December 30, 2014

The summer of a basketball junkie

They call me a "basketball junkie” and I’m proud of it! I absolutely love the game of basketball, and this summer, I watched, played, and taught the game.   

I love men’s and women’s professional basketball. This summer I spent much of my time watching professional basketball. My favorite player is Damian Lillard.  He is an explosive point guard who has uncanny abilities — he can both make plays and be a "clutch" player. During a recent interview, Lillard said something that was very noteworthy to me.  He said, "I think we just need to take the summer... take pride in going home and improving... coming back better players and holding ourselves accountable to help the team to be a little better."

In addition to watching professional basketball this summer, I spent a lot of time in the gym working on the essentials: ball-handling, passing, and shooting.  My teammates and I played pick-up just about every other day and we WENT AT IT!  Every game was competitive and gritty. Sometimes basketball players from the University of Santa Clara and University of San Diego joined us too. Further, my teammate Bird (Erica McCall) and I were able to play in the San Francisco Pro-Am Summer League at Kezar Pavillion. We enjoyed playing against outstanding players in women's college basketball. 

Finally, I taught basketball. I was fortunate enough to be invited to make a guest appearance at the Torch Basketball Academy Summer Camp. It was awesome!  I worked with the kids and helped develop their fundamentals. I told them how important it is to "work smart" as much as you "work hard.” But, don’t be fooled, some of those kids could ball!  When I was coaching a team during the final tournament game of the camp, I thought,  “these games are just as competitive and gritty as our pick-up games!” Young players were chasing loose balls and fighting for every rebound too!  It was great. I really enjoyed watching players develop!

This summer was great and I'm really looking forward to next summer. 

— Bri Roberson


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