It's that time of year when Christmas music is played on an endless loop, hats and gloves are pulled out of hiding and everyone is wishing for summer again. It also happens to be the start of basketball season, and for someone who used to play, it's a sad time.
I played volleyball and basketball in high school, and while I loved volleyball far more, there was something different about basketball that makes me miss it almost more than I miss volleyball. I played freshman year, and then took a two-year break (which I regret) and played again senior year, which had me falling in love with the sport all over again.
Now that I have been out of school for almost three years, I can honestly say that my days as a student-athlete are what I miss the most about high school.
So, in the spirit of basketball season, here are my top five reasons for missing basketball.
1. Practices
Now, I know that some of you are going to push back on this one. I would have too when I was still playing, but there's something about a good practice that you just can't beat. The moment when you've finished what feels like a hundred sprints (without throwing up) makes you feel amazing. I have never worked as hard as I did in the gym pounding out sprints, working on nailing my footwork or banging out shot after shot. I actually almost miss it, because after every practice I knew that I had given my all, and that was an amazing feeling.
2. Warm-ups
This might be an odd one to some people, but I loved pre-game warmups. The anticipation of the game building inside you. The knowledge that you could make this game whatever you wanted it to be. There was no worrying about what mistakes you made last game; it was a clean slate. My team always played a sound clip from Lance Armstrong, featuring the quote above, and it never failed to get me motivated. We had 32 minutes of play time to leave it all out there on the floor, and warm up was the time to get your head in the game (pardon the "High School Musical" reference) and forget about everything else.
3. Team= family
I loved my team...for the most part. We fought and butted heads a lot, and a few times our coach stopped practice to yell at us for letting it get in the way of practice. And of course, we had moments where we all thought we were better than someone else, but when it came down to it we were a family. When we scrimmaged and the losing team had to run 2 1"6-60s" one after another, the winning team ran the second set with the losers because that's what teammates do. We lifted each other up when we had crappy days, and worked hard to make sure everyone got a chance to score during a game. We may have had our problems. And we may not have been best friends outside of basketball season, but during those few months, we were family.
4. Winning
This one is obvious. Everyone loves to win. But for my team, in particular, winning wasn't everything. Sure, we loved it, but we always placed doing our best above winning. It just happened that winning was a byproduct of that. I'll never forget the moment after one of our last games when we were all in the locker room, and our coach was in tears talking to us because he was so proud of us. Winning had never felt that good before.
5. Suiting up for a game
This final one is hard to explain, but there is something about having your jersey, with your favorite number on it and putting it on every game. It builds the suspense of the game. It unites you with your teammates and your school. It gives you a sense of pride to be wearing it. It made you feel like you were unstoppable. At least it did for me.
There are so many other things that I miss about high school basketball like bus rides, team dinners, pre-game pep talks, but these are my top five. They're the reasons that every year around this time I start feeling nostalgic about my high school days. For those of you riding the sidelines like me, I feel your pain. For those of you still playing, soak it all in and don't take a moment for granted.
One day you'll miss everything about it, even practices.
