Personal Narrative Essay: Why Did I Start Playing Basketball?

Just Like Yusuke
Mahiro Fukushima PD4-5

“Do you want to play basketball?” That was a question that changed me. Since that day, I’ve been playing ball for 5 years. I sometimes wonder, “What would I be doing right now if I didn’t start playing this sport?” I remember the first day I met someone that played basketball, and was interested. I was in second grade, in Japan. I didn’t play any sports. I wasn’t athletic or tall. I had been thinking about playing a sport, but the decisions were between soccer and baseball. Then, one day my classmate, Yusuke Kudo, came up to me and said something shocking. “Do you want to play basketball?” he said. Basketball wasn’t a popular sport in Japan. I knew what “basketball” was but I didn’t know if I was interested in it. “I don’t know... I’ll think about it.” I replied. The next day, I went up to Yusuke and said, "I think I'll give it a shot." After school, Yusuke and I went to his team's' practice. When I got there, I was startled at what I saw.
People were running around the gym, doing pushups, situps and 100 dribbles. I could hear the loud bouncing sounds of the orange balls and feel the whole gym shaking. There were 2nd to 6th graders. As I was worried about what I just saw, the coach came up to me and greeted me. "Hi, I'm the coach of this team! Nice to meet you." The team did their ordinary handling and shooting drills for warm up. I was very excited to be on the team, but was also very nervous. Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum. I could hear the sound of my heartbeat. I didn’t get to practice with the whole team because I was new. I was practicing my dribble in the corner, when the coach yelled, ¨Everyone come to the center! We’re playing a scrimmage.¨ I was on the same team as Yusuke, the red team.
Am I ready for this? I asked myself. I just started playing basketball and the only thing I knew was how to dribble. The game started. My teammate tipped the ball to Yusuke. He dribbled once and went into his shooting form. Yusuke held up the ball in front of his face and released. The ball made a perfect arc and went into the basket without touching the rim. Swish! “Nice shot!” the coach yelled. The next possession, Yusuke stole the ball and passed me the ball. “Shoot!” he screamed. So, I shot. The ball went under the basket and bounced. “Dang it.” I said under my breath. “Nice try!” Yusuke and coach said. The game went on. Red would score, then, white would score, and so forth and so on. The score at the half was 15-14. It was tiring. My body was yelling at me, “Stop moving!” But it was also thrilling. It felt good when the ball was in my hands, when I dribbled, when I shot. I wondered how it would feel like if I actually made the
shot.
The second half started. Our team got the ball. The ball swung from one side to the other. Then Yusuke got the ball. He dribbled, crossed over, and passed me the ball. I felt like I was the only person on the court. The gym was quiet. It was a battle between the basket and I. I set the ball on my shoulder, then raised put it high above. Then, I released. My follow through was perfect. The ball was in slow motion. It slowly spun and made a fantastic arc toward the rim. Suddenly, I heard a Swish! The ball went into the basket. Everyone was on the court again. I can hear their voices going, “Good shot!” “Nice job!” “Congratulations!”
When I reflect on all the years and hard work i have put into this game, I can’t help but wonder where I would be without it because basketball is the love of my life. From this sport, I have learned many things. First, friendship. How you have to work with your teammates to get the glory. Second, perseverance. How you can never give up even at hard times. Last but not least, leadership. How you have to be a leader to become a winning team. With the help of basketball, I am able to become a better leader, better competitor, and better learner. I want to keep playing ball until the last buzzer of the last game of my life sounds.