Sunday, September 26, 2010

Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

During the summer, I had a very busy time with basketball.  Besides my usual Saturday pickup games with friends, I played in a Monday night Friendship league and a more competitive Tuesday night League.   For my old bones, that was plenty of basketball.  It was a little tiring but fun to stay active during the summer.

With the Fall rolling around, I was expecting to have a fairly light basketball schedule.  I would probably play most Saturdays with my friends and play in a Monday night league as I had done for the past few years.

However,  a guy I knew asked if I would be interested in playing in a Sunday evening league.  They were looking for bodies and I volunteered to play.  It might not have been the best choice for my body since it's just more wear and tear on my body.

My rationale was that I wanted to play a little basketball outside of my comfort zone.  After all, I usually played with or against Asian ball players and not much against other ethnicities.  As I was getting older, I probably wasn't going to be playing competitive basketball for too much longer and this might be one last chance to give it a shot.  The last night I had played in a league that was not primarily catered toward Asians (though open to everyone) was back in 1998.

After my team's first two games, we're winless and we're trying to find our chemistry.  It's definitely a different experience that playing in Asian leagues.  The other teams are bigger and the game is played differently.  Asian leagues tend toward fast breaks and outside shots.  This particular Sunday league is going toward more inside play though it's likely because my team is small.

All in all, the point is that we all need to get out of comfort zones sometime.  I'm fortunate that I have enough basketball experience to adapt to different situations.  Though our team has started slow, we'll get better as the season progresses!

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