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I have not played organised basketball in around 18-20 months because I told myself I quit the sport. Going into this game I was not nervous as all because I had no expectations in terms of how well I will play. Throughout those 18-20 months I have probably done a little shooting around and I remember it being almost impossible for me to make a three point shot.

I remember right before this first game, even before warm up I decided to shoot around a bit and see where my current skill is at. Most of my basic fundamental skills are still there, I can still dribble the ball with my right hand and somewhat with my left, I can make a basic layup, and still do strong passes, but something which takes a lot of technique and practice such as my shooting has gotten a lot worse. Probably after about 10-15 minutes of messing around I randomly made a three pointer which caught me off guard. I guess the natural muscle memory took control and I made 2 more three pointers which really caught me off guard making me gain confidence in my shooting which I have never had.

In the past, I was known as one of the worst shooters. My form has always been off, in general I was just not the best shooter. It always felt forced every time I would shoot the ball rather than letting it flow naturally so that is mainly what messed my shooting up. Due to the long period of time not actually shooting the ball I guess I went back to how I naturally shot with my body mechanics and so on which caused me to actually make 2 in-game shots which were contested. I did in the end miss another 3 shots very badly which caused my dad to tell me to stop.

I also realised I lost a lot of confidence in terms of getting to the basket and trying to make easier shots such as a lay-up or floater which in the end did cost us the game. Most of the game we were up ranging from 5-10 points but towards the end we lost by 2. Our team was split into 3 groups, the amateur/really good players, those who can play the sport for both fun and recreational, and lastly those who just want to play in the league but don’t exactly play the sport. Each group playing for 4 minutes in a quarter which lasted 12 minutes each. Due to myself still being a student playing against older, stronger full grown men, I am put in the lower bracket and the middle bracket. This caused my team heavily relying on me to carry the lower bracket while being a support player in the middle bracket. My team was heavily relying on me to make some valuable shots, due to me being younger, faster and more skilled compared to my on-court teammates. I mainly was a runner to move the ball up during transitions when playing with the middle bracket and I was one of the scorers in the lower bracket. Because I was in the game for 32 minutes out of the 48, and also being the main runner, I was not exactly conditioned to do a lot of short sprints throughout that amount of time. I am mainly a long distance runner so sprints aren’t exactly my thing. By the end of the third quarter, I was struggling to run and by the fourth quarter, I was lying down and walking every opportunity I had. At one point I felt like I was going to faint out of sheer exhaustion.

I guess I have to work on my conditioning.

Since I was in 8th grade, I have been playing for the basketball league my dad has been playing in since I was little. In middle school I used to play a lot of basketball especially in 6th grade where I lived and breathed the sport. As time went on, I started to drop out of the sport as I lost interest and by 9th grade I actually quit the sport. Although my father still signs me up every year for our local basketball league.

This recreational basketball league is mainly just for local filipinos who are looking to play basketball with other filipinos. I honestly find it quite interesting because sometimes my parents introduce me to people who I have never met before but they knew when they were still kids. At the same time the experience of playing against people who are a lot bigger, stronger and definitely a lot better than I am. Actually some of the younger players there are amateur basketball players which I find pretty cool. Since I don’t exactly play basketball anymore except during the part of the year when my dad signs me up for the league, I am not that great as I used to be. With some amateur players being in my team, they teach me a lot about how to play the sport from their perspectives by giving me tips.

The main reason why I stopped playing basketball or any sport in general was due to my mental health dipping which made me lose interest in anything. As someone who was obsessed with basketball, running and playing video-games, I never thought I would stop. It was actually not until the start of this school year is when I started getting back into the groove of things because I am not going to get out of this rut unless I do something about it.

On the very left, is my first year joining Fastbreak Basketball around 6th or 7th grade around when I first started playing basketball. The other 2 images is my first year joining my father’s basketball league in 8th grade when I was old enough to join.