The Game by Allison

The Game by Allison - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

Within a second of stepping in the gym at Brown University for basketball camp and seeing dozens of 6-feet tall girls with t-shirts boasting wins at national AAU championships, I realized I had made somewhat of a mistake. Going into the camp, I had thought it was going to be a collection of local Rhode Islanders getting together to learn a few new skills from college players. However, I learned it was an elite recruitment camp for girls around the country interested in playing basketball at the D1 level. I can hold my own as a varsity starter for my high school, but I certainly did not stand out at that camp. Those five days were filled with people blazing past me, dribbling the ball faster than my eyes could follow. I was disheartened, thinking I had wasted most of my life playing basketball while these girls seemed like they were born with a basketball in their hands. I felt like a failure, but I learned to persevere. I woke up at 6 every morning for roll call to prove to myself that although I may not be the best, I could finish every drill and every game.
At the camp, I learned to not sit the bench just because there are better people around me. I know that there is always going to be someone smarter than me or more athletic than me in the room, but that does not mean that I cannot contribute something to the situation. It only means that I have to try a little bit harder to get ahead of the game.