I spent the
majority of my childhood playing basketball at the parks. It had started
because there was simply nothing else to do. But over the years, I had become
obsessed with perfecting my skills and becoming the best player possible. If I had gone a day without playing, I would feel like I had cheated myself. When I was young
I had heard a quote that went something like this; “Always practice and give it
100%, because somebody some place is working harder than you are. And when you
face them one-on-one, they will beat you”. I had always taken this quote
straight to the heart. So in the snow, I carried a shovel to the park. And
after it would rain, I would sweep away the puddles. At night time, I went to a different park that had lights. There were no such things as days off. During high school I also spent a ton of time at the YMCA playing against premier collegiate competition. My game had really developed, so there were days when I would dominate the best players around. These experiences would boost my confidence and push me to work even harder. I began to lift weights on a regular basis and develop my upper-body strength. I had purchased these "jump-soles" to assist in my training. They strapped onto my sneakers and were designed to work the muscles in your legs that make you jump higher. I trained with them and ankle weights together, determined to give myself the ability to jump higher. I had spent years and years perfecting my outside shot. I believed that I had done everything I could have done to become the best basketball player possible. But, as I got older I began to accept the fact that my work ethic alone could only take me so far. I realized that the only
way I was going to get recruited by a major college was if I was 7 feet tall or African-American. After all of my years of training and spending nearly all of my childhood playing basketball, I had felt like a failure. I had a decent high school basketball career but I never got recruited by any notable schools.
I ended up attending community college and planned on playing for the team there. It was during my time here that I met a basketball player named Luka Hocevar. He was a few inches shorter than me and I believe he was from Slovenia. While spending time around Luka, I learned a very humbling lesson. I had always thought that I had pushed myself to become the best possible player, but boy was I wrong. This guy had the work ethic of some kind of super hero. He basically lived in the gym. If he wasn't playing basketball, he was lifting weights. But it wasn't just the fact that he trained so often, it was the level at which he pushed himself at all times. This was division 3 junior college basketball, but this guy worked like he was training for the fricken Olympics every single day. I have no idea what pushed him or where he got all of his energy to always keep going, but it was absolutely remarkable. Witnessing him always in the gym and watching the way he trained made me realize that I could have done so much more than I ever actually did. I had always felt like I pushed myself to become the best, but Luka showed me that I was completely wrong. He never touted about his work ethic, but as they say; "Actions speak louder than words". Watching him made me realize that the reason I never became a division 1 basketball player was only because I didn't work hard enough. I thought that I wanted it more than anything in the world, but I guess I didn't. I could have done so much more and worked so much harder if I really wanted it bad enough. I realized that I didn't know the true meaning of "hard work" until I met Luka.
I couldn't tell you what pushed him, but I assume that it was his hunger to be the best. He didn't take any short cuts, the guy would hit the bench press hours before a game. He wasn't somebody who was blessed with god-given talent, he earned it on his own. He was stronger, faster, and could jump higher than everybody else because of one reason: he wanted it the most.
I didn't go watch any of the games because it was too painful to watch the games when you know you should be playing. However, I did go to one game. Our team was down by 2 points with only 3 seconds remaining. Our team had to go the length of the floor so they passed it in to half court and called a time out. We all knew that the coach was drawing up a play for Luka, he deserved the shot. They passed it in to him as he brushed off a tight screen, caught the pass, and elevated over everybody. And as he let it fly with perfect form from just inside of half court the buzzer sounded while everybody in the gym held their breath. As soon as the ball went through the net, the crowd erupted. Everybody in the gym was completely stunned. Everybody that is, except Luka,
