Growing up I’ve always loved sports; I always loved watching and playing sports. Football, basketball, soccer, baseball- you name it. But there was always something about basketball that made it different from all the rest. I felt a special connection with it and I could see myself being an NBA player. When I finally figured out basketball was definitely my favorite sport I decided to dedicate the rest of my life to basketball, and achieving my dreams of becoming an NBA player.
    

Basketball was originated in 1891 way back before any of us were born. That’s dates back to approximately 124 years ago! Obviously, I wasn’t in love with the sport back then, but my great great great grandfather loved to watch basketball and the love for the sport passed down generations. I knew from the moment I saw an NBA game I wanted to be in the NBA. I started playing basketball at a very young age. I went to this park and sat down to watch the big kids play. I observed what moves they used and what was a foul and what wasn’t. Just from watching them I learned so much about the game.
    

To this day I still go to that park. That park is like my second home. Whenever I’m sad or mad or just frustrated I go to the park to get my mind off all of that. It calms me down and makes me feel like I’m zoned out of all my problems. My parents usually fight a lot and it drives me insane and just adds more and more stress on my shoulders. The park is the only place I can turn to for some peace and relaxation.
     

Now back to where I was: in elementary school I didn’t take the game too seriously but I still was very passionate about it. But sadly, my friends didn’t think I even liked the sport. Whenever I played with them they made fun of me because I wasn’t the fastest,  I wasn’t the strongest, or even the sharpest shooter. When we would have a pickup game I was picked last or I got kicked off the court. I didn’t know what to do so I went in my room and sobbed. I cried until I had no more tears to burst out. The moment I stopped crying I stood up and told myself I would practice everyday until I made my dreams come true.
    

In the summer of 5th grade I woke up early, around 5:00 or 6:00 and went to the park to go practice. I practiced for hours and hours non-stop, my body telling me to stop, but I still wasn’t satisfied. Summer eventually ended and I was pretty happy with the results of my training. When school started they announced that there would be basketball tryouts in December. I got so excited and pumped up for the tryouts that I knew I could only do one thing to make the team… practice. I practiced even more from September to December and saw a big change in my performance. I was more confident than ever. I was so excited that I completely forgot to fill out the physical. I was really upset I couldn’t try out and I told myself to remember next year.
     

So a year went by and I still practiced and prepared for the next tryouts coming up. And again it happened, I was over excited and I forgot to fill out the physical again. I got so angry I locked myself in my room. And suddenly I realized something. If I don’t fill out this form again I might ruin my chances of making my dreams come true. I went out of my room with a smile and headed out to go practice.
    

And now I’m in 8th grade, my last year in middle school. Tryouts came up and this time I did remember the form. I showed up confident but ended broken. Hearing I got cut from the basketball team was shattering and left me in the shadows. I failed… but all of a sudden everything makes sense. I worked myself so much but I could never show my progress in games because I lost all confidence. And now here I am. Even though I didn’t make it I know basketball is something I’m passionate about because I’m still going to practice and hopefully achieve my dream of being an NBA player. Basketball is apart of me and it’s who I am. The seams on the basketball are all connected just like my future goals and my passion.
    

Now I whenever I’m playing basketball I only have one thing in my head- a quote: “Suppose you were drowning and all you can think about is breathing. You don’t care about anything else, you just want to breathe. When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful” (Eric Thomas).