One Year, My Basketball Team Lost Every Single Game

This is what I learned

Sports can teach you a lot about life. About teamwork, about group dynamics, about yourself.

I played basketball in high school. The Port Richmond Red Raiders. Four years. Junior varsity, then varsity. 1996–2000.

Throughout my high school sports career, this is what I learned.

Lesson #1: Work hard and you’ll make friends.

In my freshman year I entered school not knowing very many people. In order to make the basketball team, all aspiring players who weren’t returning sophomores had to compete in what was called open gym.

Open gym was like this — you came in and played for a couple hours, and if the coach liked what he saw, he kept that in mind during tryouts. It was an audition.

I played well in open gym, impressed the coaches and other kids who were going out for the team, and subsequently left having made a few friends.

They didn’t know much about me, or I them, but there was a respect there— this kid can play, and he plays hard— and that lead to friendship.

Lesson #2: Don’t be afraid to embarrass someone. But don’t be a dick about it.