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There wasn’t any booming noise, any sudden crack, or any screaming agony. The only sound was the thud of me landing against the unforgiving hardwood floor. A shooting pain ran from my lower back all through my left leg. Minutes later I was laying on a hospital bed, hands sweaty and shaking. Then the doctor came in, and when he told me the news my heart dropped. I was a freshman in high school, only a week from my first high school game, and I had just fractured my back. I was completely disoriented. Basketball was my identity, basketball was what defined me. If I couldn’t play basketball I would be a nobody. My friends would start to think I was lame and I would become a social outcast. More importantly, what would I even do with my time? For weeks this question went unanswered. I had no idea what to do, I just sat around all day feeling remorseful for myself. My grades plummeted and I was letting myself start to get out of shape. Then one day, after sitting on my couch for hours I came to a life changing decision. …show more content…
I came to the realization that I couldn’t go through life feeling sorry for myself. I was spending my time letting myself make an unfortunate situation worse. So I made the choice to stop. I realized that just because basketball was what I liked to do in my free time didn’t mean it had to be what defined me as a person. I had spent so much of my life dedicating all my time to basketball that I had wasted precious time I should have been using to have experiences and turn myself into a dynamic individual instead of a one dimensional so called
Starting my freshman year at County High School, I played basketball and loved every minute of it. I wouldn’t be conceited enough to say I was good, but God did bless me with the talent to play. My life revolved around the sport of basketball; some would say I slept, ate, and breathed every part of it. I spent all my time training and practicing to make myself a more dedicated athlete. This dedication not only helped me as a player, but also molded me into the person I am today. It somehow helped to prepare me for what defeat I would face with back surgery in the future.
Each game, my passion grew. Each team, new memories and lifelong friends were made. Sports sometimes make me feel disappointment and at loss; but it taught me to be resilient to a lot of things, like how to thrive under pressure and come out on top. Being the team captain of my high school’s football and lacrosse team showed me how having a big responsibility to bring a group together to work as one is compared to many situations in life. Currently playing varsity football, varsity lacrosse, and track I take great pride in the activities I do. Staying on top of my academics, being duel enrolled at Indian River State College, working three nights a week, and two different sport practices after school each day shaped my character to having a hard work
When I reached seventh grade, basketball took a different role in my life. I played on my junior high basketball team and absolutely loved it. From November to March, my life revolved around an orange ball. From seventh grade to eleventh grade, this was winter to me. I was a true student of the game, learning and improving constantly. I became fairly good, and even won some awards my eighth grade season. During my freshman year in high school, I once scored 29 points in a junior varsity game. When I stopped growing at 6’, however, it became fairly clear that there was no future in it for me as a player.
I leaped into the air with no doubt about scoring. I catapulted the ball through the goal net, but as I fell towards the earth, my knee gave out and I collapsed onto the steaming hot turf. Instantly, I screamed at the top of my lungs and held onto my knee with dear life. Immediately, I realized what had just happened. Every soccer player's worst nightmare. A torn ACL.
When the season started, I dedicated myself to my conditioning and practices. I became a profound basketball player, my life revolved around this sport. Literally, my mindset was “Basketball Is Life”. I remember rushing from my last class, struggling to get through the wave of students that roamed the halls just to go to the gym to get a few shots
Losing a game is not that bad but losing an entire season is disastrous. It takes a toll on one’s confidence and makes one lose their interest and ability in that certain sport. And that is exactly what happened to me during my eighth grade basketball season.
I was born in a small town in Iowa. When I was 25 I got drafted in the first round pick for the golden state warriors. The event that really changed in my life was when I was on the warriors in my first game for them. I was involved because my whole life I have been playing basketball and basketball has always been my favorite sport. Everything turned out to be really good because I was so good I was the starting point guard for the warriors. After I played point guard for 15 years for the warriors then I retired and then became the warriors coach for 20 years and then retired from that and then I had so much money I bought a 2060 new mustang for 1 million dollars.
