By Shaylyn Austin
Editor-in-Chief
I never dreamt that I would be watching the first tip-off of my senior season, nor the last Bay League match against our Redondo rivals, nor the first round of CIF playoffs from the sideline. How could I have known that in a split-second, an unnatural twist of my right knee would render me out of commission for my senior season?
I was reluctant to write about this because I didn’t know what to focus on. The answer to that dilemma, I have come to grasp, is to talk about what have I learned, because I believe it is worth sharing.
Unable to face the reality of the loss, I ran. I used the injury as an excuse – an excuse for many things, but one of those was to stop caring about getting into a “good college.”
The ambition faded, and I stopped learning in the majority of my classes. I was no longer driven by that end goal, and, as a result, my education came to a halt.
While I am disappointed in myself for my evident apathy following my injury, it led to a greater realization – My involvement in the basketball program is the only aspect of my high school career that I did wholeheartedly, solely for myself.
My work ethic was not propelled by an image I wanted to reflect in others’ eyes, and my desire to succeed was not an attempt to avoid the humility of failure. I am guilty of those objectives in other aspects of my high school life, but I played basketball for my love of the game.
Because of this, I am lucky to look back on the time I was on the court and have no regrets. I can only imagine where I would be now if I applied that mindset to everything I have done the past four years. Maybe I wouldn’t have the resume to apply to the colleges I think I want to go to, but I can guarantee that I would have a far better idea of who I am.
If my academic endeavours were driven by passions similar to my appreciation for basketball, I might have not been hit so early by that crippling “senioritis,” if at all.
So, what have I learned?
It’s good to be selfish, to engage in activities for self-fulfillment, because learning should be for learning’s sake.
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