Turnovers

When you make a mistake, it's okay to be frustrated at yourself. As you grow up, the game becomes harder. Not necessarily in skills, but in time. Basketball and Life become challenging because they are both speeding up at their own pace. The team you play for vs. how you perform on that team. They go hand and hand. Therefore, the relationship between the two will also determine the impact it has on your life development.

During my final year of high school, I received a scholarship to play Division 2 basketball. I was so excited because of all that hard work I put on the court and in the classroom. I felt like I was on top of the world and looking forward to playing at a new school with a strong team. All was good in the beginning. It was preseason. 

To this day, I truly dislike preseason because it's just so hard (even though it's good). You have two sessions of workouts a day for a whole month. One at the crack of dawn, usually 5am conditioning. Then, the next one is around dinner time, which included weight room and scrimmage. The only days we got off were weekends. Thinking back, I knew I was in some kind of hell. But, this made me tough. My mindset was prepared for it. 

But, I wasn't prepared for what was coming next.

My coach was tough on me and during early-season games, I was doing alright. Playing for about 19-20 minutes, which was good for a first-year player. Then, life happened. People betray you and then start to act differently. Next thing I know, I'm being humiliated and talked down to on-court and off-court. My moral went spinning and I reached a very low place. For the first time in my life, I started to hate basketball. It made me feel terrible, knowing that no matter how hard I was working, it still wasn't enough.

I didn't feel like I was part of a team anymore and started sort of isolating myself. I didn't feel as confident and stopped trusting people as much. Eventually, by the end of the season, I told the coach that I was leaving. Yes, I left my scholarship behind for my own personal health. I wasn't happy and felt I was forcing myself to stay here because of the money. It wasn't worth it anymore. My plan was to transfer to another division 2 school, but they didn't have enough space. So, I went to a Division 3 school that I fit well on. This resulted in me helping win a championship for the first time in school history.

At first, I was embarrassed and felt like I let myself down. But, I always was set on my dreams and decided to still work hard on what I wanted. I still achieved my dreams regardless. There are still many more milestones to go.

From all this, I think back to a time before I went to Division 2. My travel team coach used to get on my case about making the right decisions at the point guard position. He'd yell at me to stop turning the ball over and make more aggressive decisions. Just play basketball.

No matter how many turnovers we make, it all comes back to just playing the game for what it is. Less thinking, less talking, more just doing it. I think that made the difference. I had to make these choices for me and what was the best option overall. Turning the ball over is never the end of the game. It's the answer to what you can improve on and try again.