If you’re a big fan of Slam Dunk like I am, you’d probably recall the big misconception everyone had when we saw picture 2. When many of us read this part of the story, we were damn sure Sakuragi was going to confess his love for Haruko. But damn were we wrong, instead of telling her that he loved her, he told her something that I feel strongly at the moment, he told her he loved basketball.
Ever since primary school I have watched this anime, till now I would have watched it at least 7 times and yet I will never get bored of it. In fact, I would say this anime kick started my love for basketball.
Basketball is something very special to me, it brought meaning and joy to my life. I recall during secondary 2 when I first started, I was so weak that I couldn’t even shoot the ball at point blank range. It didn’t even hit the rim. Me and 2 buddies went to the nearby neighborhood court and started challenging others, we weren’t too good initially but after 5 months or so we familiarized ourselves with the good players and we made sure that they familiarized themselves with us, and we certainly did. Each day when I went to school, I just couldn’t wait for the day to end and it was basketball for the next 3-4 hours. Day after day, there was this fire burning in my veins. The fire … the hunger to defeat someone better. I wanted to make sure that the “entire list” of well known players were beaten by me. It went pretty well and when I was about to complete ¾ of the list everything just went poof.
2 weeks ago, me and my mates went to another court to challenge some Pinoys for a couple of 5v5 full court games. Knowing how my stamina sucks, I was the first to pant frantically. Despite trying our best we lost all 3 games 6-11. The thing was that they weren’t playing at their very best
The difference between Singaporean players as compared to the Philippino’s started to become way clearer. They were huge and athletic whereas we were smaller in frame and less “Active”. It was somehow a mismatch akin to asking a featherweight boxer against a heavy weight boxer. I started to question whether some of us were destined to do some stuff while some of us aren’t. It’s like playing RPG games where things get typical, the mage always has high intelligence , the rogue always has high dexterity and the warriors always had high strength. The problem would be what if you had a high intelligence but you wanted to be a warrior instead of a mage? I started to question where my talents were, was I really that huge and overpowering in the paint? Apparently not, I’ve been challenging players who are like 188-194cm lately, and when the big boys rolled in hell did they teach me something about huge and domineering. I started to think maybe I just wasn’t cut out for certain things.
When I was in Secondary 2, my friend once said that I was going to become “Kaede Rukawa” for “Haruko’s” sake. I’m pleased to inform him that I have finally grew to become like Rukawa in 1 aspect. Unfortunately that is not basketball but sleeping. During my days of forced labor, I’ve learnt the different techniques of relaxation and dropping dead like a log when there isn’t much to do.
I recall Haruko-Akagi once telling me that I shouldn’t keep looking downwards and I should be more confident. Not that we talked much, but if there was something serious that she told me that went deep into my head, it must have been that.
I talked with one of my friends not too long ago about “Confidence”. Knowing that I don’t like to be too cocky, but I believe that we need a certain degree of confidence. This reaches out in all aspects be it work or play. But let’s talk about my favorite topic, basketball.
“Perry Rebound!”
“Perry pass out, don’t use brute force”
“Perry pass to … don’t take shot”
“Stop using your reversed shot it’s not that accurate”
“Shoot properly, don’t ally-opp”
I know that some of my friends comment on my play a lot because there really is room for improvement. But I exceptionally hate it when the original purpose becomes distorted. Just because I’m usually “Soft”, quiet and easily pushed around. It doesn’t mean I’m fine with being a scape goat where all the blames is pushed. Sometimes if you become too critical on a friend, you can seriously dampen his confidence.
Lately, I realized that it wasn’t the lack of opportunities that made my aggressiveness die down but it was my confidence. It was broken and shattered all over the place. In the past an encounter with a good player would only make me more confident and I was going to prove he wasn’t as good as everyone says, but what happens now? When I meet a stronger player I get scared and my hands get shaky and I miss a lot of my shots. In the past when the score was 10-2 (if the opponent scores one more point it would be over. Most street games are played 7 or 11 balls.) I wouldn’t give up, I would explode despite how tired I am and much to many people’s surprise it always ended up 10-11. But what happens now? When things get ugly, I start worrying and even though I try my best I always hoped that there would be someone out there who can pull us out of this shit. But why didn’t I believe I could have been that guy?
But there was this faint light within the darkness, if there was something I was proud of it would be my tenacity and guts. I wouldn’t hesitate to jump and contest the shot made by a 6 footer even if it meant “clash of the titans”.
As my confidence started to waiver, I recalled a scene in Naruto during the chunin exams. When Neiji lost, he made a casual remark that the shadow clone technique must have been Naruto’s favorite technique and his forte. However on the contrary it was his worst and he failed the ninja examinations 3 times because of it. My point is … ? I don’t have to be the best dribbler, or the sharpest shooter or the biggest man on the floor. I just got to believe in myself and play with all my heart. If I do so, I’d probably be the unstoppable juggernaut.
[Never stop believing in yourself]
the origin.12:11 AM