Battling to Become a Great Athlete at a Young AgeOn the court, Kevin was my basketball buddy. I didn’t have an older brother so he was the one who pushed me. We both took basketball seriously. We used to play two on ten during recess in elementary school. There were limited hoops and only two balls, so we approached everybody on the court and said, “We’ll play you all, two on ten.” They often agreed, at first snickering, but Kevin and I proceeded to win almost every time. He’d throw the ball to the hoop and I’d somehow catch it between all the defenders and make the layup.
In his backyard, Kevin had a slab of concrete with a hoop. On the weekends, we’d play one on one for hours. He would win some, I would win some, but we battled all day long. We lived by military-style sayings like, “pain is weakness leaving the body,” pushing ourselves to see how long we could go without water during the hot summer days. We never made excuses or complained. One of his best lines was, “It’s not what kind of shoes you’re wearing, it’s what’s in the shoes that matters.” (Editor’s note: After college, Kevin became a lieutenant in the U.S. Army.) This was how I was battling to become a great athlete at a young age. |
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