Entering my final season of AAU basketball I knew I had set myself up for a roller coaster of emotions, whether it was from the night of my first practice, the weekend of my first tournament, or my first time on the road with my new team. This was because a lot was on the line this season, and I strived to make this season my best, and most enjoyable. This is mostly because this was the final year getting the opportunity to put on my red and black jersey every tournament. It was my last season traveling around the country with my teammates every weekend with one goal, to win, and it was my last season to improve my skills all around, in an attempt to further my basketball career into college. During the first few practices I was nervous for how the season would go because I noticed my coach was a lot harder on me than he was to my teammates and I did not know how to take that at first.I was not used to to his coaching style of being loud, in your face, and tough, or his emphasis on "perfection" because on my past teams I was used to being the best person on the team, and my coach rarely had negative criticism for me, so I took his intense coaching style terribly. …show more content…
I was convinced that this coach had it out for me, was trying to ruin my final season of AAU, and did not want to see my succeed at the college level like he had promised.
What I saw as a huge lack of playing time at big tournaments and consistent yelling after every mistake ruined the joy of playing for me, to the point where I stopped playing entirely. For two extremely long weeks, I did not show up to practice After missing just the first practice I already started to miss playing and realized I was wasting my final year, something I looked forward to from the end of last
season. Also at the time I didn't realize that what he was doing would only benefit me and make me a better player, my frustration and anger I had with my coach would only push me to become even better than I had ever thought, but it would take a lot for me to make my realization. I set up a meeting to speak with my coach about the issues I was having, something I should have done from the beginning, and got the opportunity to voice my concerns. After a long conversation with my coach I was ready to tackle this task once again, the next Tuesday I returned to practice and I was determined to make this season what I wanted it to be. At every practice after that I worked harder than I had before, and even though I still heard the yelling from my coach I did not let it have such a negative response to it, but instead I took what he said and tried to improve on it. The few tournaments after my break from basketball I finally began to see my hard work pay off, and everything my coach had told me, whether I liked it or not was the truth. I began to receive emails and letters from college coaches who had interest in me! Something I thought would never happen in the beginning of the season. My last AAU season was nothing like I thought it would be, and definitely did not go as I had planned, but I honestly wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The "issues" and impossible task I thought I would never be able to overcome in the middle of my my most important season, truthfully helped form an even stronger love for my sport after almost just giving up entirely.
I continued to push myself to do better, but my coach relentlessly would call me out and embarrasses me in front of the team. When my teammates questioned why I was not a part of their varsity team, my coach would call an organized team meeting, one I was not invited to attend. She was cruel and her words were demeaning, insulting and she seemed to be on a mission to have my teammates shun me on and off the court. She told the girls that I was not “physically or mentally ready for varsity”.
Ever since I was young my parents said “Drew you should try new things, even if it means you fail at something.” I never really listen to them until one time in the study grade when I decided that it was ok to fail. I asked my parents “ Can we look for a club basketball team that I could try out for?” Thrilled in hearing that I wanted to try something new, they found I tryout for a team called the Cincinnati Royals. A couple of other friends agreed to try out with me, but I was still very nervous because it was my first tryout. All three of us made it through the first round of cuts and were called back for another tryout. I remember being more nervous for the second tryout than I was for the first. My palms sweated the whole night, every shot I took clanked of the rim, it wasn’t my night. My two other friends were told that they made the team, but I unfortunately got cut which I expected given how I performed. At first I saw this experience as an overwhelming failure, but I soon realized that I challenged myself, and I could learn from the criticism the coaches gave me. Taking the new stuff I learned from the tryout, I found a different club basketball team that I was fortunate enough to make, which I got to meet new people and play a sport that I loved. Although I may not have gotten the
It 's the day before my last high school varsity basketball game as a senior… Wow four years went by this fast who would have imagined this day would have came. All day I was thinking about the season ending. This game meant everything to me, it wasn 't any ordinary game. It 's a section game! Win or go home.. With it being my last high school game I wanted to close the chapter knowing I gave it my all. Practice was probably the most intense it 's ever been for me. Emotions were flaring and we were all on the grind.
3.. 2..1…Beep! “The Hartville Eagles basketball team will be advancing to the state championship game,” the announcer relayed. Hartville had never won state and my team, and I thought that we had a chance to win. Going into the game our record stood 28-4, and we planned to make it 29-4 by the end of our season; holding a plaque in the air that read State Champs.
