I started playing basketball at a very young age because, of course, I wanted to be like my big brothers and do whatever they were participating in. So, I started at around 4 years old. I vividly remember being on a beat-up community court and stealing the ball from my own teammates because they would not pass it to a girl. Yes, I was the only girl on that team, and no, I did not do anything useful after stealing the ball. I just shot on the other team’s court. From that moment on, basketball just kept becoming a more and more prominent piece of my life until it eventually consumed me.
You see, when I tell you I was obsessed with basketball, I am not exaggerating. I mean, I spent every season of the year playing basketball; I probably never took over a three-week break. I played for years on end. Looking back, it wasn’t because I loved the sport. It was because of the expectations of others, mainly my middle school and high school coach. To put it simply, my coach was the Abby Lee Miller of basketball. She was no televised hotshot, but she definitely did pick a favorite and drain the life of out them until she moved on to the next player. And I can confidently say that she was one of the main reasons I began hating a sport I was once so committed to.
This feeling was not unique to me. I watched my fellow teammates increasing loathe coming to practice. I watched so many of them quit only to be drawn back in with the fake promise that things would get better and that Coach would stop putting so much pressure on us. Ultimately, I became one of them, and I eventually had to walk away from the sport. Even with the constant anxiety of going to practice building up every night, I kept playing because so many people expected me too until I eventually injured myself and had no choice but to stop playing. So many high school athletes go through the same experience: something they started out for fun and to meet new people creates so much pressure that they are forced to walk away. Or worse: they injure themselves to the point where they have no choice but to quit.
These high school athletes are still kids, a fact that I think most people completely overlook. Beyond that, they are full-time students, with pressure to keep a certain GPA to even be eligible to play sports. They commit nearly 15-20 hours a week to practice so that they can be ready for the games. Most of them aren’t in it for a lifetime. They aren’t looking to make a living out of it, but they are still crushed under an undeniably growing pressure. I feel like these are some really major factors that so many coaches and parents overlook as they critique kids for every little mistake every single day. High school sports should be fun. Yes, they should be competitive, and yes, athletes should be playing to the best of their abilities. However, it should never get to the point where one little sport completely consumes the life of these kids.