I do not need you to tell me I am terrible at basketball. Elementary school took care of that. So did junior high, and high school after. Lead-footed and inelegant, I found myself exiled to the far end of benches, a garbage-time specialist with a jump shot that looked like someone flinging a canned ham out a window. I never made varsity. I never made anything. I believe I can count my career scoring totals on my fingers and toes. Maybe just my toes.

Still: I loved the game. I love it today. I try to play when I can, in pickup games and one-on-ones and three-on-threes and awkward games of H-O-R-S-E that I almost always lose. For many winters I played in a regular weeknight game full of guys who played like I did: slowly and poorly. It was a blast.

Call it hubris, or the amnesia of adulthood, but I'm convinced my youthful basketball ineptitude is reversible. If only I didn't have a job, or a family, or hate the gym, or like to eat tacos at 10:30 p.m. -- I could really be the next Kobe Bryant! My jump shot doesn't have to be the kind of grotesque knuckleball that makes people laugh on the court (people have laughed; I'm not kidding). A couple of years ago I went so far as to hire a professionalinstructor to help me improve my technique. He spent an hour working on my elbow, my knees, my backspin. We started two feet away from the basket and worked our way back to the three-point line. My shot looked solid. I left the gym feeling like a new player. Then I promptly forgot everything he said. It was back to flinging canned hams.

But I want to get better. I know I am not alone. Whether it's your jump shot, or your putting stroke, or your squirrelly tennis backhand, there is always room for adjustment and improvement, no matter your age. What's exciting is that there's now an avalanche of new technology -- 'digital coaching' -- designed to teach you whenever you want to learn. That smartphone in your pocket is now a patient instructor who doesn't mind if you want to go out to the driveway and shoot free throws at 2 a.m.