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More Than a Game

I was introduced to the game of basketball at a very young age by my father.  He would take my sister and I to the park and pick us up over his head just so we could feel closer to the basket.  He will never know this but, it is those moments that changed my life forever.  In the years to come my father passed and I grew deeper in love with basketball.  It became more than a game for me and in his absence, with every dribble, every shot, and every drill I still and always will be close to him. 

As I grew into my pre-adolescent years, I started playing organized basketball in middle school and although I did not make the team, I took the opportunity to be the team manager and practiced with them everyday.  In addition, I also participated in the county’s local recreational league.  Then, when I enrolled into high school, I participated on the Sherwood Warriors Junior Varsity and Varsity women’s basketball team.  Basketball became my life in high school, it was 24-7, 365 [days a year].  My AAU coach always told me, “work while the rest of the world is sleeping”, so I was up at 5 AM training and doing what it took to get to the next level.  Looking back at my high school career, being apart of the team was a humbling and rewarding experience.  We did not win a lot, but on the court we fought day in and day out as a Warrior would.  Besides, I have come to learn that basketball means more than wins and losses.  It’s about family; a bond, a comradery that is shared among one another and a personal promise to stand not in front, not in back , but beside each other.  During the off and pre-season, I participated in AAU, community clinics, Five-Star camps, and tournaments.  I knew that the possibility for me to play basketball in college was an option.  However, in the end I decided that I wanted to focus my efforts on my education and forgo my option of playing collegiate basketball.  That was a difficult choice for me, but one that I do not regret.  In college, I played on the traveling team for Penn State University.  I also played for the campus’ recreational league and during off-season, I was a referee for the Fall and Spring Co-Ed basketball league.  Even if I was not playing the game as I wished, I still wanted to be around it.  After I graduated from college, basketball and I drifted apart.  I find myself as a young woman, working and trying to secure my career for the future. I plan to get back to the game soon though.

Despite our rift, my relationship with basketball has evolved into a love that entails passion, drive, persistence, resilience, and triumph.  Partaking in such opportunities, like coaching allows me to demonstrate how profound an impact basketball can have on one’s life.  So, I hope to do that, one dribble at a time.

Quote:

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest, till your good is better and your better is best.”

Alexis Hargro