Basketball

Basketball.

A sport I have been familiar with my entire life.

I first started to play it when I was eleven years old.

However when I reached secondary school I played it a lot less for the next few years. And in those few years I began to put on an extraordinary amount of weight.

When I reached fourteen I had become very unhealthy and lazy. I was extremely unfit and didnt have much interest in doing anything about it.

On one saturday afternoon I was at home and my Dad came home from the pub

His saturdays were simple, he woke up early and cooked breakfast for everyone. Read the papers while watching soccer AM, me and rory would always watch it with him. He'd then get ready to go to the pub with his friends and be out the house for 12.

He would then come home at about 5-6 and eat some dinner. Most of the time I would be in so id eat with him and watch a film and have abit of a talk with him.

However this saturday he came in and said he wanted to talk to me. He was always more honest when he'd been drinking. He said to me that he'd noticed how much weight id put on and that I need to start dieting. I remember being upset but at the same time I knew it all too well that I was overweight and needed to start doing something about it.

So then I decided to start playing basketball again at school, a lot of my friends played at break and lunch times so I started to play with them.

Once I started playing again I started to realize that I really enjoyed playing because it was so fun. It was exciting to actually be doing something with my time that I could focus my efforts on. I played everyday at school and then I would start playing after school everyday as well as everyone else. I would play on weekends all day saturday and sunday.

And within a year I had lost most of the weight without even realizing it. Starting to play basketball again had saved me from an unhealthy lazy lifestyle and it gave me a lot of confidence as well in getting out in the world and doing things with my time.

By the end of secondary school we had a solid group of people who played everyday and we always used to hang out in out free time. And we all stayed at school to start 6th form, and then we became the schools team and every week we would go to different school to play other teams. We always had a good time playing and everyone was always laughing about it.

Ever since then I have played basketball every chance that I get, I love playing it, its been a huge part of my life for the past 8 years and my greatest pass time. Its almost like therapy in a way, anytime im stressed out or upset about something I can always find solace in going to play basketball. I just forget about myself and immerse myself in playing for a few hours, and afterwards I feel much better and can think with a straight head again.

Playing basketball for so many years really got me interested in fitness and exercise. I thought why not try and do something with my life that revolves around it because I enjoyed it so much. And so when I was 19 I went to Cornwall college to get my diploma in sports fitness and coaching. And for 2 years I got to play basketball everyday whilst learning more about fitness and exercise, and I made some great friends there.

I'm now 22 years old and im in my second year of university studying sports health and fitness. I'm playing basketball now more than ever, I cant get enough of it, I had training tonight for 2 hours where I just get to let lose and play great games against my friends and have a good laugh at the same time. Then I come home drained, but at the same time really happy.

I cant imagine how my life would have turned out had I not started to play basketball.