Are there times where you have felt down or too lazy? If so, go out and play some basketball. Watch as that feeling slowly fades away the more you play. 

          Teamwork. Teamwork is critically important and a necessary experience you need to have had at some point in your life, and basketball is an impeccable way to gain that experience. When you are on a basketball team, every single player is essential to win. It isn’t just about you, or one of your teammates. It is about five people working together to get the job done. It is everyone’s job on the team to think smart and be fast. You learn that as much as you are depending on your teammates, they are depending on you. Teams can bring people together in ways you never would have guessed.

           Remember, each team has to have five players on the court at a time. There are multiple different positions on a team. The names of the different positions are: point guard, shooting guard, center, and forward. These are each equally important.

          First, let’s start with the point guard. Point guards must be aggressive and fast. They do the majority of the ball handling and passing. If the game is going slow, the point guards are usually the ones who get the pace back to swift and active. The team depends on these guards to make the best passing decisions.

           Next, there is the shooting guard. The shooting guard is typically the best shooter and someone who can get the score to increase in a short amount of time. If they cannot get enough buckets flowing, then there is a chance that they may be taken out for a bit.

          The center is very vital, and ironically, can often act as the center of the team, keeping the team together like glue. They always play near the basket, and whenever needed they can jump up to get an easy layup. Due to that though, the problem is that they are a huge target for defense. “Don’t let the center get the ball!”  Since centers are almost always covered by defenders, centers have to be tall so that they can easily plow through the defenders and to the hoop.

          Forwards do what all the other players can’t at the moment. They run to get open, charge through defenders, help out the center, and pass back to teammates. Even if they aren’t shooting guards, forwards can be good at shooting. Even if they aren’t centers they can be great at rebounding. Their title may not be as palpable as the others, but they are still undoubtedly as important as every other player.

          One of the most common and effective ways that people improve their basketball skills is with their teammates. When a player sees that a teammate is heavily improving, it encourages them to do the same, partly so they don’t get left behind. Even just running with a teammate can be so much different from running alone. It helps push a person through if they have someone with them, as if they have the power of both teammates. When running suicides in practice (running back and forth on the lines of the court), it is part of the drill to not let your teammates get too far ahead of you, to fully exert yourself. Everyone loves some friendly competition; for example, to keep shooting until you are better than the best shooter on the team, hold a plank longer than anyone else can.                                           

           Another thing to remember is that your teammates and coaches will push you hard, but when there is no one there to push you, you have to be able to push yourself. The same rule applies to your teammates; it’s a job every teammate has to help their other teammates find their path to success, while finding your own as well.

           Basketball is for elite hard workers or people who are determined to become elite hard workers. That is one of the reasons basketball is so unique; there is always room for progress. Basketball can get you thrilled when nothing else can. You learn to play with teammates as one, to build stamina, and most importantly, play a sport where at the end of the day, you can say that you worked as hard as you possibly could.

-Cassie W.