As a child I loved the game of basketball. I started playing when I was five and I still continue to play it. I’m a little too confident sometimes when I play, always thinking I’m better than the rest. Call me confident or egotistical but I know that’s just the competitiveness in me. However, this past weekend taught me a lot about the sport and me as a basketball player. Every Saturday and Sunday I go to a nearby gym to play some games or work on certain skills that I need to improve on. The place is usually crowded but when I went in there there was only 5 other people. I assumed that since it was all star weekend, everyone was home watching the all star game. I realized the 5 gentlemen that were there were much older than I am, probably in their late 50s early 60s. I asked them if they were interested in a quick 3v3 and their quickly replied “yes.” My initial reaction was that I was going to school these guys because of their age and because I knew I had better stamina than them. But what I saw after completely blew my mind.
The other team had the ball first and one of the men drove in and quickly made a lay up. I couldn’t believe a man in his 50s could move that fast. When my team had the ball, it was quickly stolen by the other gentlemen on the opposing team and he shot a quick 3 pointer. Within the first minute of the game the score was 5-0 and the game was only up to eleven. The finals score was 11-6 and I could not believe we got crushed. After the game was finished I approached the 5 men and had so man questions to ask. Immediately I asked “how are you guys so good?” The men told me that they have been playing basketball together almost every day for the past 32 years. I thought I loved the sport but I couldn’t believe how much dedication these men had. I had a whole new respect for them and I even spent an hour or two learning new skills from them and getting better at different things. You should never judge someone by their age because what they can do will surprise you, that’s what I learned this weekend.