One December morning, right before Christmas break, I was talking with a friend when our football coach came over to talk to us. I really respected and admired my coach and we always got along very well. My coach told us he was leaving Melbourne Central High School to go work in California. I had no idea what to say. I was in utter disbelief I was barely able to mutter a simple "Good Luck". One of my goals for the upcoming year was to have a good football season, just for my coach, because I really felt he deserved it. Most days I would have lunch with the coach where we would talk not only about football but also life and current events. When he left, I lost not only a coach but a friend and mentor. I knew I would always miss him. I did not believe that his departure, however, would threaten my football career or my love of playing. I was wrong.
Basketball is a big part of my life, one year ago in tournament final game two of our best players were hurt and the team was relying on me. With the time winding down on the clock we were down 8 points. Somehow I got our deficit down to two points with 30 seconds left, after an intense defensive stop 10 seconds remained on the clock; our coach called a timeout. A play was drawn up for me to take the shot. Mitchell inbounded the ball to me as I came off of a screen, I had an some-what wide open shot, I took the shot, you could hear the crowd go silent as the ball left my hand and headed towards the basketball. It felt like everything was going slow motion, the ball was getting closer and closer to the hoop and I…….missed it. The buzzer sounded
Fast forward, a couple of years and it is the summer of 2014. I entered my final year of eligibility for the Road Warriors team. The course of our annual spring practices were underway and I began to notice a change. Athletes younger than me but faster, stronger, and taller were beginning to look to me for guidance as we worked through practices and scrimmages. The coach who once took a chance on me many years ago also began to treat as not just one of his athletes, but as an individual who has held esteem within his team and as a person who contributed significantly to the success of the organization.
As our season ended earlier than we wanted my mind filled with memories of everything this team accomplished this season. I thought back to the games we won, the practices we had, and my time with the kids. I looked around at the excitement on display by the team that won, and the dejection on the faces of my team. I looked into the stands to see the band, the cheerleaders, the families, and the friends that all stayed until the end to send the boys home one more time. I walked to the locker room and listened to the coaches and the players say their goodbyes to the 2016 team and challenge the 2017 team.
I attended a summer camp that could help me build my fundamentals and making me a better-rounded player. The blazing hot sun took over for most of the time, but I had to endure it in order to work hard. There was a new coach for the camp and it was an old geezer to my first perspective, but this guy knew what he was doing. With no surprise he has helped me not only building up my knowledge of tennis, but he has made me into a better person that can appreciate tennis even more. Senior year came along and I made it to the top of the rankings for the club. I was winning a whole lot more; I couldn’t believe that I was on a winning streak. Working hard those last few months had really paid off. The coach had morphed my body into some sort of tennis machine. When my metamorphosis came to full fruition, I loved the fact that I could compete at a high level with the best that other high schools’ have to offer. I just wanted to go with the flow and didn’t want the rollercoaster of a ride to stop. By the time I knew it, my last year of playing the most cherished sport was over. It felt as though time and space fast forwarded those last three months, toying with me into ending my enjoyment sooner than I
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
A time that I collaborated with others whose experiences and beliefs differentiate from mine is when I participated in AAU Basketball. People with multiple personalities came from different parts of Texas to play basketball. We all did not get along at first that’s because we were unfamiliar to each other.
The Basketball Journey Did you know that less than 1 in 35 Senior High School basketball players get to play in college? Once they become Seniors in college they only have a 1 in 75 or 1.2% chance of making it to the NBA. Getting there seems almost impossible now, but there are several things you can do to increase your chances and defy the odds to become a great basketball player. I will take you through the journey of a high school player to a college player and a college player to a professional, while showing the skills necessary at each level. Playing basketball in High School is where you will acquire the skills necessary to carry you along the way.
One of my after school activities are basketball. Basketball is my favorite after school activity. It is my favorite activity after school because it’s fun to be able to compete, and practice with kids that are my age. It is fun to play and practice because I love to play basketball. I also enjoy basketball after school because it is something to do after school instead of going home and doing homework and doing whatever.
I became unreasonably confident in my tennis prowess and elected to not practice during the gap between seasons, choosing instead to just let my natural talent carry me through the downtime. When tennis season finally arrived, I was incredibly unprepared. Any tennis skills I had possessed before the break had become nearly rusted beyond use, and my final tally reflected that. I came out of the season with the grand total of one victory, which occurred when the person I was set to play didn’t show up to the
This caused me to play pissed off and to the best of my abilities for a time. But it cause me to lose the love for the game and to begin playing at a subpar standard. I had to due something to start playing better or I was going to lose my spot in the starting line up. So I started to coach a little league team that one of our family friends son played on. I coached them how I was coached by drilling the fundamentals into them until it was muscle memory. And pushing them during workouts and conditioning all behind the motto of if “You want to be the best you have to train like the best.” Coaching those kids taught me how to love and play the game again. I noticed my game started to improve and I was playing back at the varsity level and enjoying the game again for the first time in a long