Basketball :)

I started playing around with a basketball when I was 6. I was at the Slabs (five outdoor basketball courts – four of them were used by the men and the other was used by their kids who came to watch and got bored) at least once a week with my siblings and our dad. We had a hoop in our driveway, and we played outside a lot; it was fun to have our whole family over from baby cousins all the way up to my grandparents come over for a game of knock out or even just for good food and time as a family.

I joined a team and started playing when I was eight years old. The first team I was on was co-ed and the boys would never pass to me; even though I still believe myself to have been better than them. The next season I joined an all girls team. It was not long until my dad took six of the girls from that team and found two more to make a competitive team. We were a very good team; I was the point guard and I loved controlling the tempo of the game. We won our first of many championships in fifth grade in an off season league. I practiced everyday, whether is was dribbling up and down the sidewalk until the neighbors asked me to go back inside, or shooting until I made one hundred shots in a row, or watching basketball – studying the game and watching to see what other people did well or stuff I wanted to be able to do. The time I spent playing basketball sort of became my safe haven away from the hurt and hard times my family was going through – so much of my time was poured into the improvement of my game.

I developed into a very good player. I joined a very competitive club team, The Hoopsters, and traveled to numerous tournaments all over the United States for better competition. I was practicing six days a week and LOVING every minute of it. I became very well known in, at the very least, the state of Colorado. Coaches always played a box-and-one defense on me. It didn’t stop me; I just rolled in the assists and gave my teammates more points.

Basketball was my life and I was good at it. I thrived to be the best; and in eighth grade, for the competitive league of Gold Crown, I was named “Student Athlete of the Year;” as recognized and nominated by numerous coaches and parents. I was the best. In fact, the varsity coach of the high school for which I was supposed to attend had begun to talk to me as a seventh grader; she was excited for me to come be her point guard. But, that was just not what God had for my life.

I started my freshman year with high hopes; I was going to start varsity basketball. In September of that year, I was rushed the emergency room and while I was in recovery the doctor told my mother, “IF Heather comes out of recovery there is a good chance she will have a mental handicap of some sort.” Needless to say, I didn’t die nor did I develop a mental handicap. I did however, lose my depth perception and developed a lazy eye – the doctor’s advised me to take a year off from any sports. This would not seem bad to the average person, but basketball was my life; it gave me reason, it gave me hope, and it was who I was.

I did not play my freshman year; Em my longtime teammate started varsity instead of me. I tried to play my sophomore year, but the year off had been really hard on me. I did well and was the best player on the sophomore team, but I was not doing as well as I had before my near death experience. I had two surgeries my Sophomore year - one which cut the season short for me and the other made the doctor’s tell me, “NO BASKETBALL.” I was devastated.

I continued to have surgeries through high school, seven after that year. I had lost my reason, I had lost my hope, and I lost who I was. But, I found something better. I found the love of Jesus Christ, I found hope in Someone who would never let me down, a reason for the difficulties I had faced and a reason for me to be exactly where I was, and He defined who I was. I believe without a doubt that basketball helped create the woman people see today and shape me into the woman I am now. Basketball helped me learn about persistence, teamwork, hard work, commitment. Losing basketball, although it was very hard; played a huge role in helping me find – hope that is unchanging and unfailing, as well as the real reason I am here, helped me understand who I am, and even more importantly Whose I am.