I’ve been playing basketball from a young age, and like most kids nowadays, started playing basketball exclusively and on club teams in 5th grade. Being the 6′ 4" 200 lbs freak of nature I am, I really had no choice but to pick up the sport. I have had a lot of fun during my career but I’m reaching burn out phase. So, I have four months to go of competitive ball with my closest friends.
Sophomore year I started on the varsity team and was named to the All League team, the first time in at least a decade a sophomore from my school had done so. Junior year I was named co-captain, which caused some interesting tensions but was an excellent experience. This year I am co-captain again with a buddy of mine and we are looking to go far.
Last season I blogged throughout the season on "shit happens"; sports analogies in business; leadership when you have twelve sweaty teammates, two minutes, and obnoxious fans; similarities and differences in the business off-site and the team dinner; and the myth that hard work equals success. I did receive one helpful comment from these posts which I incorporated into my captainship.
These are the busiest four months of the year for me and I pretty much become inaccessible via phone unless it’s pre-scheduled. I enjoy the challenge the pushing myself physically – say, during sprints – and mentally, when the gym is so loud I can’t hear myself talk.
It’s time for one last hurrah!
If there is one thing that I will miss forever, and may never experience again, is the feeling of an awesome win with the crowd behind you. The roar of the fans when you make that crucial shot. The surge of adrenaline that makes you pump your fist and yell “come on!”
I never realized I would miss it so much, even though I was a little burned out by my fourth year in HS too. Now in my Soph year in college, nothing has been even close to that feeling.
Haha…so have a good last year of HS Varsity ball.