Straddling the Fence

I had no idea when I wrote “If You are on the Fence about Leaving Your Sport: Read This” that it would be my most popular piece on Vocal, nor that it would actually resonate with so many people. At the time, I believed myself to be more of a creative writer so to have just a simple story about my personal experience attempting to pursue the sport I love, only to quit at the collegiate level, gain the most traction, I was shocked. I was even more shocked when I received a direct message on Instagram from someone I did not know and had never met before, a whole 6 years after my original story was published, asking me for advice because they were facing the exact same scenario in their life and somehow stumbled upon my piece and felt compelled enough to find and reach out to me for advice.

So firstly, thank you to everyone who read my original piece and for giving it all the views and support. I hope my follow up to it can also resonate with whoever reads it.

It’s 2024 now so about 8 years since I graduated high school and about the same duration of time since my experience quitting playing basketball. To this day, I still think about what my life would have been like had I stuck with it or had enough self-motivation to be as prepared as I should have been. I don’t think there will be a time where I won’t think about it. However, I am immensely happy with my life now and a lot of that happiness I owe to quitting. I know that sounds counterintuitive but accompanying my incessant “what if’s” there are also the realizations of things in my life that could have never happened had I not quit basketball when I did. I would’ve never had to transfer schools to attend Florida State University where I met my two best friends and did indeed have the best 4 years of my life, I would never have had the time to pursue my Master’s degree and set myself up in the best position possible to go into the field of education upon graduating, I would never have been able to go home on holidays and the occasional 3-day weekend to spend valuable time with my family, and the list can go on. I watched my roommate at the time of my quitting who had made the team go through her experience of practicing and conditioning every day, being gone multiple nights a week for away games and getting back at late hours, and almost never having any free time. I had other girls who I had played with in my high school years who had gone on to play basketball in college who I followed on social media and it seemed like they never had free time either, always at practice, working out, getting on buses or planes for games, having to eat out constantly due to traveling, doing rehab because they got injured, and so on. As someone who relished in their free time, I was content with my decision. But of course, I still missed basketball.

So what I did do was find other outlets.

Transferring from a small, private college to a huge, public university was a bit daunting to say the least, but due to Florida State’s size and amount of extracurricular activities they were able to fund, they were able to offer me the next best thing: intramural sports. I loved playing intramural basketball every year. Whether it be all female or co-ed, I looked forward to every intramural season and genuinely got to scratch my itch of playing organized basketball with other skilled players. Being able to attend basketball games in the Tuck gave me the experience of at least watching the sport I loved being played at a high level which all my fellow athletes know, can never get old. I was only in college for so long though, so I still knew in the back of my mind, intramurals would only last so long.

So, I started coaching.

It started when I got my first teaching job at a new high school that was built relatively close to my hometown. I was excited to begin my career as an English teacher, but also made it a point to put on my resume and explain in my interview, that I would be more than willing to contribute to the school’s girls basketball program as a coach. I met with the current head coach the school had hired and became first, a varsity assistant, and then in the following years, the head coach for JV. Also, during the summers, a family friend of ours was running their own travel basketball program and I volunteered to coach one of their first girls teams. I love coaching. Being able to impart the knowledge and experiences I gained from playing to the girls I coach and watching them use that knowledge to succeed and become better basketball players is as fulfilling as it sounds. And this year, my school’s girls team will be playing for their 2nd district championship trophy in a row, last year’s trophy being the first trophy for girls basketball in school history.

But, I still missed playing. So, then I found the Sarasota Rec League.

I had heard of recreational leagues before but had never tried one out for myself. I had friends who played kickball and softball and various other sports, but for me, the only sport I wanted to play was basketball. When I moved into Hillsborough County, I looked to see if they had a rec league of their own, but you had to have a set team before entering, and I had moved there by myself and didn’t know anyone let alone anyone who played basketball and had their own team for the league, so no luck there. I had heard of Sarasota Rec League already but previously didn’t have the time or money to dedicate to it as I was freshly on my own starting my first career job. But now, 2 years later, I can’t imagine myself not playing in the league every season.

From my experience researching the rec league from Hillsborough County, I had assumed all rec leagues were the same where you had to come in with an already set team of 5 or more. When I finally stopped kidding myself and went to the Sarasota Rec League website, I found I could register as a “free agent” meaning I could simply put myself out there as a solo player and see if a pre-existing team was interested in picking me up. It turned out that the women’s league didn’t even have set teams so all you had to do was sign up and you met your team right before the game started, so my hesitations and fears ended up being totally unnecessary. Playing rec league basketball allows me to first and foremost stay active (I hate going to gyms) and secondly play as organized basketball as I can as a 26-year-old ex-player which gives me so much enjoyment and motivation. I love Thursdays now because those are the days I have my league games and it’s such a fun experience having the space to play organized basketball with other talented women who also just love to play. A lot of these women also played in college and are also just trying to stay active with the sport and they give such a competitive edge to something as mundane as a rec league basketball game, I can’t get enough of it.

So, if you’ve left your sport and are wondering what to do next, see if there are any local rec leagues in your area. And, if you’re socially anxious like me and are hesitant to try anything like this by yourself, I speak from experience it’ll be okay. Or, coach! Regardless, you are not alone in wanting to keep up with your sport. You just have to find the best outlet that works for you, and I wish you the best of luck in doing so.