For the Love of the Game.

Four years of essential conditioning that would leave our young bodies aching for days. Four years of learning how to play the game. Four years of being the underdogs and never, ever, wanting to give up.

* * *
The bumps of the ball against my fingers as I turned it over and over again in my hands preparing for a free throw. The squeaking of shoes against gym floors as players guarded their zones or person. The gentle swooshes of basketballs against nets. The huddles during time outs.

I miss playing ball.

Conditioning. Drills. 3-point shots and free throws. Left hand dribbling and lay-ups. Cherry pickers and suicides. Fast breaks and full court presses. Boxing out and rebounding. 1-3-1. 2-3. Man-on-man. Defense, defense, defense. Eyes on the ball! Look for your teammates! And gallons and gallons of water.

I miss GIWU.

I remember as if it were just yesterday when we would wake up at the crack of dawn just to get to the courts before other teams so we'd have an extra hour or two to practice. Gas prices were cheaper. No bills or student loans to worry about. No 9-5's. And the most important thing in life was youth group.

I remember the defeats that always left me discouraged and hopeless. I remember sprinting down courts in desperation, feebly attempting to stop the other teams from dominating us once again. I would tell myself that I would never touch another basketball in my life but as soon as the next game started, all self doubt was eliminated. It was a second wind of sorts. Isn't that what love is about: thinking you should just give up because you can't win but once you're head to head, you realize that you're in it for the good and bad? And that it's part of the growing process. You'll win some, you'll lose some.

And we definitely lost a lot.

But that didn't seem to matter to me. I just liked running back and forth on the courts with my team. We breathed and lived basketball. We nurtured that love for the game. We were bonded by the love of the game. We'd play anybody and anywhere. We may have never placed in the leagues but we always learned from our mistakes. We learned from one another. We grew as a team united in we went through scrimmages, pick up games, tournaments, and leagues, never placing, but always learning from our mistakes.

I miss loving the game.