Basketball Saved My Life

When contemplating a life change, inspiration for the better often lies in the eventual, not the immediate. In my final weeks of substitute teaching, a friend contacted me about a coaching position. It would be at a small charter school thirty minutes from me in the middle of nowhere. The position was to coach basketball for a team of middle school students. I was hesitant. I felt insecure. I had played basketball all my life, but despite that knowledge, I felt inadequate. But I knew my unspoken prayer was being answered because I needed something to save my life because I was very suicidal. Well, this was it.

It was simple, it would be challenging, but it seemed to be something. I applied, interviewed, and was hired. I remember all the anxiety. How will I teach plays? What plays will I teach?

Will they listen to me? How will I demonstrate discipline? I looked up things on YouTube. I followed the example of my wife, who had been nominated as a finalist for Coach of the Year for the YMCA out of all the coaches in the state of Oregon.

But it was daunting, and my weak brain ran so many scenarios that I became avoidant. Finally, I decided to just show up at the first practice. I did just that. I loved driving through the countryside, winding down the windy roads through the dense forest; I felt like a pioneer exploring for my next opportunity or adventure. Yes, I was intimidated and a bit scared, but my resolve to just showing up is what carried me.

When I arrived at this small charter school and entered the old rustic gym, I felt nostalgia, like I was a part of Hoosiers, one of my favorite basketball movies as a kid. In that movie, there was a coach at a rural Indiana school in the 1950s. So life began to come full circle. From my childhood to now, in later adulthood, passing on my basketball knowledge to young people in their childhood.

Was our team any good? Well, we were the only co-ed team in the league. We had exactly six players and allowed everyone to play a ton of time with almost zero basketball experience. So did we ever win or come close? No. But I learned so much from those kids on the floor. Despite the limited baskets we made and the high scores of the opponents, they played with a 100% positive attitude. They never complained about their circumstances, they focused on the fundamentals of basketball that I was trying to teach them. I was so proud of them.

Reflecting on this trait these kids displayed and applying it to mental health, just like most athletes don’t play on winning teams, they play their best to prepare for their next opportunity. The #1 draft pick is the best player to come out of college and placed on the absolute worst team in the professional league. If you follow the trends of the greatest athletes of all time, they went through years of adversity, not being on a winning team, and what’s remarkable is that they knew inside that they were special. But it is the humbling process that creates greatness.

For example, Michael Jordan’s six championships and Lebron James’ four championships didn’t come to them until many years into their careers. Greatness takes time, but in that time, one needs to be tenacious. So with mental health, the years where you struggle can and will turn around. Just believe in the feeling that you have a unique gift to offer the world and keep that 100% positive attitude when it feels like you’re getting beat, like my team 53-5.

You can only control what you can control in mental health. Those down days we all have can look like being bedridden, a recluse, a manic wreck, or feeling like a failure…again. But if you eventually get up, get out, become humble, and return to optimism, your experiences day in and day out will add up to success.

When I look at my own life and the cycles and seasons of bipolar in previous times, it took me about a year to recover. My most recent recovery took five years to stabilize. But that’s okay. Despair may seem unfair, but it is there to help you prepare. As a prophet of our faith, President Thomas S. Monson said, “Your future is as bright as your faith.”