Another Door Opens Anonymous

It was our last scrimmage game before the start of the 2009 Valparaiso girls’ varsity basketball season. The clock counted down not only the time left in the game but also how many seconds I had left playing on my basketball team before I told the coach of my decision not to try out for the team that year. Though my parents always supported me in my pursuits, they gave preference to my quitting basketball, a sport I participated in for the preceding nine years. Instead, they advised me to devote all my time developing into a more talented tennis player.

The thought “to quit or not to quit” haunted me night and day. It was a major risk to quit one sport to see if I could make the varsity team in another. Increasing the risk was the fact that I had only started playing tennis the previous year. When the decision-making time came, I decided to alter my priorities and quit basketball. Though I encompass a melancholic feeling every time I watch my former teammates play a basketball game, I never expected all the serendipitous things that came from making that decision.

After the scrimmage I expressed my thoughts: “Coach, this is probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do because never have I quit a team or backed down from any...