Reflections on Basketball

Reflections on Basketball

I believe being involved in basketball has had a positive effect on my life. I have been playing badminton on and off since form 1, but it never did light my passion for exercise. I never improved much over the five years that I played. I did enjoy playing, but it was more like a "if I had nothing better to do" kind of thing. I never had the desire to be better, and as such, I never did get better.

Then I skeptically joined some of my friends when they invited me for basketball with them. I was pathetic at it. I could neither dribble nor score-- but somehow there was something so... fulfilling about being able to place a 29.5 inch leather ball through a hoop hanging some 10 feet in the air. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to do it more often.

The problem was that there were always people trying to stop me from making that ball go through the ring. There were always problems. I was not good enough-- I lacked the skill, the dexterity, the precision and the stamina. If I wanted to feel that euphoric feeling again, there was only one solution: I had to get better-- better than my former self, and better than the obstacles preventing me from reaching my goal. I had to become quicker. I had to jump higher. I had to be a stronger person.

With a goal in sight, it was much easier to direct my ever-changing attention to one thing... and for the first time in a long while, I actually wanted to put in the effort for something-- on my own accord-- to reach a target which I've set for myself. It made me feel in control, like I wasn't just a person walking down a road, but a person walking down THE road. 

Being able to jump higher opened up a whole new world to a person of my stature. Suddenly, new places seemed to be in reach-- places which I never knew existed. Running and jumping made me feel so alive, in a different way that doing charity or spending time with the people closest to you does.

I finally started caring about my health because I wanted to see more. I wanted to live this life longer. Along the way I felt like I've become a different and, I hope not to sound arrogant but, a better person-- not just as a basketball player, but as a human being.

All in all, yes, I do believe basketball was a very good thing that happened to come my way. I can't say if it was the "best", for who's to know which possibility is better than the others?  Basketball also helped me start liking badminton all over again-- and now I'm an avid player of both.