Personal Essay: Ball Is Life

Ball is Life

Basketball is more than just a sport it is a way a life. To be fully engaged in the sport, it cannot be part time. It has to be a full commitment by the player. I do not spend every hour of every day dedicated to basketball, but every free chance I get aside from work and school I play basketball to help prepare myself for the upcoming season. Countless hours spent on the court can really help a player with many different factors. Basketball may not only help to develop athletic skills, but may also teach one how to manage his time and teach him how to overcome fear when the outcome of the game rests with him.

The hardest thing for me to do while being involved with any sport, is managing my time. Whether it is the summer

Going inside and going to sleep would be so much easier, but practice is just as important. Even worse are the late nights of practice or the games that do not end until nine o’clock at night and it is a two hour drive back home. All my energy is gone after practice or after a ball game, so I have absolutely no motivation to get my school work done. Countless times I have gotten home from a game or practice and gotten into full out screaming warfare with my mother. I distinctly remember one time. I pulled into the driveway, got out of my truck, and walked inside. It was ten thirty at night already and I had just played four full quarters with no substitute coming in for me. I was beyond exhausted and to make things worse I had completely forgotten about my English test the next day, but luckily for me, my mom did not. She yelled at me, “Gavin, why are you not studying?” I replied, “I just played a full game Mom. I’m tired and I want to go to sleep.” With a very agitated tone in her voice, my mom then said, “You already have a bad grade in that class, you don’t need to make it any worse.” My exhausted stubborn self said, “I don’t care Mom. I’m not studying.” My mom won the argument when she replied, “Fine. You aren’t playing basketball