I have loved sports since as long as I can remember. To say there was a moment or time that made me fall in love with sports would be a lie. Basketball has always been my favorite. Not to brag, I’d like to think I’m pretty good at it. Others can vouch for me. It’s definitely one of my strongest suits. I enjoy the rush of the game along with the team effort. I like how fast paced it is, it gets the blood pumping. 

I grew up with an older sporty brother as one does. I always wanted to join in on the activities he was doing–I just wanted to be close to him. So, he taught me how to play his favorite games. He taught me how to play many sports, basketball being the biggest one. That’s something we still share a great love for to this day. We both played basketball growing up, until we didn’t anymore. Although, here and there we will have a quick scrimmage on the street. Some of my favorite memories of us growing up playing together is our indoor basketball games because of how rough they’d get. We had a plastic hoop up on the wall in our playroom. I loved to cheat by latching onto his back, refusing to get off, attempting to drag him to the ground as a tactic to try to slow him down from playing to the best of his abilities. We enjoy going to Celtics games together where we can share our passion and love for basketball with the rest of the crowd. 

Basketball helped shape the person that I am today because it taught me your family doesn’t have to be just blood. When you become part of a team, you become part of a family. You go through ups and downs together, you help one another grow and learn, but most of all you can turn to each other. Basketball also taught me how to be a team player and good sport. Winning isn’t the top priority. Sure everyone wants to feel good, big win. It’s important to keep in mind that at the end of the day it’s just a game. It’s about having fun and trying your hardest. It’s about putting in the work to get better. Playing a sport teaches you to push yourself past what you thought was your limit.