"Imagine you muster up the courage to finally do that thing you've been meaning to do. It's hard enough to overcome your own momentum to get out of the house, but once you've made the leap you might be confronted by the reality of a thousand unspoken rules and norms you never considered. One of the most stressful parts of trying anything new is the unspoken world of context and rules that people seem to just know."
"When Josh Gondelman told me he wanted to play pickup basketball for his episode, I was fixated on the unspoken norms that underpin the idea. I have never played in a pickup basketball game, and I don't really have any desire to start now. But how the hell does someone learn what "first to 11 by ones and twos, call your fouls" means?"
Attempting a new activity forces confrontation with numerous unspoken social norms and contextual rules that experienced participants assume. Pickup basketball exemplifies that dynamic: unfamiliar rules such as "first to 11 by ones and twos, call your fouls" create anxiety and confusion for newcomers. Cultural exposure and social assimilation can transmit the sport’s informal language to some people, while others face physical readiness as the primary obstacle. Newcomers can quickly acquire specific basketball vocabulary—runs, Mikan drills, line drills, leaving on a make—and may also encounter surprising euphemisms. Sharing experiences and observing established players offer practical paths to understanding and participating.
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