Basketball is a pretty well known sport across the world. It is played by everybody, young and old. That is one reason why it’s my favorite sport. There are thousands of other reasons I could say but I’m gonna try and keep it to 700 words.

Basketball has been a key factor in my life because everyone in my family has played basketball and has been pretty good at it. My Grandpa played in high school but he played more football. My Mom played her whole life and in 1989 she won the Pickaway County Herald Award (best player in Pickaway county) at Logan Elm for basketball and advanced to regionals; also she played on the Central District All-Star team and won the MVP. She then went on to play at Mt. Vernon Nazarene College. My Dad played his whole life too. He played at Southern High School and won a championship in 1982. He went on to play ball at the University of Rio Grande and won a championship there. Then in 1998 he was inducted into the Rio Grande Athletic Hall of Fame. So I guess you can say it’s in my genes.

I started playing basketball in 1st or 2nd grade at the YMCA. I don't really remember those years but they probably weren’t that great. Then 3rd-5th grade I played in Upward at New Hope. I wasn’t the best on those teams but I did play on teams with older kids. Then in 6th grade I moved to Westfall and played biddy-ball. I definitely wasn’t the best on that team with future NBA talents like Tyler Shipley, Ashton Nunemaker, and Peyton Weiss. I started to adjust to the pace of those games but they were way different than YMCA and Upward. Moving on to middle school ball, it wasn’t the best 7th grade year because I was still adjusting to a new type of pace kids played at which led to me not scoring at all. Then 8th grade year was more of the same until the second half of the year when I started to score a little bit more but I still wasn’t happy with how I played. Freshman year… Oh boy, high school. Extremely different than middle school. I played freshman and JV. I was so pumped to be playing in high school. I didn’t really end up having the year I wanted but it wasn’t as bad as middle school. I usually played two quarters freshman, which I got a lot of heat for, but I didn’t do horrible all the time. The funny thing was the coach put me in at center, the position the tallest player is supposed to play, which was interesting because I’m only 5’8”.  Every game I was guarding someone a foot taller than me which wasn’t fun. It seemed like I played well every other game, I wasn’t consistent at all. JV was fun because we were way better than the freshman team, and sometimes better than the varsity(but don’t tell varsity players that please). We won more than the varsity I think but I really didn’t score much. Me and some other JV players (Me, Tyler, Ashton, and Peyton) got to go to the Varsity tournament game, to sit the bench. But the feeling of being there was amazing and we had a fun time cheering them on. It made me sad to see the seniors upset and crying because it was their last game. That pretty much sums up my whole Freshman year.

I want to have a historical high school career but I’m going to need to grow a litte and gain more knowledge of the game. I also need to get way stronger. I have high hopes for next year but I need to put in the work over the summer and become better.

But anyways that's why I love the game of basketball; The comradery, teamwork, commitment, and the adrenaline rush I get everytime I or my teammates make a good play. When I'm playing I just feel like I’m in a whole different world and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.