LENG 111 – 11
Professor Patrick Doyle
November 7, 2012
Commentary

Growing up with Basketball

Basketball, which is a kind of famous sport, is sweeping the global and attracts more and more people now. For most people, playing basketball is so easy that it does not need broad playground and long running. It just needs a one over seventeen fields of football ground and basketry. Then you can have fun with it. But I think that different people have different understanding of basketball. A few days ago in the U.S. presidential election, people know that Obama does well in basketball, and that he is a left-hander. When a journalist asked him,” what will you take action in the sport such as basketball if you won the election campaign?” He said,” I think that sport is the same as politics.” That is Obama’s attitude towards sport. But for me, basketball is not just a sport for keeping healthy, and it is also a kind of spirit. In fact, the first time I learnt about it was an accident. I was eight years old when I was in primary school. And my school started to open up many “special teams” to enrich students’ campus life. There were basketball teams, Ping-Pong teams, martial art teams, music teams, athletics teams, and so on. When I heard this news, I was very happy because I was interested in martial art very much at that time. Although I was just a little boy, I knew that martial art is a part of Chinese culture, and it also can build our body. But it was unlucky when a teacher came to my class to register students, and I just wanted to join it and forgot asking whether he was in martial art teams or not. After three days when basketball team called me for training, I realized that I had made a big mistake. I told coach that I wanted to change a team. But he said you could not go to other teams until next semester. At that time, I was a little depressed. But now I make sure that thanks to the semester, I was in a basketball team, and it had a tremendous impact on my future life. The first time I was training with my teammates, I felt it was very boring. Everyone just got a ball and bounced it repeatedly. This was my first expression for one day that some unexpected thing happened. For giving us inspiring, Coach showed us some videos about basketball. And actually they were Michael Jordan’s videos. I was very shocked when I saw the videos. Every action that Jordan did attracted me deeply. They were different from the training we did every day. And when we asked coach, he told us those actions were shooting, laying up the shot and dunking. If we wanted to be a player like him, we must practice hardly. I did not know about Jordan at all, but I was really interested in his movements and I wanted to learn it very much. Looking back now, that was the beginning that I changed attitude about basketball and the beginning I tied my life to basketball. Then I came back home and looked for information about Jordan on the Internet. I learned that he was a super star in NBA. What’s more, he got the championship though he got bad ill. When he was in trouble, he never gave up. His story inspired me and let me know that once a person has a dream, he should keep on doing and never give up. My first purpose for joining the special team was building my body and keeping on my habit. But from the time I learned the information of Jordan, I had many new feelings about sport and basketball. It made me make a decision that I would not change team and went on basketball at next semester. In fact, not only the next semester, I left basketball until I left my primary school. During the four years, I just practiced the basic training as our coach said. I learned how to shoot and how to lay up the shot. Many times when I felt very tired, I remembered Jordan as well as his exciting story. And then I went on training, because I believed one day I would be a person like him. Then with a basketball dream, I went to middle school where I was busier than before. I needed to learn more classes so I had less time for basketball. But this did not matter that I kept on playing. During those six years, the experience I learned was not only basketball skills, but also realizing of life. Based on the hard training, I did better than many other students on basketball. So for one on one game, there was almost no person defeating me. But if it was three on three or more, I often lost. Sometimes I was very angry because I knew I was able to win the match. But the fact was that there were other people. I thought it was their fault that leaded to our losing so that I usually criticized them why they could not play hard. But every time I said to them, they all had no word to me and just went away. This made me more and more angry. Finally, they did not want to play with me. I did not know the reason and just trained alone as before. At that time, Jordan had left NBA. The super stars I also liked were Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. They were closed teammates in Lakers. I liked to watch their games because they were always wining at last. After seeing a lot of their matches, I noticed those two people matched the other very well. O'Neal controlled the paint and Kobe controlled the perimeter. It was really a good teamwork. Suddenly, I realized that it was my fault that leaded our match losing every time because I thought I was better than others so that I just played alone and did not pass the ball to teammates. In other words, I did not know how to work in a team. Then I knew how tiny I was. And then I went back to the friends we played together before and told them I had understand my short and wanted to play with them. Finally, we were good friends again and better. And from this thing, I made sense that how important the teamwork was. Since I contributed myself to our team and did not go it alone, we won a lot of matches. I also understood teamwork could improve one’s ability and also could cover one’s shortage. This was my thought in my little heart. Now it seems like that the thought educates me a lot. It reminds me that I should communicate with others more no matter play or study. That is because the power of one person is always limited. Then, I went into university. This time, the star was a Chinese—Yao Ming. That I respected him was not because he was the first famous Chinese Star in NBA. It was his strong spirit. In his basketball career, he did not compete against other players so much as himself. The reason was Yao Ming was a little different from other basketball star like Jordan or Kobe. These people had good talent for sport. But Yao Ming had congenital defect on his feet. There was something wrong with his arch of the foot. That was the reason he could not run quickly. However, in my eyes, Yao Ming was already great and was worth respecting. During my university life, I also got hurt many times, but compared with Yao Ming, it was nothing. Taking this thought, I went on with basketball. Now, I am in American university and have many chances to play with American people which I have never thought before. Because they are too strong, I am too weak and thin. But the fact is that I get it and work it better. This makes me more confident. Not only was it in sport, but also it was in study and life. From the first time I play basketball, it gives me so much knowledge and thinking. I regard it as a sport, a friend, a teacher, and so on. I know that, study is unending, life is unending, and my basketball is also unending.