Hoopster Ain’t Smart: Think Again

Ok. Ready… now pass the ball. To 13. Make a low pose and form the tree. Fast now! The head! The head! Tighter grip. Go for the three D!
Couldn’t understand? Me either.
Imagine being in the heat of a basketball game, sweating and exhausted, the whole crowd booing against you, the 10 second shot clock pressure, the shame of losing the ball on the last few seconds of the game, the possibility of being blamed and shamed if the ball doesn’t go in.
Imagine being there and battling out all the noise, the boos and the yells from the crowd, the sweat and the exhaustion, the stretched muscle, trying to hear the coach’s commands and finding a way to execute them perfectly as ordered.
Playing basketball is not as easy as you think it is. It’s pretty intense stuff.
Imagine all this pressure from the hard court and you still have to think of the homework due midnight after the game at Araneta, the research paper due first thing in the morning, the midterm exam tomorrow afternoon. Welcome to a collegiate baller’s life.
University of the Philippines’ Carlo Gomez admits it’s hard to be a student athlete, especially in a university that lives for the zenith of academic excellence and where sports is considered second class.
But desire kept him going and got him to where he is now, playing in the most prestigious collegiate athletic basketball tournament in the country, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.
Since he was a kid, Gomez already had a passion for the game. It has always been with him growing up.
When asked about the physical, mental and emotional rigors of collegiate basketball coupled with academic pressure and challenges, he shrugs off his shoulders and says he loves basketball. What else can he do, but play? It’s that simple.
Desire keeps him going.
He loves the game.
He lives for the game.
But his grades must be maintained, lest he becomes ineligible to play. So with a tired and exhausted body, he goes home to burn the midnight oil studying for exams and working on university papers. On the court he burns his rubber soles; on his study table he burns the midnight oil.
That takes a lot of spirit, stamina and courage to handle such stress and pressure. And it does take more than average intellect to handle such challenges and come off victor, winning a game and scoring good grades.
So after every rigorous practice or an exhausting match, he picks up his bag, changes to a clean shirt and goes home ready for another game on the hard court of his study table and books, scoring exams and dunking papers.