is there any reasonable evidence to suggest that you can be, outside of ‘you really want to?’ if not, that’s your answer.
Because other people have done the same thing.
Ok. Good luck.
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I don’t know where to start in finding a team to play for, though.
Again, ignoring a bunch of other “what the fuck, you can’t possibly be this dense” stuff that’s coming to the surface here:
You keep bringing up this idea that “other people have done it” and “why can’t my body do it?”
Somehow, it seems to have escaped you that while hard work is a piece of making it big in sports, it is only one piece of that puzzle (as some might put it, hard work is a necessary but not sufficient condition for playing a professional sport). Talent is a pretty fucking big piece, too, and you seem either too stubborn to accept that or just plain igorant of the fact that all the training in the world can only take you to a certain point.
I hate to keep coming off like Uncle Rico here, but I actually played a college sport and got to see a whole bunch of other dudes with various degrees of talent, work ethic, and training along the way (not just on my team, but across all of our other college sports, too, since I was chummy with lots of the other athletes). I was in the upper third, maybe even the upper 10 percent of that crew as far as work ethic went; I went to two football camps a year from the time I turned 10 until graduating high school; I started lifting weights when I was 12; in both high school and college, I was one of the strongest pound for pound players on the team; I did footwork drills and technique work a couple days a week every summer, wrestled in the winter to work on leverage and conditioning; I was well-coached in high school, with a stable coaching staff and a head coach that’s currently 296-70 or something like that and still going strong; I had a high football IQ, to the point that as a sophomore in high school I knew what every position on our offensive line should do on every play against every defensive alignment; and with all of that said, I can comfortably state that there was absolutely no amount of training and/or luck that would have plausibly made me a Division I football player. It just plain was not in the cards.
What is talent? Athleticism?
I could never outrun Usain Bolt. No matter how much I trained. I know that. I literally can’t develop force fast enough in that tiny .2 second window of foot contact in sprinting. Genetics.
But the realm of athleticism in basketball is something I have more influence over.
innate ability.
It’s basically what Iverson had. You’re familiar with the famous ‘practice? we talkin bout PRACTICE?’ Iverson could have made the NBA without working hard. Iverson was a goddamn freak athlete. All the TALENT in the world. The dude didn’t have to work to dunk. He could just do it. He was faster, quicker, and had a higher basketball IQ than the people around him before he put any effort into the game. He could have been a mediocre player in the NBA with basically no practice. He became a GREAT player because he also did work hard for many years.
Why is it so hard to see that there are no comparisons to you in the NBA? No player who’s your size and at your ability, at your age, will ever be in the NBA. You’ve actually demonstrated this quite clearly BECAUSE of the effort you’ve already put in. You’ve worked your ass off, and you’re not good enough. So that’s it. That’s what you have to work with. You won’t find a path to a D1 team. Deal with it.
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I mean, I started playing basketball when I was a freshman. And even if I have worked my ass off, I see myself getting better everyday. The progress is measurable. I haven’t reached that threshold yet.
Wanting you to have a realistic, healthy and balanced perspective on life and realize that pouring everything you have into this long shot goal is not healthy is for the best. Yes.
I played D1 hockey. I’m 5’8.5. Playing in the NHL was never in the cards. I’d cut off both my balls to this day to play in the NHL but it ain’t happening. I was a lot closer than you have any realistic chance of getting, and I wasn’t close at all.
The fact that you’re as driven and focused as you are is a good thing and it sounds like you do well academically but I have a feeling you think you’re the smartest guy in the room. No matter how smart you are, you usually aren’t. Direct your passion into something more constructive than playing basketball alone in a gym pretending you’re on a team. Take up youth coaching. Teach the young kids the dedication and work ethic that you bring to practicing. Maybe you can one day coach at a competitive level if you start now at a low level. Or refocus your work ethic toward body building or power lifting or CrossFit. You don’t need a D1 scholarship or to be drafted by a professional team to compete in those fields. You can strive to be the best and you don’t need a team either. Just your own drive and a gym. Take up a martial art and become good enough to compete in that.
That’s what I did. You can still LOVE basketball. I’m the biggest hockey fan I’ve ever met in my life and I still play pickup hockey and I’m still damn good. But I can’t be the best and I can’t be a pro. I do compete in power lifting and martial arts though and that is amply satisfying even though it isn’t my ultimate dream of playing hockey. And I can continue striving to get better in those sports for the rest of my life.
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I really respect all of you for being honest with me.
I’m taking a Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser Theorem class next year. Also, Chinese V (Post AP class) and AP Physics II. I have many interests, in egineering sort of.
All of my life I wanted to be a useful person. I was thinking possibly getting into trade school maybe. I don’t know.
I do know that the odds are astronomically against me but for me not to at least try would eat away at me. I need to see how far I can go myself.
You have only been doing this for 2 years?
I completely understand your parents.
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Well the first time I played on a team was in 6th grade, but I lost the passion from 6-8 grade. That year in 6th grade we lost every game. Then it reawakened at the end of 8th grade. I played on the freshman team for my school and we lost every game. I at least want to win one game before I’m done. That’s another reason I refuse to give up. There’s nothing that the famous D1 bound basketball players are doing that I am incapable of. Nothing at all. I just need to elevate my skill level.
You all think I can’t play but you’re wrong. I can play and I want to earn respect from everyone. I want some respect on my name.
True, but that there is plenty that they DID that you did not. One of those things being that they played the sport (or at least A sport) for a long time.
I actually used to be obese and basketball was a means to an end. I put up 8 points my whole 6th grade season lol.
There’s also something else I want you all to know. Theres a Chicago State University bound player named Kezo Brown. CSU is D1. Kezo played his freshman through junior year and has been involved in quite a bit of gang activity. Everyone knows this. He has not played his senior year but still got an offer from CSU. Come on now.
I am glad you understand the issue now.
The issue of skill and athleticism can both be addressed and improved to at least a competent level. These D1 bound players are not the best in the world. Even they still have a long way to go. Most high school players don’t even want to play college basketball. I’m willing to work hard to get respect on my name.
It’s honestly like you’re not even reading the replies.
Or, more accurately, you are reading them and selectively interpreting them.
I have given you a (relatively) plausible path to playing on a college basketball team several times. Take that advice, or don’t (given your posting history, I have a good idea which of these will occur). At this point it seems fairly clear that you are either unable to or unwilling to listen to a post explaining the balance of talent and work ethic, so I see little reason in further explanation beyond what has already been said.
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Not in a fast enough time frame to be significant for you.
This isn’t Karate Kid.
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Look. I know that I am NOT a D1 player. I never said I was. I said that I am willing to work as hard as possible to POSSIBLY earn an attempt at becoming one. I’m saying that I want to be good enough to play D1 one day. Even if I don’t play D1 I want to try to be good enough to. What is the harm in that?
I’m not selectively interpreting anything. I hear each and every one of you loud and clear.
Okay, I can hear what you’re saying, but you understand that the likelihood of achieving that goal in the time frame given for you to actually play D1 ball is astronomically low, correct? On the flip side, there is nothing to say you can’t get AS GOOD as a D1 player eventually and play in some men’s leagues with some really good players and former D1 guys, etc. when you are older. There’s nothing stopping you from playing basketball for the rest of your life and always trying to get better. But right now, for about a year longer, you are a minor living under your parents roof so… you’re just gonna have to deal with rules you don’t like until you have the freedom to do as you please. Once that day comes, go nuts, play ball night and day. Right now, family wants you to divert your attention elsewhere. It’s not so much longer before you are an adult and either away at college or able to live on your own.
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