ACCOMPLISHED

One of the most proud and satisfying accomplishments of my life was traveling all over the U.S. to play basketball. It’s not the NBA or anything, but AAU has given me great opportunities to travel and be a tourist but still take care of my business on the court. AAU basketball stands for Amateur Athletes United, and it has all different types of age and grade groups and divisions. I haven’t played all my life, but from 5^th grade to 11^th my skills weren't too amateur--if you ask me. AAU is where all the big dogs prove themselves as the most elite;  my team was no exception. We didn’t get paid but the free hotel rooms, room service, transportation and warm-up suits were a huge plus. You can’t go wrong with free, especially when all my coach asked of us was to BALL!

  

As I previously stated, I basically played basketball for about half of my life, and the whole time I was all over the place. But the most recent and vivid memory relevant to my biggest accomplishment was in the 10th and 11th grade years of my AAU basketball career. I remember 10th grade being so upsetting and enjoyable at the same time. My teammates and I played together since the 6th grade and we were ranked number 1 in the state. We were favorite to all spectators and we lived up to the hype. Our skills were so balanced; if one person could do something all of us could. If one person wasn’t so good at a specific attribute, there were 5 of us who were twice as good at that particular technique. We were the most dominant 15 men roster in our grade. I remember the coach being so stern and proud; he never let us slack. "We will be here all day, George, if you continue missing that shot," he said to me over and over every single day. If you were the best with your right hand, he wanted to see you use your left. If you were faster than everyone else, he would make you rely on your strength and vice-versa. That’s what I think made us play our best. I remember everyone respecting their curfews and being in their assigned hotel room when the coached asked.  The early morning practices hours before the games are unforgettable. I remember the bus tours and restaurants the whole team would go to in each state, enjoying the site-seeing and cultural food. It was so cool to experience that. I also remember all the wins we had too. Most AAU teams have a tournament based record. This means that your wins were based on how many tournaments you won or the places you came in after the tournaments. There were about 30 tourneys overall and we came first place in 25 of them, second place in 4, and once in third place. We either won by 50 or lost by 2...we were like the Kobe-and -Shaq Lakers. But we had about 8 Kobes and 7 Shaqs. Imagine all them on the floor…almost impossible to beat. The most upsetting thought of this entire memory was that we lost in the championships, which were in LAS VEGAS! We lost to some team from Georgia by 1 point. I will never forget that game.

  

11th grade was almost opposite. It was probably my most disappointing season because I ended up quitting for obvious and personal reasons. In 11th grade, I was tired of going to Handover, where I went in 10th grade to play basketball, so I found a team closer to home. It was the worst decision of my life. I hated the team. The coach was so laid back and only trusted players he coached before. And  being the new kid was horrible! The team was so cheap. The nice school buses or Coach Buses I had a year ago were downgraded to little rental vans. It sucked; 12 guys who barley went to practice and I were bunched up in little vans driving all over the country. And we actually had to pay for our own food on occasions. We lost the majority of tournaments and because the coach was so bad and I tried to "correct him" or "embarrass" him so much, I barley played. In fact, I only played when we were losing and whenever my individual performance got the team back in the game....on the bench I went. It was terrible. I was finally fed up with it all and decided to quit do to my lack of play time and other off the court issues.

It’s crazy seeing the differences between my seasons. I always wondered what happened. What made my career have a downfall? I remember all the celebrations running in and out the locker room with the thunderous roar of the people standing in the bleachers. Or that earth quaking imitation of people’s feet stomping “we will, we will, rock you…..rock you….”. I remember the boos and the laughter of the crowd after we lost. We would hang our heads down in shame. Nothing at the moment could change my point of view of the game. Once I felt like I was Kobe on the LakersLakers--like Luke Walton or Adam Morrison. My lack of confidence in my game  showed in all of my easy misses during “shootarounds” before the game. Or my jersey being all sloppy from relaxing and slouching on the bench. I remember giving the coach “the look” when the team was down by thirty or fifty. But throughout all that, I still knew basketball was all I wanted to do with my life, and all that summer after I quit the team I practiced 24/7 so I would never have to go through that experience again. I practiced to the point where everything was so natural the coach wouldn’t have any choice but to play me for the majority of the game. But throughout it all, I still have no regrets. That bench time ended up making me a better player whether it was my coach's intentions or not.      

Throughout my good and bad times in travel and basketball, I truly see this as my biggest accomplishment. If it wasn’t for basketball, I don’t think I would ever see beyond New England and I did multiple times. Just imagine traveling the nation and doing what you love. I had a college student athlete lifestyle already and I don’t regret any of it. One thing I think I would change would be the score of that game in Vegas. But I still enjoyed going to VEGAS, NEW YORK, VERMONT, D.C, NEW HAMPSHIRE, CONNECTICUT, MAINE, GEORGIA, FLORIDA, CALIFORNIA, NEBRASKA, MONTANA, DETROIT, CHICAGO, TENNESSEE, SOUTH AND NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH AND NORTH DAKOTA, PHILLY, TEXAS, ARIZONA, ETC, .