The Benefits of Playing Basketball

Deciding to play Basketball changed my life dramatically. I had never played a team sport before. Just working on the basics with my Dad helped me know where to focus my time. Playing this sport with him helped us to become closer. Before we started to practice together, we never really talked. He went to work early in the morning, and he came home late at night. I didn’t get to see him as often as I would have liked. By playing Basketball together, I got to spend more time with him, and he had something to do besides work. Playing Basketball from childhood up through high school will help you succeed in life.

Playing Basketball is a way to exercise, and to have fun doing it. Exercising is important in today’s society. I wouldn’t want to think that people might judge you on your first appearance, but they do. If you have a rounded stomach, and your legs have a jiggle when you move, then they might think that you are too lazy to exercise, or they might think that you just don’t care about your appearance. By playing Basketball, you can tone up your thighs and turn that round stomach into a washboard. Also, by playing Basketball you tend to crave slightly healthier food then what you might normally. I know I would rather have a small can of juicy, tart Mandarin Oranges than a fat and sugar filled Snickers bar. I am also more likely to get the nutrients I need from eating healthy, because I know if I drink a can of bubbly Mountain Dew at lunch time, I’m going to feel the decline from the sugar and caffeine by the time practice rolls around. Just by playing Basketball could create a life style change.

Playing Basketball can keep kids off the streets. The school that you would play for would enforce a contract for all of the student-athletes. This contract would enforce the no drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes to be used during the season, or the risk of being kicked off the team. By signing this contract the student-athlete has less risk of experimenting or getting addicted to these drugs. Also, most teams enforce a curfew. This curfew would keep kids off of the streets and out of trouble with the law. By playing Basketball, you don’t give yourself as many opportunities to make the wrong decision. Basketball gives people many opportunities to succeed. Statistics show that playing a sport raises your GPA. It also pushes these student-athletes to succeed in the classroom, because in the contract there is a passing rule. You have to pass all of your required classes to be able to play. The coach would check your grades, to make sure that you were passing, and if you weren’t he would make it so you were passing, by getting you a tutor or talking the teacher into giving you more help. Playing Basketball also opens up the opportunity to get a college scholarship to play Basketball. By getting this, you might be able to get into college for free. If you wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay for secondary education, than this would be an excellent option, if you were talented enough. Basketball can give you many opportunities to do well mentally.

How can Basketball help you socially? Basketball can give you many ways to meet new people. I made friends with a girl named Brooke, when I played AAU Basketball. I wouldn’t have met her if I didn’t play basketball. Another good friend I made was Becky O’Brien. She was from Greely. We’re still friends, and we write to each other all of the time. We met at a Basketball camp in Casco, Maine. By playing this sport, it can raise your confidence, because of the support you get from your teammates. When you play Basketball, you can travel to other countries to play, or you can play in the national championship. By playing in these tournaments, colleges can see you play, and the atmosphere is so much different than school Basketball. To get into one of these leagues, you have to tryout for a team, which will place in their state tournament. These leagues are called YBOA (Youth Basketball of America), or AAU (Amateur Athletic Union). I’ve played in both of these leagues, and they are both very competitive. Basketball can and will improve your ability to socialize.

Basketball can teach you many life lessons. It will teach you how to be competitive. This is important, because in the outside world, there are other people who want the same job as you, the same house as you, or the same boyfriend as you. By playing Basketball, you can learn to accept losing. It’s a given that your going to lose sometime. You may feel really bad about it, or you may keep going. By learning to keep going, you learn how to succeed in the real world.