I love this game

Anyone who has seen Space Jam has heard the song “Basketball Jones.” My favorite part of that song is Barry White’s voiceover:

Jones: an obsession, a burning desire; the undeniable passion; the love for someone or something…Yes, he was the victim of a basketball jones.

Recently I was out for a little while with a sprained ankle. Today I realized that not being able to play or practice has only intensified my passion for this sport. (My heart goes out to Allison right now. Girl, get better soon.) With the exception for this past week, I have not been injured enough to not practice or play games since my senior year of high school. I was out the entire year with a stress fracture, and it broke my heart to watch girls play the game I love with such apathy. Over the course of the past few years, I have not felt the “basketball jones” that I had felt at that time—sitting on the sidelines dribbling two basketballs, just hoping I would magically heal so I could get in the game and actually score points…so I could chest bump a teammate that made a sick play...so I wouldn’t have to see a statline that read “Christina Spencer – DNP.” I wanted nothing more than to be able to play. I craved basketball. I have been “fortunate” enough to have sprained my ankle, and as a result, get my basketball jones back.

[Don’t get me wrong, I have loved this sport every season I have been here at Oberlin, but the actual act of craving the game has been a bit buried. My work ethic stemmed solely from wanting to see more playing time in games, rather than playing for the love of basketball.]

I love this game. There really is no other sport in the whole entire world that beats basketball. Yes, there are times that I find myself wanting to take a nap instead of hitting the gym at 4:45...It's a long day, and Oberlin classes certainly can drain a person. But you know what? It's part of the sport. It's part of getting better. It's a sacrifice we have to make as student athletes. And you want to know something else? It's worth it. There is no better feeling than hearing the swish of the net after making the three-pointer you have shot thousands of time at practice, or witnessing the beauty of a back-door layup, or being able to beat your defender due to the countless number of sprints you have run in the pre-season. Practice is painful. Your muscles hurt, your lungs burn, your stomach cramps... But capturing a W in a neck-and-neck game because you can outrun or outshoot an opponent in the fourth quarter is worth every second of pain, every sore muscle, every stomach cramp, every minute of lost sleep, and every sprained ankle.

Sometimes we feel sorry for ourselves. I'm too tired to run...I can't finish this ab workout...I can't lift anymore...I'm too sore...My body hurts...
I found myself committing this very act of feeling sorry today in practice. My ankle hurts... But then a light went off. Yes, I am still injured...BUT we have two tournaments this month. I need to be in shape. I need to suck it up. I WANT to start off our season with a beautiful line that reads:

Oberlin College 1-0

I can rest on the weekend. Of course I am not suggesting that every injured athlete should continue to practice under extremely painful or health-threatening circumstances. Quite frankly, if this were last week, it would have been VERY ill-advised for me to practice. But today was a different story. Yes, I am still in pain...but I would rather endure this (not-so-severe) pain for a few more days and be in shape, rather than milking it and watching my team get better without me. (And let me say, playing defense today after not being able to for a solid week, felt GREAT.) Basketball deserves a 110% effort. So do my teammates. I pushed through those last few sprints, and felt very satisfied as I limped to our end-of-practice huddle. Ice will help. I'll be fine tomorrow. Instead of half-heartedly jogging the last few sprints and gaining absolutely nothing, I was able dig deep, and therefore leave practice with the contentment of knowing that today I got just a little bit better.

Coach talked yesterday about finding our “second wind.” I found mine today. My motivation comes from the deep love and passion that I feel for this sport, and I truly believe that hard work will be rewarded.

Basketball jones…I gotta basketball jones…


-Christina Spencer #23