Above is a little remix of Martin Luther King Jr. by a 8th grade basketball player who just witnessed a high school varsity basketball game. He was astonished by the size of the crowd, the speed of the game, and intensity of the players. It was totally different from that of his middle school level team.
The cute 8th grader above is me obviously. Just in case you didn't know, I'm a huge fan of basketball, both watching and playing. I first joined the team "properly" in 7th grade (I joined the team in 6th grade but I ditched all the practices). I just loved it, and I was pretty good at it from the beginning. I remember I was a pretty good shooter even when I first started playing basketball.
So I fell in love with the game. I practiced everyday with my friends or by myself. In 8th grade, I become the starter for the A team of my middle school. I remember I was "ballin'" that time. My coach was pretty hard-core. He would throw chairs during the game if we couldn't execute a play well. But I've learned so much from him about basketball. After all, I appreciate his intensity that he brought to us. We were undefeated that year, winning two championships of two different regional tournaments. Again, I fell deeper in love with basketball. This is how it feels to be a team with success.
But I fell deepest in love with the sport when I went to watch the high school varsity team play a game. The intensity was different. Talents were shining on the court. Watching the crowd go wild after every play game my stomach rumblies.
"How would it feel like to be one of those players...?"
And this is when I said the famous remix of Martin Luther King Jr. quote.
My expectation of high school basketball was at its peak at this moment, because I knew I could play at that level. It was just there for me to play in it.
But things didn't turn out the way I expected to.
I'm currently a junior in KIS. I barely have time to play basketball.
Yet I'm still the captain of my basketball team. But our season just took the wrong path, certainly the path that I never wanted to take.
After playing 3 years of varsity high school basketball until now, I have seen almost no intensity in practices. I have seen no coach that gets at a player. I have seen no games where we played like the high schools did that I saw in 8th grade.
Our records reflect my disappointment. 1 win 13 loss in my sophomore year season. 1 win 13 loss in my junior year season again.
I wouldn't have minded if we practiced hard and just lost against better teams. But obviously that wasn't the case. We don't practice as hard as other teams, and we lose to worse teams.
Now do you feel pity for that 8th grader above? Because I do.
Things get worse when I see my friends from my middle school having great seasons in their high schools. One of my friend's team won a huge tournament in Far East Asia, and earned an MVP for that tournament. Another friend of mine is the leading scorer of his team and he led his team to the semi-finals game of the tournament. Hearing these news, I was of course happy for them. But I have to be honest I was more jealous of them. "Why the heck am I doing here when all my old peeps are having blasting high school basketbal seasons? What happened to me?"
It gets even worse when I think about the fact that my basketball career will end in high school. I'm afraid we might have a similar season next year, which will be my last year in high school. I don't want this to happen, but there are certain things that I can change and other things that I can't do anything about.
Obviously, KIS doesn't put up an athletic program as intense as other big schools do. For an athlete like myself, it's just frustrating when I can't use the gym when its there empty. It hurts to take the school bus home right after school. It hurts that we can't use the outside basketball court without a supervisor. It hurts to think how my dream all collapsed coming to KIS, because KIS has taken away basketball from me.
photo by briansphotopage
ahhh. ): come on younsukk-! We can do better next year! All we really need is the string that would tie every player into a team. As individuals, all of the guys in boys' basketball team are great. We just need to tie them up. With intense practices and passionate coaches, I believe we can do better. Everyone agrees that you have skills and talent in basketball. Don't let them down, use it efficiently and keep your hopes and dreams up!
ReplyDeleteyou're
ReplyDelete100%
absolutely
damn
right