Practice and Love

I remember when I was a young boy running up to the local Hefner Dairy store with my buddies to get candy or packs of baseball cards. I remember rounding the corner of that old square white building and preparing to go in, when a slick looking, bright silver trans am pulled, it had shiny rims and t-tops and was immaculately clean.
The door swung open and my jaw dropped to the floor, I was only in about the fourth or fifth grade and the young man who got out towered over me. I was in awe. Jason Good the local high school basketball star, stood in front of me. He was tall and slender and had a confident control about his demeanor. I remembered going to the local Elida Fieldhouse home of the Bulldogs with friends and watching him play. He would excite the crowd and dazzle them with his array of long 3 point bombs and silky smooth drives to the basket. He was only about 6'3, but to me he was a giant. Occasionally he would even get in the lane and throw down a thunderous slam dunk. The crowd would go beserk.
Here in front of me stood the Jason Good. "What's up fellas?" he said as went through the glass door. I can remember the clanging of the bell on the door that day, I even remember the bottle of Squirt he pulled from the cooler. I was in love, no, not with Jason Good but the way he played basketball. It almost seemed to make him superhuman.
As he was walking out my friend Trevor, who was slobbering on himself as well, mustered up the courage to speak."J,J,..Jason, how'd you get so good at basketball?" The all-conference off-guard and our hero looked at us dead in the eyes and our world seemed to stop. "Practice, boys, lots of practice." he answered and climbed in his car and sped away.
That thought and that day probably would be considered just like any other day, but for this Northwestern Ohio boy from Gomer, Ohio it was one of the best days of my life. The words practice echoed through the halls of my life from that day forward. In basketball or anything else in life if you want to get better, to be the best you have to PRACTICE!
Practice is not only about mastering a skill, but mastering yourself. There will be many hurdles along the way to becoming the player you want to be, but always remember if you keep working and keep your eyes on your goals, you will succeed. Coaches may not recognize your work, others may be jealous of your work, but worry about only one thing...Making your opponent pay for all that hard work. When you are on the floor, play with passion and with a love for the game. I ve played my entire life at different levels remembering the way the game I love made me feel that day...Don't ever lose your love for the game!Let your love for it drive your improvement and love the game back. How? you ask...by Practice