How I Fell in Love with Basketball - Part One

Pict by. IDH

  

I’ve been loving basketball since I was at 4^th grader of elementary school. My big brother was the one who actually dragged me into basketball game for the very first time. I was indirectly “contaminated” by the basketball video games he played at home, a couple of expensive basketball shoes he bought, and all of basketball jerseys he had. All those first impressions about basketball game slowly shaped my mind to see it as a sport with certain high-requirements whose player has to be able to fulfill. That kind of perspective came to me in a very positive way. I was challenged by my own point of view that I should be able to play this as I thought that if I could eventually be able to play this sport, I can be one of those cool kids at school.

So I started to play basketball at my elementary school court with my first cheap ’76ers basketball which my Mom bought me (Certainly with some force from me). I still remember how short I was at that time, considering that the ring was set way shorter than the standard height, but I still could not touch the board no matter how high I jumped. Elementary school was the first time I played this sport, and I found my self-confidence started to evolve as I increased the intensity to play basketball.

Going to the Junior high school, I was even more serious on this game. I decided to join the school team and I had more practice in there. It got actually more challenging since the competition was also more visible. Everyone (especially the freshman) wanted to be selected to the main team to play in the competition. But, in order to get there, one has to go crazy and do more practice than any other player in the team could ever possibly do.

I think that time was the craziest time for me. I really fell in love with the game and felt like I wanted to dedicate most of my time knowing more about basketball. I did practice (I guess) more than any of my peers did. I was really being ambitious to get into the main team so that I could play in the main team and go to the competition together with my seniors.

I did complete one of my goals that I made it to the main team at my freshman year. It felt great to be in the main team, especially when I knew that not all freshman can do this thing. I told my parents about it and I asked them to buy me a pair of basketball shoes. I got my first pair of Nike basketball shoes before I went to that competition.

To Be Continued.