Personal Narrative: The Future Of Basketball

“Come on guys,” I yelled. I heard the screech of the referee’s whistle. Rushing to the bench, I heard the referee call out “Timeout, Heat.” Everything was on the line and our team’s championship hopes, being foremost on our team’s minds, was all coach could scream about. “I’m not going to tell you how to play basketball,” he yelled out. “That’s your job. I’m just going to say that right now, to us, this is a championship game. If we win this, we move on to the championship. If not, at least let us fall valiantly.” That got the whole team riled up as we rushed back onto the court. The crowd, encouraging as always, yelled out their approval on the fact that we were giving it our all. With just sixteen seconds left in the game and our team down by four, something special had to happen or we were done for the season.

The day was October 8th, 2014. I hardly played. One school day, my 5th teacher, Ms. Smit said, “flyers for the basketball team on the table” ordinarily I took one. Kids from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade came to try out for the team. After tryouts, a paper next to the nurse's office was hung up. The paper sheet named those who had made the team. Surprisingly, I made the team, most likely from my height. I felt like I shouldn’t have made the team. At the time, I barely started to play basketball. I went to the practices at school and tried to make myself a little bit better, since a tournament was about to begin in a few weeks.

When I was younger, basketball was all I wanted to play, it just looked like so much fun. In fifth grade I had my parents sign me up for CYB, then in sixth grade I tried out for middle school basketball and played all the way up until ninth grade. In middle school when I was in eighth grade I was awarded the captain position and that helped me build leadership and responsibility. All of the players especially the younger ones knew they could always come to me at any time if they needed anything or help with anything. High school basketball was a lot different than middle school. In middle school I was one of the star players so I played a lot but in high school that changed. I sat the bench a lot that taught me patience and understanding even

I fell in love with basketball 7 years ago. What began as a few trial trainings gradually grew into a deep passion for the sport. I realized that I had the flair for it as doing moves like layups came to me very naturally. All I had to do was to observe my coach do an example once, practice the move a few times, and I got it.

It is my junior year of high school and basketball season is right around the corner. I am on the verge of either making varsity or junior varsity this year depending upon my skills. Went through the tryouts and was able to make the junior varsity again for my second year with coach Maloney. I was all excited to play there again seeing I was one out of the three kids that made it back there again. From there it was Cam, Anthony, and I who thought would lead the team because we were the only ones who knew how to run Maloney’s offense and defense well that’s what I had thought was gonna be the case but in reality it wasn't. I thought I would be a starter for the team, but in reality I ended up being a bench player or how I thought of it as a

When I was 13 i moved from Decatur Il to the city capitol of Indiana (Indianapolis) hoping to get a better life in education and sports.All my life i dreamed of me going to a big college and becoming a professional basketball player later on in my life.My mother told me it will be a lest likely chance you will become a pro basketball player in a city we used to live in due to our “reputation”. Once We Got To Indiana I was sad but i was excited at the same time,Thoughts ran through my mind like “are the students are going to like me”?,”Will i become an outcast”?. I went to this private school in the central of the city named Lincoln Jr High. Once i got there i was focused on my grades and basketball that’s all i thought about. Once basketball tryouts began i reported to the gym

For a majority of people in the world, if they were to wake up with 350 million dollars, and would be able to be fully retired by 38 years old, then they would be very content and happy with their lives. Being able to wake up every day in a big mansion, lying with your family by the poolside, not worrying about financial issues for yourself or loved ones, and lastly having the great opportunity for you and your whole family, to not work a day the rest of your lives. It is an ideal situation that approximately 99.99% of people would want. But, an outlier, challenges those astonishing odds, by using their influence and popularity, to help out and make a difference. Not

