Basketball and My Life Essay -- Personal Narratives Sports Athletics E

Basketball and my life I have throughout my whole life been playing sports. I still play basketball competitively and now it’s at the university level. Basketball though was not my first love when it came to playing sports. It has though become my true focus since junior high school. Coming from Canada everybody plays hockey. Its almost as if as soon as you learn to walk you learn how to skate. Whether it is at the recreation centre or at the shinny rink around the corner everyone plays. Eventually I abandoned hockey to play basketball which I have done so for the last twelve years of my life and hopefully a few more years into the future. It happened watching it on television seeing all the great players such as Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Larry Bird. The most important influence would have had to been my mother who in her younger years played basketball for the Canadian junior national team. It was when she was playing at the gym I would tag along and just play around. Although I played both basketball and hockey until grade seven it just seemed I was better suited for basketball. With that rate that I had been growing at I was taller and with all the help that I received from my mom I had developed basketball wise much faster than many of the other children my age. Once I became focused on just one sport I started to strive to become like those aforementioned players. Soon though I realized that only a select and lucky few will ever become as great as them and get a chance to play in the NBA. But I never lost my drive to become the best player that I could become. I tried to achieve this by spending all my free hours in the gym working on all aspects of my game. All the time and effort paid off. Th... ...een able to do that. I have been averaging ten points and six rebounds more than anyone expected from me when I arrived here in Flagstaff at the beginning of the year, no one was even expecting me to even play. With the way that I have been able to play another door has opened up for me that I once thought was nearly impossible. That is the chance to play on the Canadian junior national team like my mother once did. This would be a great accomplishment for myself as well for all of my coaches that have helped me to reach my potential and get me to where I am today. And as my focus has changed from hockey when I was a child to basketball now many new doors have opened for me and I am very thankful. But it’s not over yet as I hope one day to play for my national basketball team and if all works out well maybe get a chance to get paid to play the game that I love.