I came out of school ball ready to start the more extreme, seemingly endless, and exciting season of basketball. The AAU season, were refs suck and the games are rough, I was just so ready to play hard and win. The school ball season had left me in a bad mental state and losing streak, I was ready for a fresh start. Joining a new, out of season team, and meeting new people was what I couldn't wait for. I was so excited as if I was a kid on Christmas morning. Playing the best I could along with my team to get the win was what I looked forward too. I tried out and got on the team but we had two sophomores, which meant we had to play up. In AAU there are age restrictions regarding older kids playing down age levels. They're using 13U, 14U, 15U, etc. as a way to show teams are for example 15 years and under. Playing on a 16U team at division 2 was a lot harder than I ever expected and it definitely challenged me mentally and physically.  

My team and I had our first tournament after only practicing together four times. I was nervous but excited to play. I felt as though in just that short time being with this new team that we were ready. I believed that if I played my best and did all I could we could win. That was the best mental state that I had about basketball in a while. I was soon shown that it would only get me so far, it felt like I was a car with only a quarter tank of gas left. Our coach had put us in a pool with 3 other teams, us being the last seed. She wanted to test the waters and see how we worked together in actual game situations. The very first game we won through a lot of sweat and lucky made baskets. Although we didn't play very well we still came out with a win and to me that's all that mattered at the time. As for the other 2 games, they didn't go too well. We soon saw how rivetingly rough yet relaxed these giant 16 years olds were. We ended up losing both of our last to games by 30 or 40 points. At the end of that tournament, I thought that we lost because we're playing up. From there, I concluded that we will get better and win the next tournament so it didn't matter.

Next our 2nd tournament of the season. We had only two practices in between these two tournaments. I thought I was working so hard and improved so much in such a short amount of time. So by the time it came to our next game I was so ready to play. I had a motive to be mean and malicious. To score and hear my mom yelling, assisting to one of my teammates, and overall finally get the win I wanted so badly to have. Again things didn't work out so well as if all odds were against us. The first game we lost by around 30, I was very disappointed. The 2nd game we played a division 1 16U team that had decided to play down. They were a team we haven't ever gone against. They had an over 6-foot giant that took anyone down in her path. The rest of them averaged my height with only the average speed of a bullet. In all we just couldn't keep up, we were Coyotes and they were Road Runners. In conclusion, we ended up losing by about 80.

I remember my coach was so furious to the point where you probably could have seen smoke coming out of her ears. She told us that ¨we are not a team because teams play together and that we have to play for each other¨. She then said ¨if you guys don't want to do this together then we can quit this program. Basketball is a team sport you have to play together, there is no reason why you lost to that much. If you don't want to listen to me and work together as one, then we can quit and I´ll give your parents a refund. Think long and hard and come with an answer tomorrow¨. That night I did exactly what my coach said and thought about if I really wanted to do this and if it was really worth it. Little did I realize that this small part of my life taught a much bigger lesson.

This was a realization moment for not only my teammates but especially me. During school ball, I played for my team and worked hard. It wasn't good enough which is why my mindset had changed. I just wanted to win a game and was sick of losing all the time. I then started playing for myself and thought that if I played well, scored, and did the best I could we could win. I soon learned that wasn´t the right mindset to have either.

Furthermore, I have never lost a game by that much in my entire 8 years of playing basketball. From there, I knew what the right mindset to have was. You have to play for yourself and your team. Take the shot when it's open and pass when it's not. You also need to know and communicate well with your team and we weren´t. We acted as if we were new players clueless to that fact that this sport takes teamwork, which hurt us in the long run.

I was so focused on playing for myself, wanting to win, and scoring that I didn't even look to see if my teammates were open. It didn't matter if I was being doubled teamed or not. This time I was the giant knocking everything down in its path. I had the determination to score even though my teammates were wide open on the other side of the court, but at the time I didn't care. I now know how to use that determination to benefit not only me but also my team. I can be ready to play and look to score but only when it's open. I can start communicating and talking more to help us on the court. All working as together as one in a rhythm as if we were a song. In all we can now practice hard together and play hard together.

I also realized that you can lose and still win. Yes, we may have only won one game out of a total of three tournaments, but we're getting better. The last tournament I had was our 3rd one of the season. We had come out with a new mindset of basketball and were ready. The first game we played so well. We had good passes, looked for each other, rebounded, and finished strong. I also had many assists, scored a lot, and was even aggressive enough to foul out. In all, we still lost but that's okay because we improved so much. We played as a team and worked together as a team. That was probably the best game we played all season. This tournament proved that we are a team and can learn from our mistakes. Yes, we have lost most of our games but we went from losing to 40, 50, and even almost 80 points. To only losing all the games by less than 10 points and even our very last game by 1 point. My mindset about basketball had changed so much and I am ready to succeed and play hard for not only myself but my team.