According to my mother, my imagination was superb as a child. I was filled with tons of energy and never had an efficient way to put it to use. Because of this problem, I always found myself in trouble. It wasn't trouble due to malicious behavior or spite. It was more so due to lack of activity and boredom. For example, I would hide my mother’s keys as a joke. I didn't see it as much of a big deal, I seen it more as a friendly game of hide and go seek, but with her keys. My mom seemed stressed and overwhelmed at times because of my behavior.

To cope with this stress, my mom placed me in a lot of extra curricular activities. Acting classes, karate, art classes, tap dancing, soccer, and basketball, were some of the few things I attempted. I had a hard time concentrating long enough in all of these activities. Time after time, my mom realized she was only wasting her money. I was too young to understand that I actually had to listen to the instructors, and complete the tasks they gave me. I had more fun meeting new people and making new friends rather than learning the activity. Although I was seen as a social butterfly, some good was reached throughout all the mayhem. My days at home were spent out of trouble because of all of the extra energy I used. Ultimately, this was my mom’s plan all along even though I thought she was just being nice. Surprisingly, I gained knowledge and experiences during this phase of my life. I had to learn how to deal with people I didn't like without causing scenes. However, releasing anger and the little stress I did have was necessary. Eventually, my mom gave up on trying to trick me into wasting my energy, which was unfortunate because in the midst of her giving up on me I came across my niche. Basketball was the only thing I did where I acted semi-serious. I came across the idea of playing basketball because of my brother. My brother would always come home gloating and showing off his shiny new trophies. Instead of running up and down the bleachers effortlessly during his games and practices, I figured that I could play with them so, I too could earn trophies. I enjoyed playing basketball a lot more than I did other sports, which is why I took it more seriously. I always had a competitive nature about myself and basketball brought that out of me. My mom saw my passion for basketball and signed me up to play for a park and recreation team. I was so excited that once they handed out jerseys I wore it just about everywhere. I wore it to sleep,when we went out to eat, and if it was up to me I probably would have worn it when I showered. One day, I showed up to practice to find out that I was the only girl on the team. My first reaction was “Oh God they’re going to kill me”. My coach understood that my level of play was no where near the talent of the other guys on the team. Some guys on the team were nice, and helpful and would help me on the plays and work on my shot, but some of the other guys would stare and give me mean looks, and if I scored they would taunt the other person and say “ I cant believe you let a girl score on you”. I took that statement to heart because just because I was a girl and I loved to play basketball there was something wrong with that, according to some of the guys on my team. I practiced, practiced, and practiced as much as could. My mom was happy because I rarely bothered her anymore, and my brother was happy because we finally had something in common that we could do together. Basketball began to take over my family’s life. Our weekends were no longer spent at home, on the couch watching TV. Instead we were either at a practice or at a game. My mom even took it as far as to having someone build a full court in the back of our house. The court was made of concrete and had two goals on each side. This made practicing easier because I didn't have to drive to a gym every time I wanted to play. Over time my skill level increased and the pick-up games my brother and I had became more intense. I realized playing with guys only made me tougher, and stronger, and gave me the extra drive to be better than they were. I continued to play against guys which helped me improve my game tremendously. Now that i look back on my younger days of playing basketball and look at how much I have improved since then, I can only say thank you to the guys on my team for pushing in those practices day in and day out.