagyi, another Sue (or Shoey, as she was affectionately known) Beckstoffer, and me. I wasn't known as Bambah the Good in those days, just Mary Ann. We had been together from the beginning of our school days. We were known as "The Seven Dribblers!"
We had that name bestowed on us by one of our teachers, who really cared about us and often gave us little tokens of affection, like religous medals or holy cards. I was taught by Benedictine Sisters all through my school years. Our friend was Sister deChantal, who had taught most of the Dribblers in Kindergarten and then again in the 2nd Grade.
Since my parents kept me at home for an extra year, I skipped Kindergarten; so I didn't meet up with Sr. deChantal until I was in the 1st Grade when Margarite and I went to her classroom after school to wait for our school bus to arrive for our trip home. Sr. deChantal was a fine woman who lived to be in her 90's. Several of us kept up with her for a long time as adults and corresponded with her when she lived in the Mother House in Bristow, VA after her retirement many years later.
Anyhow, we Seven Dribblers obviously got our nickname from basketball. There was a Catholic Grade School Girls League that had recently begun and by the 8th Grade, we girls were THE team from St. Paul's! And what a team we were!!! We were coached by 2 young priests from St. Paul's Church. I guess we all had to learn to play from scratch, because I don't think any of us knew anything about the rules of the game when we started.
This was still the era when the rules of the game had 3 Forwards trying to score at one end of the court and 3 Guards playing defense at the enemy team's end of the court. Only the Forwards did the shooting. Quite a bit different from the game today. I was a Guard and loved it. I played the game like a bat out of hell! I was competitive (remember I was still Little Fritz!) and I could run and block balls way over my head and throw those balls down the court to my team mates! What a rush!
We played our games over at the gym at St. Joseph's Villa. I don't remember practicing much at all. Maybe, we threw the ball around on our playground or we practiced after the games since we had no gym facilities at St. Paul's. I just don't remember. But I do remember the defining moment of my basketball career. We were playing a fast-paced and frantic game when I jumped up high to capture a ball. I came down off balance and twisted my ankle badly. That took me out of the game for good and for several weeks I wore a bandage on my ankle. I had sprained a ligament.
We Seven Dribblers had a wonderful time as St. Paul's girls team. I think we may have been the first girls' team from our school in the Catholic Grade School League and we lost every one of our games!!
We had that name bestowed on us by one of our teachers, who really cared about us and often gave us little tokens of affection, like religous medals or holy cards. I was taught by Benedictine Sisters all through my school years. Our friend was Sister deChantal, who had taught most of the Dribblers in Kindergarten and then again in the 2nd Grade.
Since my parents kept me at home for an extra year, I skipped Kindergarten; so I didn't meet up with Sr. deChantal until I was in the 1st Grade when Margarite and I went to her classroom after school to wait for our school bus to arrive for our trip home. Sr. deChantal was a fine woman who lived to be in her 90's. Several of us kept up with her for a long time as adults and corresponded with her when she lived in the Mother House in Bristow, VA after her retirement many years later.
Anyhow, we Seven Dribblers obviously got our nickname from basketball. There was a Catholic Grade School Girls League that had recently begun and by the 8th Grade, we girls were THE team from St. Paul's! And what a team we were!!! We were coached by 2 young priests from St. Paul's Church. I guess we all had to learn to play from scratch, because I don't think any of us knew anything about the rules of the game when we started.
This was still the era when the rules of the game had 3 Forwards trying to score at one end of the court and 3 Guards playing defense at the enemy team's end of the court. Only the Forwards did the shooting. Quite a bit different from the game today. I was a Guard and loved it. I played the game like a bat out of hell! I was competitive (remember I was still Little Fritz!) and I could run and block balls way over my head and throw those balls down the court to my team mates! What a rush!
We played our games over at the gym at St. Joseph's Villa. I don't remember practicing much at all. Maybe, we threw the ball around on our playground or we practiced after the games since we had no gym facilities at St. Paul's. I just don't remember. But I do remember the defining moment of my basketball career. We were playing a fast-paced and frantic game when I jumped up high to capture a ball. I came down off balance and twisted my ankle badly. That took me out of the game for good and for several weeks I wore a bandage on my ankle. I had sprained a ligament.
We Seven Dribblers had a wonderful time as St. Paul's girls team. I think we may have been the first girls' team from our school in the Catholic Grade School League and we lost every one of our games!!
posted by mary ann at 6:10 PM
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