Have you guys felt like quitting basketball?

[tgan3]

It just comes to a point where you realise you're not the best, you're good but not amongst the elites.

I've been playing bball for 10 years, i consider myself an great shooter, ballhandler with quickness and passing ability.

But then I realize, I can never be the best, not even amongst the elites or "pro level". im 5'9 barely touching rim. There are guys my height who are much stronger and can do crazy stuff like windmills and 360s. Then again, there are other guys who are even better shooters then me. They can make like a hundred freethrows in a row and like shoot 10 3's in a row like its nothing.

Its like something you consider life, but you aren't even a pro. So it's like you're not cut out for it.Its a bad feeling.

[griffmoney2084]

another michael jordan not playing for the love of the game. just out there to prove something

[wang4three]

Sort of. I don't play as much as I'd like to. I don't have as much time as my work intensifies and my body has been beaten a lot over the years. I made the mistake of not really taking care of it since I graduated high school till pretty much last year. As a result, I have shoulders, back, and now ankle issues. Pretty much everytime I play my ankles get really sore afterwards and it hurts to walk for a week. I haven't played in months and it sucks. I love the game still, but at this point I have to be responsible to my body and it's not worth missing days at work cause I'm not mobile after playing.

[boozehound]

You will pretty much never be the best at anything you try in life. It doesnt mean you should quit trying, as long as you achieve satisfaction doing said activity.

Ill never be the best guitarist, or cook, or microscopist. But I can still be competent and have fun/success doing so.

[brwnman]

I quit for a year and a half before. Lost interest, health reasons, family reasons. Then I came back, somehow ended up getting a shot. Lost fluidity, and just basic playing instincts. I've been playing for 2 years since now, and love it more than ever. I don't care if I'm not the best player on the court, I play like I am, I believe I am. You just gotta keep improving. I'm 5'8(1/2), and I don't get anywhere near the rim, but I'm crafty, great court vision, quick and great body control, and most importantly, I'm smart, I know when and where to cut. So not only can I create for myself, but play off the ball when need be.

It's not about being a pro. I play ball as a hobby, not to go pro...

[tgan3]

You will pretty much never be the best at anything you try in life. It doesnt mean you should quit trying, as long as you achieve satisfaction doing said activity.

not the best, but if I could be close or something like this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ_dUuxARmg

it'll be pretty good.

[mrhoopfan]

After my last bad ankle sprain................YES

[redhonda76]

I still play basketball but my best years had past long time. I'm 5'9, back when I was in my early 20s, I can grab rims, and crossover at will. Now that I'm 37, with bad knees and numerous sprained ankles, I'm more of a jump shooter now. I can barely grab the rim and can't get into the lanes like I used to. Now I know how Grant Hill felt like. I still play basketball and hopefully I can pass my knowledge and skills to my 2year old son when he gets older. I probably won't quit basketball but I still enjoyed playing it.

[wang4three]

Oh and to the point of realizing you're not the best.. That realization came to me after I started noticing that ROYs and #1 draft picks were 3-4 years younger than me, and now 7-8 years. I think Derrick Rose was the first guy to really hit how much older I became. After he was drafted, I was like "damn, he's only 19 and I'm 23. I haven't played organized basketball in 5 years. I was killing it with my legos when he was born." It's ok though, from there I just adopted that the game is fun and it's a good way to spend time with friends/get good cardio work in. I don't want to say my competitiveness died out, but it certainly has evolved.

I played at a park with a bunch of kids earlier this summer with my old high school friends. We played against some young HS kids there and even though they were all full of energy and endurance, we were able to beat them. It's not like we were that much bigger or athletically developed, but it was interesting to note that they were getting into each others faces for any blown layups, missed jump shots, missed rebounds, while we were just laughing and joking around as we played. I kept asking myself, do they even find the game fun when all they did was just get into each others faces and trash talk the entire game? What drove them to the sport if it just seems so frustrating? But I kinda think I was the same when I was younger. I do remember getting frustrated at teammates over pick up games and playing while injured (I was notoriously known for playing through any injury as a kid. My coaches always talked to my parents before they played me after an injury. I'd always lie and say I was fine.). Nowadays, things are lighter--I'm not willing to risk anything. Maybe you can say I'm settling to where I am as an "athlete" (and I use that term lightly), but I think the best way to approach any sport if you don't play professionally, is that it's fun and just a game. A fun way to exercise/get cardio, and possibly meet new people. I've must have played at least 1500 pick up games since high school, but I can probably only tell you maybe a handful of games I truly remember.

Just the way it as as you get older. Your life goals/focus changes and it's not all for the worst. Ok, I just went from semi-answering your question into a long, diverted tangent.

[hito da god]

i quit after i hurt my hip in my first year of college. it was at a try out for a JUCO team (that i feel i had a great chance at making) and i threw my pelvic alignment all out of wack. i just quit after that for about a year. after that i started working on my game again, quitting for another few months, and then deciding that i wanted to give it one last hoorah. now i'm leaving to a D-1 school (an actual college) for the first time and i will be trying out for a walk-on spot. i've been working on my game every day for six months now and i put on 15 lbs of muscle. i feel my skills and definitely bball IQ are at a D-1 level, but i might be a little underweight to play D-1 ball, even with the added muscle. we'll see what happens at try outs.

[B-Low]

I didn't really quit basketball. Life MADE me quit basketball. Since probably my junior year of college (back in 08) I've played basketball maybe 6-7 times. Between school, internships, graduation, work, friends working, friends moving, me moving, relationships etc...basketball didn't just take a backseat, it got left at home altogether. On the rare weekends that me and my friends are all in the same city and all off for a weekend we'll hit up a gym or playground and play a few games, but even then only maybe 1-2 of us are in good enough basketball shape to run a series of serious games. Usually just comes down to shooting/playing casual games while we joke around and talk. Unless some women are nearby, then you gotta kick it up a notch lol

[artificial]

You really are traumatized by height, right?


If the idea that you will (probably) never reach the NBA causes you too much pain, just quit. If you have the idea of either getting seriously into it or not play at all, maybe you gotta make a choice. If you really want to keep playing, I'm sure you'll eventually discover lots of paths you can't see at the moment.

It's just a matter of what you want to do, and what realistic goals you can set. In my case, basketball is not what I do for a living, nor has relationship with it. But I keep playing occasionally and I'm hooked to watching it, and that is a big part of me.

[joe]

Sort of off topic but I felt that exact same way with Halo 3. If you didn't know, there's actually a professional video game league called "MLG." I used to play all hours of the day day trying to go pro with Halo 3, MLG's flagship game. I was pretty good, but then I played against a few pros and semi-pros in random matchmaking and realized how miles ahead of me they were. I was good, better than anyone I knew by far... but they washed me up. And if they were on my team their stats would be 20x better than mine.

As far as basketball goes, I'm 5'6 and consider myself okay, but I only play pick-up games with my family and friends. But that Halo experience to me really mirrors exactly what you're talking about.

[Papaya Petee]

Actually, one game in my life made me quit basketball for over 2 months.

I got fouled tied game with 3 seconds left, and I missed both free throws. We ended up losing in overtime. I was so mad at myself I couldn't even look at the ball. It was the semi-finals of a JV basketball tournament. Luckily I came back this year and improved. I benched varsity as a sophomore, but who knows, maybe by my senior year I can be a 15 PPG scorer?

[rawimpact]

I quit when i got to college. I was never really that good, but still enjoyed it. I just didn't have time the first 2 years. By Junior year i was so bad i just gave up... no i just watch the game itself.