Transcriber: Sarah M Reviewer: David DeRuwe
This object here taught me many valuable life lessons.
The experiences that I’ve had involving this thing,
a basketball, is a huge part of who I am today.
Playing basketball has interconnected me
to people and opportunities that have changed my life.
Not every experience was full of joy.
Some involve regret, only for me to learn from those decisions.
I will go through a series of events that involve playing basketball,
and then I will connect this to your life.
During the summer of 2015,
me and my brothers decided to go to Lose Park to play a game of basketball.
We were not good at basketball, we were not familiar
with the rules of the game, but somehow we were able to win.
Not only did we surprise our opponents, but we also surprised ourselves.
I wondered what basketball would bring to me from that time going forward.
Although the school year following that summer
would be my seventh-grade year, I didn’t have enough confidence
to try out for the basketball team until eighth grade.
I happily made the team.
The only problem is I never had the opportunity to play.
Well, let me state that differently.
I never handled the responsibilities that come along with being able to play
in a game.
Coming up to the first game of the season,
when I thought I could play, one look at my grades
brought me back to reality, as I was failing three classes.
I had terrible grades and terrible attendance,
not only for class, but for practice too.
After two games in a season,
I decided to quit playing basketball to focus on reviving my tanking grades.
I knew this decision would be beneficial
for me to improve my effort level in class.
Ever since then, the balance between these things has improved for me.
Through my years of playing basketball,
I’ve seen injuries and experienced injuries myself.
During the summer of 2019,
I experienced my worst sports-related injury.
As I jumped in the air to grab a rebound, I didn’t prepare myself for the landing,
and ended up rolling my right ankle,
and what I thought would be a sprained ankle
that would keep me from playing basketball for a couple of days
turned out to be a fractured ankle.
This injury kept me out of participation in athletics for eight weeks.
Normally, I would spend my summers playing basketball or running,
but without the ability to do either of those things, I felt empty.
Many of my social interactions during the summer
came from playing pickup basketball.
Not only can something that you enjoy be what connects you to people,
but you may also pick up a skill or find something else that you enjoy.
During my senior year of high school,
I started in an event in track and field called high jump.
Although it took me six years of track and field
to finally start doing this event,
the connection it had to basketball played a huge role in my jumping ability.
The movements involved in high jump were so familiar that it came to me naturally,
and I played a lot of pickup basketball
and became much more involved in athletic activities.
Sometimes I injure myself or tire myself out by overdoing it,
and let my teams for other sports down because of that.
I lacked responsibility for my actions by being careless,
and not truly focusing on my priorities.
Although I have a love for playing pickup basketball,
I noticed that I may have been overdoing my importance on the activity.
One thing that I enjoyed doing
negatively affected my life by taking me away from things that I found important -
a story we may all relate to.
I had to create a balance between basketball
and whatever else I had going on in my life.
Playing basketball gave me skills in leadership,
communication, and of course, basketball.
I made connections with people and organizations
that have helped me go further in life.
I’m incredibly grateful
that I was given those opportunities to have those interactions.
I’m growing as a person because of that assistance.
I met many great people along the way as well.
My coaches, friends and family,
teammates, and teachers all had an impact on my life.
My advice to you is fall in love with something connecting yourself with people.
Find a balance between that thing and your everyday life.
You may meet new people as well as create more opportunities
for yourself and others.
Connecting with people over something you enjoy
is how to enjoy connecting with people.
Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
(Applause)