A Lot More Than A Game

"To succeed...You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you." --Tony Dorsett

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you would do almost anything to achieve it? Have you ever failed at reaching this goal, but ended up feeling like it was one of the best days you could think of? If I had to pick one time where I felt like I was at my best, it would be during my last high school basketball game. The odd thing about that is that we ended up losing the game. It probably doesn't make a lot of sense to you so I will explain.

I began to play basketball during the fourth grade, when I just wanted to be with my friends and maybe make a couple baskets, nothing more. Fast forward to high school, where I found myself in the gym every summer three times a week for hours at a time. At some point between fourth grade and high school, I found the one place that I felt like I really belonged and fell in love with a sport that eventually would mean so much more to me.

Two games into my junior season, my teammate, classmate, and close friend, Emily, was killed in a car accident just a few miles from her house and from our high school. Devastated and in disbelief are the only ways to describe how I felt for weeks after the tragedy. My one saving grace was basketball and my other teammates. Although we had a pretty tough time getting through our first practice without Emily, our first game without her, away at West Liberty, was an emotional roller coaster. It started off sad, each of us had a #35 patch sewn onto the hearts of our jerseys and we all teared up as we surrounded her jersey during a moment of silence. As tip-off drew near, all of us Wildcats had one mission, win it for Emily and we did. The best part? We scored 35 points that game; maybe it was a coincidence, but we took it as a sign that she was still with us. We went on with the rest of the season and into my senior year. We continued to bring her jersey with us and work toward the goal of winning a post season game in her honor, something a Durant girls basketball team hadn't accomplished in five seasons. 

Fast forward to February 20th, 2012, in Camanche, Iowa, where my team, who really had nothing to prove, was preparing to fight for a win. A quarter and a half into the game, things were not looking good and half time wasn't much better. I'm not one hundred percent sure of this, but I would say we were down at least fifteen points and it was looking like my eight year run of basketball had sixteen minutes left. A little disappointed, we pulled ourselves together and started the third quarter. I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention to the score because I thought we were done for, but before I knew it we were only down seven, then five.  Until late into the fourth quarter, it was a tie game going back in forth between Camanche and us. Suddenly, the senior captain role and friend of Emily really came out in me. At that point, I wanted nothing more in the world than to win and I think everyone else sensed that and got the mindset, too. Camanche didn't just back down and roll over for us, though. We took them into three overtimes. We all had adrenaline rushing through our veins and although we would have normally been exhausted after running down the court so many times, we all wanted to play and not be sitting on the sidelines, me in particular. This is what the hours upon hours in the gym and heartbreak of previous years had led up to. It was a scary, yet incredible feeling knowing what was at stake and I felt like the perfect scenario was about to play out: we come from behind and take the game in three overtimes to end our post season losing streak, all for Emily.

Except for it didn't. We came up short and that was the end. I never got to win a post season game and I would never compete as a Wildcat again. To say the least, it was a teary eyed locker room as our coach thanked the seniors for the hard work over the past four years despite everything we had been through, namely losing Emily. 

I bet you're all still a little confused on how this was a time I was at my best. Well, on the bus ride home, I finally realized what all these years had really been about. Basketball is supposed to be a game, someone wins and someone loses, but basketball meant so much more to me. I learned from it. I created memories. I overcame hardships. My teammates and I left an example that we are all proud of, regardless of the fact that we weren't the best team out there. So it's not just a game to me, it's the place that I learned lessons that carried into the real world and made me, me. Without basketball, I wouldn't be at my personal best everyday. I would probably find it easier to give up, take the easy way out of things. Instead, I've learned to put the work in, persevere in all circumstances, and do my absolute best so that I can be at my best at all times.