Let It Fly: Evolution of a Jumpshot

Freshman Year

Everything was chaos, trying out a new form, but everything was ugly. Shots were occasionally falling, but not the way I wanted them to. There are more things to learn, more room to grow. 

Sophomore Year

No video, but having not played basketball throughout most of this year, I'd assume it was worse than before. 

Junior Year

The form looked better than years prior. It had gotten harder to score however as I put myself in more challenging scenarios. Because of this, barely anything was falling, but the attempts just felt better.

Senior Year

Absolutely carefree. All I had to do was let it fly, whether it went in or not. My demeanor was relaxed, just enjoy the moment, if the shot goes in, take a breath and move on, if it doesn't, rebound and get back on track. Everything was feeling fluid. Still, it wasn't good enough. There was still so much more to learn and so many more things I had to perfect. 

In case it wasn't obvious, this wasn't really about basketball. I find that whatever I am doing in the present moment is heavily impacted by my life. Like when I'm writing lyrics, some days it just comes easy and some days it doesn't. Some days when I'm hooping, I'm on fire, other days I'm not. Every year of high school felt like a different year. I could feel the growth of myself through the way I played basketball, played the drums, or made music. And this senior year has just been nothing but letting everything go. Of course, I plan on getting back on track next year, but for one year, why not just let it fly?