The game of basketball is just like life. There are some ups and downs you come across but you try to overcome them.With basketball you must practice to become better and with life you must also practice and prepare to succeed. Both carry the same life theme , of the ability to believe that you can be what you make yourself to be.
After my third game in the 7th and 8th grade Canisius high school basketball league, I got a letter from Mr. Randall the person that runs the best basketball camp. I was feeling provoked because we had just lost again and I really didn’t feel like opening it.My team this year lost most of our players from the year before so we were a rebuliding team besisdes fro my good friend Cam and I. Along with that we played the three best teams in the league. So my dad/coach told us that we were going to do most of the scoring, which got me worried because I was a pass-first kind a guy and I didn’t look to score a whole to last year. Luckily Cam did so I thought I could set him up with good passes and he could do most of the scoring, unfortunately I knew that wasn’t true. After about ten minutes of silence in the car my mom exclaimed “Jakob just open it maybe it will cheer you up.” A classic mom expression, but she made a good point, why not? I expected it to be a cheesy recruiting letter but it was an invitation to a camp held for the top 50 Wny middle school basketball players! Through our first three games Cam and I played fairly well so I thought we definitely deserved this. My dad and my brother didn’t really show much expression and just stated with little emotion “ Good job!” but my mom thought I was amazing and said I deserved this. The idea that the camp was only six days away scared me a little bit but I knew that I was prepared for it.

Saturday morning came and I was a little nervous but also prepared. Since my dad was out of town in Detroit it was just my mom, Jackson, and myself. Jackson brought his basketball shoes to almost every gym we’ve been to even if he wasn't playing, which is a great thing to do because you never know when there is a chance to play. The three of us piled into my mom’s car and headed towards Mckinley high school. The camp was supposed to be two hours long so I wasn’t expecting to be doing a whole lot. I was totally wrong. We first got to the high school and I saw my friend Cam walking to the door as well. We both said “ Hello” and just walked to the gym silently. I could obviously tell that he was just as nervous as I was . There was a clinic for basketball coaches before so we had to patiently wait . Finally the clinic ended and ours  got underway by just warm-up shooting.I was hitting almost every shot and I felt great. The I realized that Cam and I were like outsiders because all the other kids knew each other from AAU or just playing with one another before in the past. That fact made me wonder should I not be here and do I not belong at this level of basketball . my confidence answered those thoughts by saying “ NO!”, I can compete with these kids for sure.Abruptly, a whistle blew and coaches walked out to center court and motioned for the players to huddle around them. The assistant coaches talked for a short time about being disciplined and working hard, but eventually the head coach came in and exclaimed “Basketball isn’t just all about skills. Its about the ability to learn and be mentally tough.” Those words stick to me because they’re are 100% true. The camp started with stretching, let me tell you this wasn’t your ordinary stretch. If you went past the leader everyone had to do ten pushups, that happened about five times. My arms were hurting put some feeling into it and it was only 10 minutes into the workout! I was doomed. After that we ran and we ran a lot. We didn’t stop until someone who finished first could make two in a row. If I was fast that drill would be over much quicker because I was a very good foul shooter.After about 20 minutes of that we got a desperately needed break to recharge my dehydrated body. The rest of the clinic consisted of alot of fundamental stations from the coaches. I learned a lot of drills I never knew before and it definitely got me better as a player. The drills were mostly shooting drills but we also did a ball handling one and a defensive rotation one. When it was unfortunately over I realized that I became a mentally tougher man and a more developed basketball player.
This experience got me thinking that I can can really be a high level basketball player and focused young man.The ability to believe that you can be what you make yourself to be is crucial in life. That theme will self motivate me to do things that will work me towards a good future and life.