Shotgun Summer

My Summer Writing Project

I was 15 when I began to take basketball seriously. I mean serious in a, play it everyday kind of way. I've always loved it and played a couple times a week and followed the NBA but it wasn't the thing in my life. There wasn’t an urgency for me to play. Basketball was just another thing in my life along with friends, video games, and school. It made my heart burn but didn’t set it on fire.

This changed when a basketball academy opened up. I went every day I could, which soon became every day. It didn't matter if there was 20 other kids there or 5, I was there. After a few sessions a coach gave me a questionnaire to fill out. It asked me how often did I play, what my goals were as a basketball player, and what was my greatest strength and weakness. I answered that I played 3-4 times a week, to be honest it was more like once or twice. I said my goal was to be a great high school player, when really I didn’t have any goals, basketball was just something I did. I told them my greatest strength was shooting and my greatest weakness was physical strength, in hindsight I should have said my greatest weakness was a lack of aggressiveness.

One question that has been on my mind the past few weeks is, “Are you someone who plays basketball or are you a basketball player?” I knew I was lying and circled basketball player. I wasn’t but I knew it’s what I wanted to be. The question shifted my view on basketball and I am better for it.

I’m not making a comeback with basketball. However, this raises a different question in my life.

Am I someone who writes or am I a writer?

It’s time to earn my stripes and put a dent in my 10000 hours. Everyday this summer I will be posting something. The plan is to write at least 1000 words each day. That’s 103 days and 103000 words at least. Welcome to Shotgun Summer.