I had always wanted to go and try out for the school volley ball team but i wasn't sure if i was going to make it or not. I made the first cut and then the second cut. At the last tryout i put all the effort i had into it, hoping that I could make the team. The final cut came and i was not on the list. I was devastated. This was very hard to take. I told my parents that i didn't make it and they said that they knew i tried my best and that there is always next year in high school. Sure enough they were right. Coming into grade 9, I made the volleyball team and have been playing ever since. I thought that i was panicking and it was over but it turns out that i was just choking and thanks to my parents they helped me out of that

It was my first day of Grade 10, I didn’t want to go through being that new kid and having the thought of life being so complicated again but this time I had a reminder that if I went through it 6 years ago and turned out fine, I can do it again. It was very difficult at first because I had to spend lunch time alone and no one to talk to in class. I’m a very outgoing person and make friends easily or so I’ve been told, so after two weeks, I have made new friends. Two of the people I had made friends with Helen and Mika, were on the basketball team and I had told them I’ve always wanted to join basketball. They were begging me to join the team. The first day of tryout I didn’t want to go, I've never joined a sport before so I had this sick feeling that I wouldn’t make the cut, surprisingly I did. I was in grade 10 so I was in the junior team but we would always practice with the seniors because my coach wanted us to do really good for that season. On my first ever game, I went on the court with a lot of confidence and didn’t feel anxious at all. I shot two points at my first game and that made me feel so good about myself. I grew really close with my team and bonded really well with them. At the end of the season, we won all of our league games and the championship

It all started when I was in 7th grade, preparing for my first basketball tryouts. I had nothing but confidence in myself that making the team would be a walk in the park. During the tryouts, everything seemed to be going great, considering how the coaches were reacting to my performance. However, the following day after the tryouts were over, I was told that I, sadly, was rejected. The only reason I could think of why this had happened, was simply not getting enough practice under my belt. It is easy for a person to think about the outcome, while not having enough experience in the matter, in this case basketball.

I began playing Basketball freshmen year as a way to release my emotions and forget the thoughts that gave me stress or made me overthink. My coaches gave me the nickname of “Mean Darline” because of how tough and aggressive I would get when being on defense. Little did they know that I wasn’t good at that position because I loved Basketball but because it maintained me calm and allowed me to express myself in a socially approved activity. When the season was finished and I retired from Basketball after my sophomore year I went back to going to the gym three to four times a week. Gym workouts or any physical activity is great to rechannel one’s unacceptable impulses without others criticizing us for our actions.

Basketball has been the passion of my life since I was 4 years old. I've always had a competitiveness or desire to not lose. That's why my sophomore year of high school was the worst, but best year of my life. As a freshman I was on JV and had tremendous success. The next year I anticipated a starting varsity role. I couldn't wait, expecting a year even better than the last. All the success I had as a freshman didn't translate as smoothly.

Last year, in seventh grade I decided to try out for basketball after the first day of tryouts I was not confident that I was going to make the team because I could not make a shot. The next day we had another try out I was ready to play. I came out and played well which made me feel better about the tryout. After the third day of tryouts I was not to confident that I would make the team. When I got the email that I made the team I was juiced I jumped all over my room. The first practice I was ready to play. I knew that coach Faust didn't mess around when it came to basketball. Practice was miserable I was so tired from doing “suicides” and running around the track. Our team couldn't do any of the drills successfully so we ended up running extra. On the second day of practice we started doing much better and making some shots.

As I became older, entering my young teenage years in life, I took on the interest of playing sports for my middle school. I remember trying out for the girl’s basketball team in the summer going into the eighth grade. I know I had competition but I felt highly confident from the skills I gained during the previous years. Try outs were all morning and I caused my parents so much trouble from telling them in such a short notice. I anxiously waited for the final results, even though they weren’t posted on the gym door until later that evening. Later on that day I learned that I didn’t make

My basketball career started in the second grade. I was excited to try something new but also nervous. My dad always practiced with me outside, helping me to get better. I wasn't the best player, but I always tried my hardest. After my first game, my dad and I went home and went right outside in the cold weather to shoot some more hoops.