When I was younger, I participated in gymnastics. The beginning reason of my enrollment of the gymnastics was so that I learned a sense of self -discipline. I was rather tall for my age, and very lanky for the sport. I absolutely loved my first two years, but as I got taller, I began to get worse and worse at gymnastics. I knew I wasn’t as good as the other girls, but my parents encouraged me to stick with it and said that I was pretty good at it. I then decided when I reached the age of eight, I decided to try to pursue in a more team dependent sport. When I moved to Mississippi, I joined my very first competitive basketball league. It was my very first time playing a competitive sport, and I was playing against girls two years older than me. Before every game my parents would tell me not to worry about the score, but to just go out there and work hard. I was in second grade playing against third and fourth graders. Although I was one of the tallest girls on the court, I was petrified the first couple of games. These girls were so aggressive, and they knew what they were doing and how to shoot shots. I knew basically nothing, where I came from we were definitely not as competitive as all these girls, and on top of that I knew almost nothing about basketball besides the fundamentals that I learned in pre-school. After the first couple of games I wanted to quit, and I didn’t like it. My parents told me that this was a good sport for me because I was very athletic and tall, and most basketball players were tall. They started rewarding me for little hustle things that I would do on the court, like rebounding or diving for the ball, they would take me to waffle house after the games. Eventually I became a really physical player and one of the players known for doing the dirty work. At the end of the year banquet they have for all the teams, each coach announced awards given out for best offensive player, best defensive player, and most valuable player on the team. I won the most valuable player award, and my parents had to explain to me what that meant, because on that particular day I was a little upset they did not give out a hustle award. My parents told me that my award was basically like the hustle award, which made me feel better. After that I had this strong desire to practice and get better at this sport. I immediately fell in love with the sport of basketball and stuck with it all the way up to where I am now in college. If the past has taught me anything it is definitely that once you find a certain sport that you love to play, you have to stick with it. Now, even as a college athlete I know that my playing days are numbered, and when it comes to senior year and we are in the NCAA tournament, I will literally be playing as if each game could be my last.
Ariel Braker, ND Women's Basketball, Class of 2014
Social Foundations of Coaching Course
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