I’ve been playing basketball since I was about 10. I started off playing for the local club teams in my area. I lucked out and had a really good coach when I first started playing his name was Coach Q and he taught me the fundamentals of basketball at a very young age. I played for him for a year or so, then his daughter and myself started playing for a club team out in another town called Winslow Township. That’s when I really started to grow as a player. My coach then was Coach Denise, hands down one of the best coaches I ever had. Sometimes he could be rather… crazy and a little erratic. I remember one time he almost fought one of the coaches we were playing against. But he was just so passionate about us and about basketball that we didn’t really care. Like him getting into fights with refs, other coaches, or even parents sometimes, it didn’t really bother us as players because he had our backs. During practices he would be on the court playing with us, being aggressive, forcing us to get outside of our comfort zones. The drills we would do would be so fun and competitive, that definitely helped shape a lot of us at a young age as players. I played for that team for about 3 years. We were so good. One season we went undefeated other years we always finished at the top. That’s where I met on of my best friends till this day, Jada. Her, Coach Q’s daughter, and I then moved on to play for AAU basketball.
We played for a team called Ring City based out of north Jersey. Every weekend our parents would drive us 2 ½ hours to practice, it was definitely a commitment. That’s where I met another honourable mention, Coach Walter Welsh. He had to be one of the best/scariest coaches I ever had. I remember one practice having a ball pegged at my chest because my hands weren’t up and ready to catch the ball and I wasn’t paying attention. I remember getting cussed out at practice for not using my left hand then being told I better not cry… The man was super scary but he shaped me into the player I went on to be. He thickened our skin, because after him there was no coach I had that could get under my skin or shake me. Because I had already been shook out by the best! Like till this day there’s no coach or even person really that could yell at me or I guess you could say…. “be stern with me“, that would ever bring me to a breaking point.
Any who, first workout I went to with Ring City was actually a try out but a lot of us didn’t know. Next thing you know I would be told I made the team and that was my new team. Ring City was a new organisation and we were their first team. The team was owned and operated by retired NBA player Ron Harper and his wife Maria. I played for ring city from ages 13-16. They were some of the best/intense basketball years of my life. We started off rocky, but once we got a flow as a team no one could beat us. We went to tournaments all over the country and really made a name for ourselves. I remember one tournament in Tennessee playing in front of over 50 college coaches. It was very intense but it had some really great moments. We were a family. Over the years things started to fall apart and a lot of us walked away from the team our final AAU years but we all ended up at Division 1 basketball programs on full scholarships.
Playing basketball in college had its ups and downs, it seemed like more downs then ups. No one or nothing prepares for your first year as a D1 student-athlete. I remember calling and crying to my mom at least once a week about wanting to quit and come home. I struggled in every aspect, from school, to basketball, to my relationships with my teammates, to my relationship with my coach. Its a lot for an 18 y/o who’s leaving home for the first time and dealing with all that essentially alone. Luckily I had one of my best friends/ teammate at the time to help me through the transition but it was still a lot. In the end obviously I stuck it out, I walked away with a degree and no debt. I walked away a stronger person because of it with skills that transfer into the real world. When people ask me the question of “would you do it over again” I used to think no absolutely not. And a part of me still sometimes thinks that. But now that I am a full year out from playing D1 basketball and I’ve had time to really reflect on those 4 years…. I think I would do it again. Like I said it had its ups and downs, more downs then ups to the point I never wanted to play basketball again… but it’s gotten me this far which is pretty far than most can say.
I will say though, now in this lifetime, I probably won’t play basketball again after I leave Ireland. I think it’s great some of my fellow scholars are having a ball (no pun intended) with basketball and some really got to have the love for the game again but… I can’t say the same for myself. This year only further showed me that this isn’t something I love anymore. This isn’t something that brings me joy/makes me happy. And I’m at an age/point in my life where…. I no longer have to do anything that I do not want to do…So I will no longer put myself in a situation where I have to force myself to do something I don’t want to do.
Basketball, it’s been real. You will be missed. But I have to say goodbye for good.
