Hold It In

Finally, after three long years of high school, my senior year has come! After several seasons of soccer, basketball, and baseball, my final season of basketball has come. Unlike this year, and every other sport, normally I have classmates in my grade playing the same sport as me. This basketball season is different than any other sport. I’m the lone ranger this basketball season. Besides my other senior classmate, he swings and doesn’t play many varsity minutes, so I don’t count him. That leaves me, the only Senior to represent and lead the team.

PJ and I were elected captains at the beginning of the season. Being a captain increases my responsibility and stress even more. I remember how stressed I was when my Coach told me the role I’d have to play this season. Michael and I are also the only two players with licenses, meaning I end up driving a lot of people to and from practice. Overall, I have a little more to take care of and be responsible for this season. I’m also responsible for the attitudes of players and making sure that everyone is playing as a team.

I’ve had to build up a lot of patience this basketball season, unlike other sports I’ve played. With a team so young and inexperienced playing at the varsity level, it makes it very hard to accept their mistakes and be patient with those mistakes too. These mistakes aren’t just little either, they’re huge mistakes that are so obvious that I feel embarrassed. Like chucking the ball out of bounds and turning the ball over play after play. When I was at the varsity level, the expectation was set high. I was a sophomore at the time playing with a multitude couple juniors and a dominating senior class. I was able to experience what a talented varsity team looks like my sophomore year. Fast forward two years and seeing what our team looks like now frustrates me. It seems no one can take care of the ball except me sometimes. It feels like playing basketball with middle schoolers sometimes. The frustration in my head grows louder and louder. I committed though to lead my team. As I said, that means leading the attitude of the team too. So I keep my calm to the best of my ability and I try my best to be patient with the fact that we’re going to make some bad mistakes. Even though we may not win that many games, I’m not playing just to win. I’m playing to have fun, work hard, encourage a young team, make their future successful, and better those around me by being an example.

Losing is never fun for anyone on the team, and I hate it just as much as anyone else. I’ve realized that being patient brings peace of mind and humbleness. Knowing that there are plenty of teams who are better than you, and have more skill than you. I only have a little amount of time until my time playing basketball is over. This struggle and frustration aren’t worth ruining the sophomore year of many of my teammates. I can’t fix the team as a whole, but I can be patient with the fact that they will improve. I’m thankful for my team and the opportunity I’ve had to play basketball. I can’t wait to see how far these boys will go in years to come.

“Frustrated Jack” by romec1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.