![Next comes the stretching, followed by more sprints.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1c7795b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/200x111+0+0/resize/880x488!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fprograms%2Fnewsnotes%2Ffeatures%2F2006%2Ffarai_fitness%2Fweek17_main1-5c70b4518bb37b8f4477fe9ec950d680f5836e6f.jpg)
![Sparks assistant coach Margaret Moore does dribbling drills with Chideya and <em>News & Notes</em> executive producer Nicole Childers, left.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/796429f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/200x218+0+0/resize/880x959!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fprograms%2Fnewsnotes%2Ffeatures%2F2006%2Ffarai_fitness%2Fweek17_main2-35a5956a0cb116df2085c1169de58c5a8c1fc308.jpg)
There's nothing like standing out on the empty floor of a major sports arena knowing you have no clue what you're doing.
I was one of those kids who was humiliated on the basketball court. I had no idea how to play, but I was forced in gym class to compete with girls on the basketball team. Two decades later, I'm still just getting over it -- just in time to take to the hardwood with the L.A. Sparks WNBA team.
I warmed up with help from Bob Dominguez, the strength and conditioning coach for the Sparks, who made me sprint, stretch and sprint some more. It was a tough drill that got my heart racing.
Sparks assistant coach Margaret Moore worked through some dribbling drills with me and News & Notes executive producer Nicole Childers. Dribbling is to basketball what kicking is to soccer -- Moore taught me a controlled dribble and the speed dribble.
My head-to-head match with Lisa Willis, a rookie guard for the Sparks, proved I didn't have mad skills. But at the end of the shootout, everyone was a winner -- except my knees, which were killing me.
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