Personal Narrative: Women's Basketball

I started basketball at the tender age of four years old. At that time, it was mostly running around a basketball court having fun, and making the parents in the crowd smile. I would not have thought at that age that basketball would mean so much. As I got older I wanted to be like my dad, and my sister, on top of being in Knoxville, Tennessee where women’s basketball, and football is almost all people care about. On rival game days when we would play the Florida Gators, UT fans would have actual alligators they killed on top of their cars. The first time I witnessed this was riding in the car on the highway, I remember distinctly getting scared and asking my dad “what is that huge this on their car”, I could not believe my eyes. I remember meeting Pat Summit at UT and it seemed like basketball was the normal process of things in my family and my

surroundings. Both of these experiences helped give bigger impressions of basketball, things such as those are very hard to forgot.
I fell in love with basketball at a very young age. To this day I continue to fall in love with basketball and reflect on how important basketball was to my life. Not only did it teach me lessons it provided a safe place, an activity that made me happy and provided healthy competition at the same time. I am very rusty when it comes to playing, but I will not hesitate to challenge anyone to a game of Knockout or H-O-R-S-E. This is because the closer I can be to any part of basketball the better, even if I am not playing in an actual game. Holding a basketball, or even watching basketball in person, or on television gives me that same warm feeling I got when I used to play in games.
The first lesson I learned from basketball was to be confident.

Playing on a basketball court with an audience showed me that people are always watching. It is your decision whether to put on a show or not, but know your audience is waiting. People will observe you on your good days and bad days. Do not let this surprise you. Even playing basketball when I did not score people would watch, they would judge, and they choose whether to encourage, discourage or do neither. For example, once in fourth grade a girl in my class who was not a friend of mine came up to me and said “good game last night”. Of course I said thank you preceded on, but there is no guarantee she meant this in a good or bad way. I know it is great to think that no one is watching, and that what you do does not effect people, but I could not think of anything further from the truth. As people we try to ignore this because it means less responsibility and also less self consciousness. Someone is always watching whether you like it or not. And because someone is always watching, it is up to you to be yourself and completely own up to your

personality.
People may be watching, but you always have to pay attention. There is not always going to be someone around guiding you. You have to make your own decisions. Sometimes it is best to sit back and observe enough to be able to make those decisions. Not everyone is nice and looking out for you. I learned this one day at a summer basketball camp. My camp counselor was taking us to another gym and in order to get there we had to cross a very busy street. When she said go I went and started walking out in the street. That moment happened so quickly I could not tell you if I remember what anything around me looked like. But my father grabbed me out of the street just in time before I got hit by a very big city bus. From that day forward I learned to look around for myself and not take anyone’s word for granted. To some extent you have to be selfishly selfless. By that I mean you have to care about others and listen to them, but if that puts you in danger then you need to modify your actions in order to keep everyone safe. If you do not pay attention, then the only blame for the things that happen to you is yours. If you do pay attention at least you can say you tried.
I think a problem today is that we are encouraged to be overly confident. I think ambition is important, but it must be logical. If you have the right dose of confidence in yourself and your circumstances and another dose of awareness, then you can make smart risks. Who is ever sure how far a risk can go? Sometimes people will make a risk and suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives. Do not set yourself up for failure. Jump ball was never something I did until one day I was feeling bold. I volunteered, and turned around to the tallest 2nd grader I have ever seen in my life. At the time it was probably perspective, but I am almost positive I only came to his elbow. When the referee threw the ball up into the air I jumped as hard as I could only to realize that this other boy was about 3 or 4 feet above me, and tipped the ball to his teammates. If I was not in this situation I would not have learned at such an early age that not everything is possible. That is something everyone should learn. Kids are told they can do anything and be anything. I think this is problematic because in giving kids hope we are lying to them and setting them up for disappointment.
Sometimes false hope is not the problem. Society teaches subliminal messages to children that stick with them. I wonder why society teaches young girls they are inferior at such an early age? I have always had a problem with this ideology. None of my coaches told the boys to pass the ball to me. They basically said, without saying anything, that I was not good enough to actually play; I was just running around the court aimlessly. That is until they realized I could shoot. My problem with the status quo began here. I did not say all of the lessons from basketball would be positive. They are real and I think that is why I appreciate it so much. My dad would probably tell you the same thing. That is where he learned to fight bullies, he learned to never back down. Not because basketball was easy, but because it was hard and throws you into environments that can teach anyone a lesson if they are willing to listen. Basketball brings out the good and the bad of the world and teaches a player how to handle anything thrown at them in a literal, and figurative sense.
Now that I am in college I get to watch UNC play basketball. These are undoubtedly the best moments of my college life. It is almost like I live through the players on the court now. This deep connection I have with basketball is because the lessons I learned from it. I learned to be confident, but logical. I learned to look out for myself, and not be too trusting of others. And lastly I learned that society is not going to be on my side especially being a minority female. So much of my outlook on life came from basketball, and taking it away would be devastating. These are all lessons that everyone should learn at some point in their life and it does not always come from basketball. It could be going to school, participating in theater or any other activity. Whatever reaches a person, and teaches them so many things, is what they will have a deep connection with. That is why basketball is still so close to my heart.