This morning Erin, my American teammate, and I went to the gym to shoot. As usual we put our shoes on, chatted about what we had done the night before and then began to warm up. But today was far from usual. As we were shooting, Giannis, our men’s team equipment manager called Erin into the back.
Giannis is a really sweet, slightly rounded, short old Greek man who chain smokes and gives Erin and me kisses at every opportunity. He speaks very little English but always manages to make us laugh and covertly hooks us up with gear from the men’s team.
So this particular morning Erin disappears into the back of the gym with Giannis while I shoot with our assistant coach. 10 minutes pass and I’m kind of wondering where my shooting partner is. 20 minutes pass and I’m thinking this isn’t like Erin to avoid practicing. But I figure maybe she is getting treatment for her sore back in the training room and I keep shooting. She was getting treatment on her back alright…
Finally I make my way to the training room, yelling, “Erin, did they kidnap you?” and there I find Erin face down on the training table with only her shorts on. Giannis is administering massage on her back, complete with oil. Erin is trying not to laugh. As I am leaving Giannis is moving down to ther feet, untying her basketball shoes and tugging off her socks. “you’re next” he says. I’m thinking sure, why not. And I go back out to the court with thoughts of getting my sore foot rubbed.
After awhile, a long while, Erin comes out looking a little sleepy and a little weirded out but she assures me that it felt good. So there I go, off to the training room and Giannis’ magic hands.
I’ve had a lot of professional massages so being naked, properly covered up, isn’t such a big deal to me. However, being in a training room, getting rubbed by an old Greek man whose job is to deal with basketball equipment is a far cry from a private room with soft clean sheets, quiet soothing music and a professional. But I thought, “Hey, chest down on the table so I can really get my back rubbed, no big deal. He can’t see anything.” So, he starts rubbing and I relax. Then he pulls my shorts down a little, still not uncommon in training rooms when backs are sore. Then he pulls my shorts down to thighs so I am laying there in my underwear. Instead of being supremely offended, I start laughing into my pillow trying to muffle the sound. At this point I’m thinking, “oh I am SO writing about this.” That’s the problem with writing. I seek out all experiences to embrace because in the end, even though you might have been molested, it makes for a really good story. So Giannis continues and this time pulls my underwear down a little so he can aptly rub my ass. It was still on but barely. And he is serious about this. He isn’t doing it in a sexual way, just really intent on giving a full body massage. Despite being a little uncomfortable and amazed, I am laughing as he is rubbing the tension right out. And since I did lunges the day before, the gluteus maximus WAS awfully tight. Then he moves down to my legs and rubs up and down, not in the least bit concerned that one CAN go up too far. Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t actually do anything but he wasn’t especially careful.
After he finished my feet, which by the way got WAY less attention than my butt despite the fact that it is my foot that needs it the most, he tells me to turn over. I’m in my underwear only at this point. But like I said, I’ve been naked before so I don’t mind turning over as long as I take my shirt and place it over all the necessary areas, which I did. This was fine as he rubbed my legs but then he ripped the shirt away when he moved up to my stomach. Trying to help my digestion? So I am covering my front with my hands which Giannis tries to move like 10 times but I wasn’t budging. I can take the butt rub, I’m thinking, but I am drawing the line at the tittie rub. I suddenly felt like I was at the ob gyn getting a breast exam but without the poster on the ceiling to distract me. Instead I find myself arguing with Giannis about the placement of my hands, over MY body. So I am covering myself up, Giannis is protesting and proceeds to make fun of me for about 2 minutes straight because he says he sees more at the beach. This is true, topless at the beach is no big thing here. Topless in the training groom with wandering hands is a different story. I wanted to tell him my mom told me never to let someone touch me where my bathing suit covers but bathing suits here are optional so that wouldn’t work. But I maintain my position and he rubs around the covered area reluctantly. Finally the massage ends. I’m laughing to myself at the absurdity of the experience and Giannis is laughing to himself at the absurdity that I wouldn’t show him my boobs. I give him Greek kisses, he wanted real ones I think, and walked out the door anxious to find Erin, before he asked me if a wanted a cigarette or something. So Erin is waiting in the car with my Greek teammate and as soon and I open the door, I fall in, and the car explodes with laughter. As we compare very similar stories, we are shrieking like seventh grade girls after a school dance (but obviously for different reasons). And we are screaming that we are forever bonded to each other because of our shared experiences and common story. We’ve been laughing all day long. So......gross, completely violating, but oh so worth it.
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