basketball

basketball

Basketball is a sport that requires dexterity and strong peripheral vision, which needs to be accompanied by mental toughness, competitive attitude, and extreme passion. Only a select few possess the ability to recognize the utter fullness required to excel in the sport. But basketball is not merely a sport. To me, it serves as an alternative to the real world and real life.
Growing up, I knew that I was different from my peers. I didn’t look any different on the outside, but I knew that I was different on the inside. Beginning when I was only ten years old, I developed a passion for something that no other ten year old had. It was a passion for the sport of basketball. This passion would only grow to show me life’s grace and teach me the way of life before its actual encounter. Through basketball, I learned how to take on life’s responsibilities. I felt the heart-ache of defeat and the joy of victory. I suffered through pain, both physically and mentally, which led me to obtain a completely different outlook on life that no one else could experience. I foresaw life’s winding roads and scrutinized each turn before my real life had even begun.  
They say that practice makes perfect, but it doesn’t. Because I’m not perfect, although I tried to be. Every day I practiced until my arms were sore from shooting and my legs could barely move. Yet still, I struggled to be that perfect basketball player. But beyond basketball, there was my other life that also struggles in a desire to be perfect. Slowly, I learned what every person dreads to learn. I learned that life will not be perfect no matter how hard you want it to be or practice it. In life, just as in basketball, there are a series of trials and failures. Sometimes success is there, other times it isn’t. So if practice doesn’t make perfect, then why practice at all? Because there are no short cuts and if you want those successes to be there, then you have practice for them. You have to prepare for...