My junior year in high school, I went out for basketball. I liked it for a while, but when games started I was on JV. It was okay, but I was only getting to play two minutes per game. This didn't make me very happy. With all the time that I was putting in to play, it just wasn't worth it. My dad told me to just stick it out. Some of my friends told me that I should just switch to wrestling. I didn't know if this was possible, so I talked to the coach. The coach said he would be glad to have me on the team, but I would have to talk to the counselor. I talked to him and explained why I wanted to switch sports and he gave me the go ahead. There was only one thing standing in my way: how was I going to persuade my parents to let me wrestle. I talked to my dad about it and he said that if that was really what I wanted to do then that would be fine. I decided that I would play one more game of basketball and if things didn't get better, I would switch. Things didn't get better. I went in once for two minutes.
Early childhood I was involved in playing two sports which were basketball and football until the time came that I had to choose one. My initial decision was basketball until I was influenced to switch sports by my closest friends just when I thought I was committed in playing basketball. My parents were not very keen on me playing sports, but had tons of support from my friends and siblings. The high school I attended which was Alief Taylor high school had a very strong recruiting system which was because of the coaches we had and talented athletes. Teachers and coaches played a huge role on my future while I was in high school and it was up to me determine how my future was going to be. I was not a varsity football player until my senior year and were many time when I felt like I was going to quit, but my friends and coaches recognized that I had talent and continued to
I decided that I wanted to play a sport, I chose volleyball. Most of my friends played the sport so it wasn't hard for me to adjust and make new friends. Becoming a student athlete was a big adjustment for me, I could no longer float through my classes but I need to excel. And that's exactly what I did. For the first time in my high school career I made not only honor roll, but principal’s honor roll. For the first time my mom was proud of my report card, that made me even more proud. From then on I knew I wanted nothing less than what I earned, good grades and a proud family. From my decision to chose to become a student athlete not only make me work harder but, be great at everything I put my mind to. I had motivation to stay successful, to stay eligible. Three years ago if you were to ask me where I thought I would be my senior year, I probably would have told you low level classes barely making it by. Now here I am today excelling in my education preparing to take the next step in my future, college. Even if we don’t understand why we go through them, we have to be willing to let our obstacles become out
I have never told any of my friends the real reason why I quit playing basketball. I have always just said that I was stopping because I would keep on jamming my fingers and that interfered with playing saxophone.
Ever since I was a little boy, about eight years old or so, I had an extreme passion for the sport of basketball. On weekends, I would wake up in the morning, eat a bowl of frosted flakes or cheerios, put on basketball shorts and then go in my driveway to shoot around. I would be out there for hours just shooting around or playing with some random kids that I would occasionally see walking around my neighborhood. This was satisfaction to me, but even better was playing on multiple public teams and not just playing in my driveway every day. In elementary school, I played in a recreational league, just like almost every other kid who tries out basketball when they were younger. This was fun and all but it was nothing too serious. There were never any practices, it was just one or two unorganized games per week. I never took
The sheer force of the impact was enough to shatter both bones in my leg. I still remember the look on my father's face as I looked to the bench, for it was full of fear and distress. I remember leaning towards the bench and with all
I felt numb and unaware of my surroundings even though it was very familiar to me. In this moment, I did not know that such an injury would affect me in the long term. My first “real” injury that required medical attention. Horrified is an understatement, my seventh-grade self did not want to go to the hospital to get poked with needles, examined by what seemed to be 100 nurses and doctors. All that I really wanted was medication to relieve the pain and to go back home, but as most hospital visits go it was not just and in and out.
Wearing that fancy, collared uniform every day to school meant that I needed to get good grades. The rigorous, fast moving courses proved to be quite a challenge. But nevertheless, I mastered all of my classes. The weight on my back increased in size with the peer pressure of joining and succeeding in sports. I took part in a plethora of physical activities including soccer, basketball, and baseball. I definitely didn 't ‘learn character’ from playing sports, but I did learn how horrible I was at them. After joining these sports I felt like I always failed and let my teammates down. After one of my basketbal seasons my team voted for people to receive awards. When I won an award, I was more confused than when I was in my algebra class. This reward was only given to the most supportive player on the team. In this moment my mind did some more gymnastics. It didn’t matter if I scored any points or was successful on the court, what truly mattered was being part of the team. Being a benchwarmer wasn’t that bad of a job. I loved cheering people up who had missed a shot or celebrating with those that were successful. These moments were what put me on cloud nine, the real, genuine interactions with my teammates. As long as I worked hard, my grades weren’t a life or death situation. I just needed to stop worrying and start living. Sadly, the amazing coach of this basketball team passed away due to cancer not