What Does It Take!

(Submitted By: Malek Williams)

When you step on the court and play basketball, what do you play for? Yourself? Your coach? For popularity? A lot of kids step on the court and play for a more important reason then those listed. They play for the love of the game. Basketball is a tough sport to play because just like every other sport, it becomes political and then a business; no longer is it for fun or for the love, but it is to make a living. It takes a strong and mentally dedicated player to go through high school and college ball with the time commitment, the conditioning, and the extensive hours of practice. It is a life commitment to go through with higher levels of basketball, many find out that it is not what they want in life anymore and that is one of the toughest decision a hooper will ever make about basketball. Many feel the pressure to continue on and play, but don't stay true themselves and end up not happy doing something they lost love for.

So what do you do to avoid this? You make a decision. Am I going to give this my all and full commitment or am I going to slack off and think I can rely on athleticism or natural skill to get me to the accomplishments I am pursuing. Seems easy to do, but it is not, and this is where the line between true ambition and reality is drawn. The question is then asked: "How Bad Do You Want It?" If you set your goals for greatness then train for greatness, live for greatness, play for greatness, it will take more then just wishing to make it to the NBA or the NCAA it takes hard work, while others sleep, you should grind and work harder.

One thing that people do not realize that one of the worst feelings is when you look back on your life and say "I should have", there is no way to go back in time and change anything so give God your best  and work everyday on your game like it is the last.