My Sports Journey

I am here to speak about how important sports is to my life. All my life I have participated in certain sports either by watching them or by playing them. The first job I wanted to do was to be an athlete but after a while I realized that wasn’t my portion and that I would have to play sports recreationally. I was a weekend warrior, who was not destined to play in front of the big lights on Saturday and Sunday.

The first sport I was interested in was boxing. I was reading the newspaper at 12 years old, I know it was kind of young but it was what I was into back then. They were talking about the Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson fight and it got me interesting in the sport. So I went to the library and checked out multiple books about boxers like Muhammad Ali and it sparked an interest in the sport. I would also go online and look up resources about boxers and about the old time boxers. I did not know this, but it was fueling my interest as a boxing historian. Later on in college I would take boxing classes, and after law school I would write boxing articles for a blog. It taught me how to research and analyze a sport. Now I watch Youtube Videos of boxing matches and I find that I learn a lot.

The three sports that I got into after boxing were basketball, football and weightlifting.

First, I will speak about basketball. I was first introduced to basketball in the 3rd grade in my school. Now we did not have a regulation basketball court or a hoop. We would nail crates to a pole and shoot basketballs at it or we would shot basketballs at the monkey bars. I did not realize this was not the accepted way to play basketball until the 6th grade when I started to play on a hoop. AND1 was the hot topic of the day, and I dreamed of being like Hot Sauce and the Professor. But the thing is, I couldn’t dribble the ball well. No matter what, the ball would not respond to my commands the way I wanted it to. But I discovered that I could shoot. So I would go to my neighborhood park and shot until it became too dark to see. One time I knew that I had to go home so I left the ball at the park. Luckily I was able to get a new ball.

When I went to boarding school I tried out for the basketball team. I was shocked that there was regimentation for trying out for a basketball team. We had to run and lift weights and have drills. This was a foreign concept because I did not have to do these things when I was playing in the park in the Bronx. Every day when I would have to run I would just hope that it would be over and done with. But it was developing my basketball skills. Then I learned that I made a combination of something called JV and Thirds. I did not know what Thirds was but I was excited to make JV. I did not get any playing time however, but I was not too sad. I would go to the gym every day and shoot hundreds of shots and play people one on one. It got to the point where I really developed my mid-range jump shot. I was able to do a reverse lay-up and a between the legs layup and I was really excited about that.

When I played Thirds it was like the JV that never played people from the outside. We would play each other in 5 on 5. It was a wonderful experience. It taught me how to pass the ball, because my first instinct was to shoot every time I would get the ball. It taught me the concept of team play and how to be unselfish. I still value my experience with Thirds at boarding school.

I also did football in boarding school. My experience with boarding school started with watching football in the Student Center. They would order pizza and wings, and watch the games on the TV. It intrigued me, and many of the people that I knew were on the football team. So I decided to try out for the football team and I made. Due to other commitments I could not play but I was excited at the prospect of making a team through hard work. We also played a game called Take Down the Ball Carrier in which it was a free for fall and it was very enjoyable.

In college one of the theology professor would host us in his apartment and we would watch football games there. It was great. I also played intermural football for a little bit in college and I was shocked at how good some of the people were.

The Super Bowl became like a national holiday for me. In high school they would set aside time and let us watch the game. In college I watched the Giants beat the Patriots and I was sad because I was really starting to like the Patriots. But I liked the atmosphere of watching the game with other people, it was more than just a game it was like a festival to me. In law school I would watch the game with other people and it was awesome.

Finally, weightlifting was also part of my experience.

In high school after I could not do football, I discovered that I really liked weightlifting. I took anatomy in high school and I realized that it helped me in my weightlifting, because it helped me to match up the bodyparts with various exercises. I eventually got to the point where I could bench 185 for 10 reps in my senior year of high school and 225 lbs for 10 reps my senior year of college.

In law school I did powerlifting. I had heard that the club was starting and so I wanted to join. I eventually was able to bench 375 lbs in college, thanks to my training in the powerlifting club. I was also able to do weighted dips with 100 lbs and deadlift 565 lbs in the power rack. All of this strength served to give me confidence as well as added power. I was able to lift things easier because of powerlifting.

Finally, after law school I did strongman. I joined New York Sports Clubs, and I was able to do various strongman lifts. I would also watch the World’s Strongest Man and read strongman articles in order to get stronger. I was eventually able to do a farmer’s walk with 315 lbs, as well as Prowler Sled 825 lbs and put 1,000 lbs on the Tank Sled and push it. This training was able to give a strength that I did not possess before. I was glad to do strongman, and I learned a lot about training from the experience.

I had done ?basketball and it taught me the importance of teamwork. I had done football and it immersed me in the culture. Finally I did weightlifting and could appreciate it for the strength that it gave me. I am glad to have done so many sports, and I know that to be involved in sports will be in my future.?