One Last Ride

Something about this picture...💭 I’m not really sure how to explain to someone who hasn’t played collegiate basketball just how tough it can be. It has hands down been the hardest thing I’ve gone through in my life not only physically, but mentally. It’s flat out draining. From school to practice to weights to film to team meetings to traveling, it can be overwhelming & exhausting. But I’ll tell you all one thing, it’s taught me more about life, what being apart of a team means, how to overcome challenges, and what hard work looks like more than anything else ever will. It has brought me so many amazing friendships, memories that will last a lifetime, and coaches that I will always look up to as role models forever.

Basketball has shown me physically just how capable our bodies really are. I’ve learned that my mind will give up & tell me to quit before my body ever will. Running 20 suicides in 20 minutes is more challenging mentally than it is physically. My mind, every time I run it, tells me to stop, that I can’t possibly make one more suicide. That I can’t breathe or that my legs are gonna give out. But I’ve learned over the years to ignore that & listen to my body & push through until it’s over. When it’s the fourth quarter with two minutes left & my mind is telling me I’m exhausted, just take one play off, my body pulls through & sometimes I have no idea how it does. Basketball has shown me just how amazing our bodies are & how much they are capable of even when our mind is trying to tell us different.

Before college basketball, I thought I knew what mental toughness looked like, what it felt like. But after learning freshman year how to adjust from high school basketball to college, playing through three seasons, and going through a brutal concussion last year, I’ve realized just how little I knew about mental toughness at the beginning of my journey & just how much of it you need to be successful not only in this sport, but in life. It’s easy to listen to your mind that you are tired or that you can’t possibly do one more down & back. It’s easy to not get extra shots up after practice & say you’ll do it tomorrow. It’s easy to take a play off & not play defense for one possession. But that right there could be the reason your team could lose a game. Take one play off with one minute left in the game, you decide not to box out because your mind is telling you you’re too tired, your player gets the offensive board...there goes the game that quick. Mental toughness is not easy, but like I have heard time and time again, nothing worth fighting for ever is.

I’ve learned that mental toughness has a lot to do with how we face adversity and basketball has taught me how to overcome adversity, either rise to challenges or let them defeat me. If they defeat me, how will I respond? Will I feel bad for myself or will I refuse to let it happen again and put in the work to be better? I choose the latter option. I’ve learned it’s much more rewarding and satisfying to rise to the challenge and if I am defeated, put in the work to come back better than before. Giving up is never an option. This can ring true in other aspects of life, not just basketball, but I’m thankful to have learned through basketball how I will choose to face adversity in my future.

Basketball has taught me how to show up every single day and compete even on days where I don’t feel like it at all. I’ve learned that I don’t have a choice because someone else out there is doing it and if I half ass it they win that day. Someone else out there is always doing more. You just have to decide if you want to be that person or not, even on days when you don’t want to.

With all that being said, I’ve done a lot of reflecting this year with my senior season being cancelled due to Covid- 19. Do I take the extra year of eligibility, do I not? Do I move on with my life or do I play one more year & work towards a masters? Do I go through another year of ups and downs, long days, and physical & mental exhaustion? And my answer is hell yes. All of the good times, memories and life lessons I’ve learned from this sport out way all the hard parts about it. Some may think I’m crazy and honestly I am 😂 but I refuse to be done forever and end my career because of these unprecedented times. I’m going out on my own terms. See you next season for one last ride ✌🏻