I’m not sure when I really was at my best but what I remember right now would have to be junior year of high school in basketball. I was one of the older members on the team and I often was viewed as a leader. It isn't what most people would consider being at their best though, seeing as how it was when I was playing hurt.
I always played hard and a lot of times I would end up jumping for a rebound or to take a shot and there were times where I landed on another person’s ankle. I never wore ankle braces so every time I did that I’d role my ankle. Well turns out that I played better hurt, a lot better.
My offensive production ended up going from under ten points a game up to twenty a game. One of the main games where this happened was a low scoring game where the final score ended up 37-35 or something around there. This was the first time I had started playing on my bum ankle and had it taped up. In this game I scored twenty of our 37 including the final three of our points on a three point play.
I guess what I learned from that experience was that I just needed to take my time. I was always trying to rush everything and it was hindering my performance. With the bum ankle I had to go slower so I couldn’t rush anything, now I try to take things slow and have found better results most of the time.
Kirk, that's a really good average! Wow. It's impressive that being injured only bettered your performance. You don't see that too often. Interesting story!
ReplyDeleteSo going slow and really thinking about something can help you be more effective at that task-- go figure! What a good lesson to learn. I think that's one of those that we all learn eventually. Great post, looking forward to your next. --Allie
ReplyDeleteSometimes its better to slow down and take things easy; you'll end up doing better in what certain things as youy found out. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSo true! I found that true in basketball also! I never really thought about mentally slowing down life though, interesting to think about really. I will for surely have to try that. (What a better time than in college when everything is so fast!)
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome thing to learn early on Kirk! So many times I think we all have a tendency to just rush through things in life and you never realize what all you miss or your full potential until you do take a chance to slow up and reflect. Keep up the great work! :)
ReplyDeleteI could agree with you Kirk sometimes you just need to slow things down, relax, and focus on what your doing. Nice job
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean to pick a time where you were at your best, but you said you were looked at as a leader of your basketball team and to me thats something to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to slow down and take your time on things.
ReplyDeleteYou should be a philosopher, that was a pretty intense tale of how people should slow down! Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good lesson learned from a not so good situation. The lesson can be applied to a lot of things in life. By taking your time on something you can learn to do it right the first time.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel about rolling your ankle and still playing basketball. I don't think there was a year in high school basketball that I did not roll my ankle, although it never helped me score this many points in a game. Great Job!!
ReplyDeleteWay to remain tough and play through the pain! That's how a real athlete does it. Good job bud!
ReplyDeleteS L O W
ReplyDeleteHow powerful a word can be.
This word entitles so much, that without taking the time to think about it we often miss most of it. Having the ability to slow down and think things through is great to have, however, can we take it farther. Can we step back completely, stop so to say. Not to stop productivity but to help with understanding. As Kelsey stated the reference to life, if we stop for a second to understand there are many new things we can start to explore. Here is my analogy (just created). It is like driving with the map on your lap trying to find a road which you blow by because your looking at the map compared to waiting at a stop sign and finding your turn before you reach it. (yes I have done both (: )