Project 1 Second Draft

Project 1

Tristan Garcia

ENC2135

At the beginning of my four years of high school I strove to find a sport that I felt most comfortable playing and one that I could stick to and have pride in. That sport quickly became basketball as I found I was good at it and just enjoyed playing it much more than baseball, football, or anything else I tried. As I made the team for the first time as a freshman I quickly learned what it meant to be part of a real team and what being a high school athlete really entailed. The moment you make varsity at my school they give you shoes, hoodies, shirts and socks as if you just won the lottery at department store. The gear also shined with our school colors, silver and maroon, being the foundation color for each piece of apparel. It was an awesome feeling, not because I was just getting free gear but because all this new clothes showed off the fact that I indeed made the basketball team. Each piece of clothing had our school name, Chiles, with an outline of a basketball in the background that broadcasted to the whole school what team I was a part of. I wore all that clothes everyday like it was my job. I found my teammates and I slowly forming or own posse, or for better words our own group of brothers. We practiced together, we walked on campus together, and we ate lunch together. Along with the fact that the entire team had matching clothes every day we went to school, it was evident that me and my teammates had officially formed our own clique in a sense on school campus. In high school, it seemed that there was always some form of group that people classified themselves in. The smart kids, the anti-social kids, and the athletes. Each group of athletes could even be classified by their team since depending on whether you were on the football team, or basketball team in my case that's all you ever hung out with. At first, we kind of just wore this clothes to look cool, and create our own identity as the basketball team. My coach was the one to stress there was a bit more to it than that. He knew each of us better than anyone, so there was no questioning his advice. He always preached how necessary it was that our chemistry not only stay consistent on the court, but off the court as well. And I feel that idea is what may be the cause for my team's inseparability. He also expressed how not only do we play for ourselves, but that we as a team represent the entire school and that is who we should be playing for. The logo we wore across our chest each day meant more than what we may have thought.

These ideas he kept trying to instill in our heads resonated with us more and more as we grew older. As a freshman, the intense practices and crunched time schedule made me almost regret even trying out. Trust me, every athlete has that quick thought of “what would it be like if I just quit and didn’t have to practice every day”. That mindset slowly began to switch when I started to look at as more of a privilege then a burden. Besides me there was only nine other guys on this team. Ten people out of 1,000 students. Coach’s words dawned on me, and the idea that we were a selected few, chosen to represent the many made me take things a little more seriously. We as a team began to idolize the fact that we could even have that Chiles logo written on our chest. No longer was I treating that basketball logo as something to make me look cooler, but more as a privilege that everyone else couldn't enjoy. Not everyone had the chance to play basketball in front of your school and represent that very name. It was beginning to become something I was very proud off. Me and my group of guys were more than just a bunch of people who played basketball and it became clear that we were playing for something a little bigger than us.

Being a part of something as simple as a sports team taught me many things about what it means to have a group of people striving for the same goal. Once it was my turn to take the role as the veteran, I approached my senior year hoping to lead the team of guys and set an example for those to follow. This was a challenge to me because I usually shied away from the spotlight and followed the ones above me. But once the cycle of leadership rotated to me, it was necessary that my voice be heard. Through trial and error I found myself slowly easing into the role, expressing my coach’s words to my teammates in a language I felt they could understand. I felt that although the end goal was always to get a win, that my team and I should play for the school we stood for regardless if we won or lost. I was always hesitant as to whether this position was right for me. There were times where I felt like I just wasn’t being taken seriously. I looked at it as a challenge, and strove to gain the respect I needed. I started talking more both off and on the court. I wanted my voice to become familiar more with my team, so following my lead would just become second nature. Communication is key to success, but the message I was trying to get across was more than just simple on court coaching. This opportunity taught me something I would have never learned without it. The best way to lead a community of people is to create a common goal that they can hope to achieve. There are many ways to go about this, but through my experiences I went beyond just saying that we need to win each game. Instilling the idea of something bigger like the logo of my school and what that represents allowed me to influence my teammates that they aren't just playing for themselves. I learned that we always played better when we felt there was more to lose.