Baseball Basketball
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In the Beginning
Where baseball was my sport of 'all work and no play',
basketball was my sport of 'all play and no work'. By that, I
mean that baseball was the sport that I was naturally good at and
excelled. I put all of my effort into going to the next level in
baseball. For basketball, I just wanted to have fun and
participate. I knew I didn't have the physical attributes (height)
or talent to advance past high school basketball. However, I was
very good compared to most players and I started my basketball
pursuits in middle school.
For baseball, I started playing organized competition at age 8.
For basketball, I didn't even try to play organized competition
until I was in middle school as a 12-year-old 6th grader. I had
played a lot of backyard and recreational basketball. In fact, I
spent a lot of time growing up at the gym my dad supervised and
played basketball there.
6th Grade
I was very anxious and excited to make the basketball team
as a 6th grader at New Providence Middle School. I remember
spending a lot of time practicing my lay-ups and free throw
shooting. There would be 2 cuts. I happily made it past the 1st
cut but for whatever reason I was cut when the team was announced.
I was pretty upset, but not too hard on myself because only one 6th
grade made the team and he ended up not making it next year.
7th Grade
The next year was different and I made the team as a 7th
grader. I didn't get a lot playing time on the varsity, but we
did have a JV team that gave me some playing time. The only time
I got to play varsity was in the last quarter whenever we were
either far ahead or far behind.
8th Grade
My last year of middle school was bittersweet. We had a
good team and I emerged early in the year as a starter. Later in
the year, though, a player who was ineligible the first semester
came back and took my position and I ended up going from starter
to never playing by the tournament. Our team won the tournament,
but under the circumstances I wasn't as excited as I should have
been.
9th Grade
My freshman year was fun. I spent most of the year as a
starter and when I wasn't starting, I was at least playing off
the bench. We ended up getting eliminated early in the
tournament, but it was still a good year. In middle school, I
played tentatively and I was scared to shoot the ball, but this
year allowed me to come out of my shell and play as I was capable.
10th Grade
During my sophomore year, I started to get very dewy eyed
with the prospect of playing varsity basketball. I went to the
Northeast versus Clarksville High School basketball game as a
freshman and the place was so crowed that they had to stop
letting people inside because of fire laws limiting the number of
people inside a gymnasium of our size. I went to that game and
barely found a place to stand because the entire seating
arrangement was standing room only. That type of atmosphere
easily motivated me to want to be an active participant at some
time in the future.
I made the junior varsity team and 11 spots were permanently
filled for the varsity. I didn't have a place on the varsity, but
after every JV game, the coach would pick 4 players to dress for
varsity based on their JV game performance that day. I ended up
dressing for the varsity game 75% of the time and then at the end
of the year I was given a full time position on the varsity for
the tournament.
If I was able to dress for the varsity, I rarely played. But, it
was thrilling to get into games if we had blown the other team
out in the 4th quarter or vice versa.
11th Grade
This was another bittersweet year that was very similar to
my 8th grade year. I started the season both on the varsity and
JV, but my goal was to move to full time varsity. Early on, I was
slated to play just as little varsity as I did last year.
However, in the first game of the season I scored a career high
27 in the JV game and when I was put into the varsity in the last
two minutes of the game because we had basically already won, I
quickly scored 5 points.
I fought my way into the starting line-up of the varsity by
playing just as I did opening night. I was having the time of my
life and playing better than I ever had in my life. I found
myself realizing the excitement I had imagined as a Freshman at
the Northeast vs. Clarksville High School game. Things went on
like that for a while until after Christmas when we rematched Ft.Campbell
and I started to allow myself to get caught up in the excitement
and pressured myself too much. I was reading my name in the
newspaper and just let things get out of perspective and played
nervous and performed poorly.
Toward the end of the season I went from starter back to hardly
playing at all. I had mixed emotions because I wasn't supposed to
ever do what I had done. But, it was very upsetting for me
because I had a taste of the glory I had dreamed of getting and
it was gone. To this day, the biggest crowds and most exciting
games I have ever personally participated in were during high
school basketball.
12th Grade
My Senior year was fun. I spent about the same time
starting as I did last year, but whenever I wasn't starting, I
was playing off the bench. We went undefeated in Districts and I
played a very key roll when we were down against Dickson at their
gym by 10 at halftime and I erupted for 11 points including three
3 pointers in the 2nd half.
Our post season effort was disappointing as we got upset early in
districts and played a tough 1st round game at regionals that
ended our season. But, high school basketball is some of the
fondest memories of my life. I feel very lucky to have played and
enjoyed the success I took part in.