In my first full post here at The Wave, I’m focusing on basketball, which I’ve been playing since I was in the third grade. I’ve developed many of my personal values as a result of the teams I’ve been on and want to share some of those today. One team that stands out was composed entirely of club ball players who played together at St. John for six years. Additionally, my teammates were all very tall, which gave us the advantage in many games. We went undefeated for three years straight, won almost all our tournaments as well as five championships in six years. Furthermore, we competed in 8th grade, Division 1 as 7th graders and won the championships there as well. Being so successful was a huge bonus that I definitely have not taken for granted; there are still so many things to be learned from playing on a team that isn’t successful.
As a team sport, basketball has taught me a lot about teamwork and humility. Obviously, since we were very successful, it was important not to brag about how good we were. I credit my coach with instilling this sense of humility in us all. Each game, my team would win by more than 35 points, so instead of continuing to cream them, my coach would make us slow down and pull back from scoring as a sign of respect to the other team. He taught us how to be humble and to realize that what our team had was special. 
We were cautioned against taking advantage of our successes and reminded that in life, we’re not always going to “be on a star basketball team.” Also, we were able to put ourselves in the other team’s shoes and have sympathy for them. You can apply humility in your life basically in everything you do. From being humble about a new job offer to any other success in your life; be straightforward about your successes but never brag. Being full of yourself is And learn to think about others before yourself.
Another obvious value that I’ve learned in playing basketball is teamwork. With basketball being a team sport, working as a team is essential to success. It is a team sport for a reason, so one person can’t hog the ball and do everything themselves. I’ve learned how to work with other people, communicate, and support my teammates through the good and challenging times. These skills are useful in life because, especially in a job setting, it is important to be able to work with your colleagues to get the job done most efficiently. Teamwork and humility are both great qualities to have and I encourage everyone to practice them – they will take you far. Teamwork makes the dream work!
