Life is comprised of a series of learning profound learning experiences. On that stands out occurred last year in seventh grade. Two friends and I decided we wanted to try something new, to learn how to play basketball! We made that decision mainly because we wanted to do an activity together for the winter term, and seventh graders didn't have the option of doing the winter school play. We were very hesitant; only one of us had any experience playing basketball, and we didn't think it would be very fun to run up and down a court trying to get a ball in a hoop. Still we kept an open mind and began to learn how to play.…
After looking at the title of the poem “Ex-Basketball Player,” I assume it is about a former basketball player and his life now. After I read the poem, I find out that John Updike, the author, starts the first paragraph by describing a town. He tells about the trolley tracks and some of the stores, including a plaza and a garage. Then, the author goes on to introduce a character in the poem, Flick Webb, who helps in the garage in town. In the second paragraph, the author explains that Webb used to play for the town’s high school team, the Wizards. The author says, while scoring three hundred and ninety points, Webb was the best on the team. In the third paragraph, it tells how Webb now works in the garage shop. Sometimes he dribbles an inner tube around, but everyone remembers his past glory days on the court. As the poem comes to an end, bringing up the last paragraph, the author tells how Flicker Webb now spends his days. He hangs out at a luncheonette, plays pinball, and smokes thin cigars. Throughout this poem, there are connotations being used, an attitude portrayed, and a shift that occurs in the story being told.…
a seasonal basketball tournament. Carter discovers the progress reports filled out by the faculty reveal some of the students have been skipping classes and are struggling academically. Coach Carter initiates a lockdown on the gym, banning the team from playing until they improve their grades. Coach Carter is criticized by parents and academic faculty. The school board eventually confronts Carter who justifies his actions, explaining he wants to give his team the opportunity and option to further education so they won't resort to crime. Coach insisted that achieving a sound education is more important for the students than winning basketball games. In my point of view Coach Carters administration staff and basketball parents were disengaged. The parents did not have vision or hope for their kids,…
“The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy” by Bill Simmons, was a book only the Sports Guy could write. Save a few hundred pages for Simmons to inform the readers on how he became the basketball and Celtics fan he is today (hint: it was his dad choosing between a motorcycle and season tickets to the Celtics), why as a child he called himself Jabaal Abdul-Simmons, footnotes galore, his hatred for Isiah Thomas and Wilt Chamberlain, and many of the greatest “What-if’s” in basketball history. Other than that, Bill Simmons uses this behemoth of a book to indulge on his version of “The Secret” of basketball, winning championships, and gives his take on how the NBA Hall of Fame should be constructed. In a pyramid style ranking with five levels Bill Simmons has who he thinks should be where, as of 2009, and each level getting smaller and smaller due to the higher standard. It all ends with the 12 best of all time, sitting atop the pyramid like kings with Michael Jordan number one. Again there was no one other than Simmons to write this book. “You could dress me red, drop in into a Crips neighborhood, tell me that I have 12 minutes to start a high-caliber NBA conversation before somebody puts a cap in my ass...and I would…
1. Slam tries out for basketball at Latimer. Though Coach takes him to task for his attitude, he makes the team.…
Michael Jordan, a basketball superstar, once said: “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” We all are destined for something great. There are people destined to be an Olympian. There are people who are destined to win an Oscar or to star in blockbuster movies. But there are people whose steps lead to the making of basketball legends.…
It all began with a simple phone call one night after dinner. “Joe,” my father hollered up the stairs, “it’s for you. It’s Jackie, and she sounds upset.” As I came downstairs to pick up the phone, I was not happy. I was tired and had looked forward to a nice and quiet evening at home, not another stupid adventure with Jackie.…
I decided to advocate to the coach about my involvement in the practices as a player. As I walked into the hot and humid office of the coach, I waited until he was not as busy with his work. As the fan turned, he finally stopped what he was doing, “What’s up, Ariana?” the coach voiced. I explained my aspirations to play basketball. As I spoke, I watched his face, trying to get a sense of what he was thinking. After I stopped talking, I waited for his answer. He moved around as if it would help him figure out what to say when he knew his answer was…
We made the impossible, possible. Rated 8th out of 8 teams at nationals and ending up 3rd was crazy. Who knew the little town of Iowa Falls would have an all-star basketball team playing at the Target Center as incoming 8th graders? We knew we would face some hard competition, but we were ready for it.…
My first time playing basketball was kind of scary because i thought i sucked at basketball, but i wasn't going to be bad at all my coach said. He actually said i would be pretty good. My first game was a different story i had to face some 6 foot giant in the paint. We were all in 5th grade i don't know what they were feeding that kid. He was eating little kids or something.…
One extremely important activity outside of the classroom that has helped me grow as an individual is Church League basketball at my local YMCA. From the outside looking in this league seems to be a form of glorified pick-up basketball with referees and a scoreboard but there is so much more to it. Almost half way through my junior year my father convinced me to try out for the varsity basketball team at school in November to which I hesitated at first but later gave in and tried out only to be cut. At first I was upset because I had never been cut from a team and I was unsure of how to handle it and what to do with my free time. This prompted me to reach out to God and ask him for a sense of direction and purpose in this time of my life to which He responded with a friend inviting me to Church League basketball. Once I experienced a few scrimmages and practices I decided to commit to playing Church League and coming to all of the…
During one game of basketball I was making a lot shots. When I was running super fast and one of the players on the green team tripped me and then I slid on my back and on the back of our jerseys the numbers are like the grippy kind so then I go the biggest skin mark on my back and my spine was bleeding but i didn't know it until I got home. But during that whole game my back was hurting so I timed out. I Told coach to check my back because it was hurting the whole game.…
My heart won’t stop racing, I don’t know why and, My eyesight starting to fade away slowly like I had glaucoma. All the surrounding noise around me by the crowd had me going deaf, then I started to sweat from all the pressure around me like a morning workout. I was zoning out of nowhere, and then I started to realize I was nervous as heck. The crowd started to go wild when the announcers started to announce the starting five for each team. That’s the pressure I get every game I played that year of my freshmen year in my high school basketball games. I loved playing freshman basketball because the road trips we went to together. the thrill you get out of the games we played and lastly the team was like a family to me.…
The vibration of the basketball hitting the ground is the best feeling the world. Light was shining through the humongous windows onto the worn out gym floor like a flash light. The other teams jerseys were as red as a rose...and as red as the blood pouring out of my mouth. Thats a good story. I am here to tell you about it.…
Since its beginning over a century ago, basketball has evolved from a simple form of exercise with only a few rules to a highly competitive and complex national sport. Basketball was invented by James Naismith at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891 (Fox 11-13). It began as an activity for the “‘ball-game’ void” months of winter (Hanson 65), and Naismith had five standards for the game. He wanted a ball that could be handled by a player’s hands; no one was to run with the ball, and anyone could grab the ball from another player as long as the ball was in play. There was to be no personal contact, and the goal was to be raised from the ground. He created the idea and standards for basketball by combining certain aspects of American…