Kobe

A Story by Manzaboy

Just a little story about how my love for basketball began.

Kobe is the reason people started playing the beautiful game of basketball. His shoes are a constant reminder that the game can be played by anybody. The day of my first ever basketball tryout, I finished a water bottle and threw it into a trash can. Anybody who knew anything about basketball growing up in the 90's-2000's can tell you what I said as it left my hands."Kobe!". After the bottle rattled into the can, a kid trying out with me looked over to me and said "Shut up Aaron, you'll never make this team.".

I was distraught for an entire day after hearing that. Then I decided to stop being a baby and shut that man up. Now I wish I could say 'I laced up my Kobe's and hit faders in that man's face all day', but I couldn't afford Kobe's. I wore my Dad's old basketball shoes from that brand with the three stripes. I love my Dad (R.I.P. David Cloyd Manzer) but those things sucked. After making the team, being told "Aaron, I can't promise you too much playing time." my confidence was lacking to say the least. Then, it was three games into the season, we were playing in a semi rivalry game and one player was tearing us up. My coach put me in for our starting power forward. I matched up with the leading scorer. The first possession of my basketball career began. I stayed just out of the point guard's vision and as soon as the pass was made, I sprinted my butt off to grab the ball and to my amazement I actually tipped it into the half court. I ran down made the lay-up and got back on defense. This almost exact sequence happened over and over again during that game. My coach brought us into the locker room at halftime and yelled "MVP" at me, heck I barely knew what that meant. Now that game went into the books as a win but during our next home game something happened that changed my life. On the very front row of the bleachers was the kid from tryouts. This time however, I tipped the ball from the point guard's hands. The words he yelled at me from the sideline made me realize something about basketball. I'm going to tell you what I said, don't worry, just be patient. What I realized was that this sport, like many others, is a lifestyle. You can't walk onto the floor and expect to be the main man from day one. The work you put in gives you the results. There's people that will always love you, and there's people that will always hate you. But there is another type of person that is more dangerous than those who hate you. It's the people who hate you without knowing you, and change their mind, loving you when you succeed. What that kid said to me was; "Come on Aaron, They can't handle you!".

Now I know nobody may ever read this, but if you do I want you to know, Kobe knew how to work. He was in the gym for hours before practice and after too. Reward him and his legacy.

My name is Aaron Manzer.

Today is the day when my work begins.